The Fruitfulness of the Earth
Hades-Pluto, god of fruitfulness (flourishing and blooming earth) symbolizes the fact that everything living being is born from the earth and returns there after death. So, Hades-Pluto is represented here sowing seeds from the cornucopia. Demeter is watching holding the plough. Traditionally the farmers believed that they had to pray to Hades in order that the seeds sprout. [red-figured pelike, 430 BC, Athens, Nation. Arch. Museum]