Terracotta Pinakes from Locri. Migrations of Greek Cults and Myths from mainland Greece to the Western Greek Colonies
My aim is to explore some of the mechanisms involved in the transfer of cult and religious imagery from the cities of old Greece in the new colonies in South Italy and Sicily. For this porpose there is perhaps no better example of the complex nature of adaptation and transformation than the workship of Persephone at Locri. According to the Augustan-age historian Diodorus, native of Sicily, her sanctuary was considered the most brilliant of any in Italy. We do not get much sense of that splendor today, for the best preserved dedications from the sanctuary are what would once have been among the most humble: the mold-made painted terracotta pinakes. These make it clear that Persephone was indeed the main deity workshiped at Locri, while her mother Demeter played no role whatever. But just what was the nature and function of Persephone at Locri?
The worshipers at Locri combined elements of both personalities, while at the same time creating a version of Persephone as goddess of marriage that is different from any manifestation of her in mainland Greece.