Museu Nacional Frei Manuel do Cenáculo: Évora’s museum

CeresCeres Cereal?

This statue, dated to the 1st century BC, and found near Beja, was discovered without a torso, head or arms. Despite its missing pieces, experts identified the sculpture as the Roman deity Ceres due to its resemblance to a sculpture in Mérida (Spain), the capital of Roman Lusitania. Did you know cereal is named after the same Goddess? Ceres was the Roman goddess of agriculture, harvest, and fertility. No wonder she was the protector of peasants and farmers. Usually depicted as a young woman, Ceres is commonly portrayed as holding a basket of fruits and flowers, a farming tool or grain, crowned with a garland of ears of corn. Ceres was such an important deity for the Romans that the Ephesians featured her in coins, alluding to the area’s prosperity and abundance.