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Translation of the Hymn:

Listen to me, O, Hermes, of Zeus a messenger and son of Maia; for you are victorious and president of the games of men.

Gracious minister, and astute killer of Argus, with your winged sandals, from the gods you prophesize to us.

He who loves exercises, trickery, and schemes, interpret of all, source of profit and relief.

He who holds in his palms the weapon of peace and in luck's transit.

🌱🌾Demeter, 𐀯𐀵𐀡𐀴𐀛𐀊🌾🌱

"As the Basket comes, greet it, ye women, saying “Demeter, greatly hail! Lady of much bounty, of many measures of corn.” As the Basket comes, from the ground shall ye behold it, ye uninitiated, and gaze not from the roof or from aloft, child nor wife nor maid hath shed her hair, neither then nor when we spit from parched mouths fasting. Hesperus from the clouds marks the time of its coming: Hesperus, who alone persuaded Demeter to drink, what time she pursued the unknown tracks of her stolen daughter.

Lady, how were thy feet able to carry thee unto the West, unto the black men and where the golden apples are? Thou didst not drink nor didst thou eat during that time nor didst thou wash. Thrice didst thou cross Achelous with his silver eddies, and as often didst thou pass over each of the ever-flowing rivers, and thrice didst thou seat thee on the ground beside the fountain Callichorus, parched and without drinking, and didst not eat nor wash.

Nay, nay, let us not speak of that which brought the tear to Deo! Better to tell how she gave cities pleasing ordinances; better to tell how she was the first to cut straw and holy sheaves of corn-ears and put in oxen to tread them, what time Triptolemus was taught the good craft ---

O Demeter, never may that man be my friend who is hateful to thee, nor ever may he share party-wall with me; ill neighbours I abhor

Sing, ye maidens, and ye mothers, say with them: “Demeter, greatly hail! Lady of much bounty, of many measures of corn.” And as the four white-haired horses convey the Basket, so unto us will the great goddess of wide dominion come bringing white spring and white harvest and winter and autumn, and keep us to another year. And as unsandalled and with hair unbound we walk the city, so shall we have foot and head unharmed for ever. And as the van-bearers bear vans full of gold, so may we get gold unstinted. As far as the prytaneia let the uninitiated follow, but the initiated even unto the very shrine of the goddess, as many as are under sixty years. But those that are heavy and she that stretches her hand to Eileithyia and she that is in pain, sufficient it is that they go so far as their knees are able. And to them Deo shall give all things to overflowing, even as if they came unto her temple.

Hail, goddess, and save this people in harmony and in prosperity, and in the fields bring us all pleasant things! Feed our kine, bring us flocks, bring us the corn-ear, bring us harvest! And bring peace, that he who sows may also reap. Be gracious, O thrice-prayed for, great Queen of goddesses!"

Rhyton in the form of a griffin, Greek Southern Italy, 350-300 BC

Traces of the missing objects are still visible: the left hand held a bow and the right a bowl, which may have been made of gold, confirming - along with the treatment of the hair - the identification of the figure as Apollo.

Once thought to date to the late Archaic period (530–480 BC) and to have come from a workshop of north-east Peloponnese, the figure shows an increased plasticity atypical of that tradition. He strides forward with his right leg, instead of the usual left, and his head is slightly bent to the front and right, abandoning the strictly frontal viewing position of the kouroi. His hair is rendered in a more naturalistic way than had previously been the case: it is tied with a band and forms spiraling curls over the forehead. It is now thought to belong to the Hellenistic period.

See

Dafas, K. A. 2019. Greek Large-Scale Bronze Statuary: The Late Archaic and Classical Periods, Institute of Classical Studies, School of Advanced Study, University of London, Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies, Monograph, BICS Supplement 138

Mattusch, C. 2019 Classical Bronzes: the Art and Craft of Greek and Roman Statuary

Palagia, O. 1997 “Reflections on the Piraeus Bronzes,” in Greek Offerings: Essays on Greek Art in Honour of John Boardman