In the ancient Greek world, people entered/went in shrines in order to ask something of the gods or thank them for a vow that they accepted to accomplish. These offerings were of various kinds because each god has his own zone of activity shown by an ‘epiclesis’.

Demeter is goddess of the agriculture and the civilization and she also takes care of women when they get married and have children. 

The study of clay figurines in the shape of animals founded in Demeter’s shrines shows that there is one specific animal offered to the goddess : the pig. It’s also important to note that in all these shrines, Demeter is worshiped with the epiclesis Thesmophoros. Thanks to the ancient texts, to epigraphy and to archeozoology, this relationship between the pig and the goddess can be understood: when someone comes to a shrine of Demeter Thesmophoros in order to bring a clay figurine of pig, it can mean many things : a vow, a thank you or a commemoration. 

Traduction : Margaret & Jean-louis CADOUX