Mosaic of Persephone

The mosaic presents Persephone, daughter of Demeter and Zeus, glances to her left. Yellow-hued wheat protrudes from her right shoulder and vegetation from her left. Her hair is short and cluttered, with shades of dark brown and black and she holds a youthful, almost adolescent-like appearance. Her breasts are held in place by the arm sling of a green robe and a golden-colored piece of the robe flares upwards. 

In ancient mythology, Persephone is kidnapped by Hades, God of the dead and king of the underworld, who wished to have her as his young wife. Her mother Demeter is God of the harvest. Without her daughter, her grief brings darkness to the earth for the first time, winter arrives. Without her harvest, plants wither and die as snow engulfs the land. 

Worried of the inevitable starvation, Zeus, God of the sky and thunder, brokered a deal where Persephone would live on earth for six months of the year with Demeter, who would come out of her depression and tend to the harvest, but was bound to the underworld for the rest of the year, throwing Demeter back into mourning. And thus formed the seasons.