The Liknophoros carried the sacred liknon. The liknon was a two-handled basket with a flat bottom, sloping sides, and an open end. Its primary role was to separate the grain from the chaff after threshing. The women rotated and shook the liknon in both hands until the lighter chaff rose to the top and spilled out the open end. The vessel’s flexible shape of the utensil made it worthwhile for any kind of transport or as a crib, where they placed the new-borns to cleanse them from the pollution of childbirth. The divine liknon was a powerful symbol of the renewal of life, expressed in the productive process of agriculture. Many gods, therefore, are presented to spend part of their infancy in a liknon (Zeus, Hermes, Dionysus).

Pinax of Persephone opening the "Liknon Mystikon", sculpture, Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Reggio Calabria © Su concessione del Ministero della cultura

Athenaeus states that he who carried the kernos could taste what was in it, just as the liknophoros did. Unfortunately, this does not provide us with a description of the liknon’s content. However, the transportation of the liknon was closely associated with the secret cults of Demeter, and they are referred to as full of gold; perhaps this is a metaphor for the unsurpassed value of agricultural products.