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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Bronwen, post: 13107162, member: 5833&quot;]Yes.&nbsp; Depending on whether you&#039;re using Greek or Roman names, The Rape (abduction, think &quot;raptor&quot;) of Persephone by Hades or the Rape of Proserpina by Pluto.&nbsp; The story is told in Ovid&#039;s Metamorphoses.&nbsp; P. is the daughter of Demeter/Ceres, goddess of crops, harvest, plant life generally.&nbsp; She is out picking flowers with her attendant maidens when she is grabbed by the god of the Underworld.&nbsp; Her mother searches high &amp; low, turning the earth cold &amp; barren by her inattention &amp; grief.&nbsp; Finally, the nymph of a spring, Arethusa, is able to tell her what happened.&nbsp; She complains to her bother Zeus/Jupiter, who brokers a deal whereby P. spends half the year above ground with her mother, leading to spring &amp; summer, and half the year reigning as queen with her husband, when vegetation dies off &amp; the weather turns cold.</p><p><br /></p><p>An extremely nice piece, she says drooling.&nbsp; It is cut in conch shell, so has more depth than helmet shell would allow.&nbsp; You have her distressed maidens on the right &amp; a couple of cupids leading the way on the left, symbolizing passion is at play.&nbsp; As you note, the cameo looks in fine condition &amp; the mount looks structurally sound.&nbsp; Is there any damage other than loss of enamel, which is, alas, common on such pieces?</p><p><br /></p><p>All this drama was believed to have occurred on the island of Sicily,&nbsp; Some of the coinage of ancient Syracuse &amp; other cities in the region features Persephone or Arethusa.&nbsp; Persephone was also known as Kore, variously &#039;maiden&#039; or &#039;daughter.&#039;[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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