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The Eleusinian mysteries were initiation
ceremonies for the cult of Demeter and Persephone based at Eleusis in ancient Greece These myths and mysteries later spread to Rome. The rites and cultic worships and beliefs were kept secret, and initiation rites united the worshipper
with god including promises of divine power and rewards in life after death.
Eleusis was a small town located about 30 km NW of Athens. It was
an agricultural town, producing wheat
and barley.
The Mysteries were based on a legend revolving around Demeter. Her daughter, Persephone, was kidnapped by Hades, the god of death and the underworld. Demeter was the goddess of life, agriculture and
fertility. She neglected her duties while searching for her daughter; the earth froze and the people starved— the first
winter. During this time Demeter taught the secrets of agriculture to Triptolemus. Finally Demeter was reunited with her daughter and the earth came back to life— the first
spring. (For more information on this story, see Demeter.) Persephone was
unfortunately unable to stay permanently in the land of the living, because she had eaten a few seeds of a pomegranate that Hades had given her. Those that eat the food of the dead may not
return. A compromise was worked out and Persephone stayed with Hades for one third of the year (winter, as the Greeks only
recognized three seasons, skipping autumn) and with her mother the remaining eight months.
The Eleusinian Mysteries celebrated Persephone's return, for it was also the return of plants and of life to the earth. She
had eaten seeds (symbols of lives) while in the underworld (underground, like seeds in the winter) and her rebirth is therefore
symbolic of the rebirth of all plant life during the spring and, by extension, all life on earth.
In the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, Celeus was
one of the original priests of Demeter, one of the first people to learn the secret rites and mysteries of her cult. Diocles, Eumolpos, Triptolemus and Polyxeinus were the others of the first
priests. Celeus was a king whose son, Triptolemus, learned the art of agriculture from Demeter and taught it to the rest of
Greece.
There were two Eleusinian Mysteries: the Greater and the Lesser. The Lesser Mysteries were held in Anthesterion (March) (the
exact time was not always fixed and changed occasionally, unlike the Greater Mysteries). The priests purified the candidates for
initiation myesis. They first sacrificed a pig to Demeter and then purified
themselves.
The Greater Mysteries took place in Boedromion (the first month of the
Attic calendar) and lasted nine days. The first act (14th Boedromion)
of the Greater Mysteries was the bringing of the sacred objects from Eleusis to the Eleusinion, a temple at the base of the Acropolis.
On 15th Boedromion, the hierophantes (priests) declared prorrhesis, the
start of the rites.
The ceremonies began in Athens on 16th Boedromion with the celebrants washing themselves in the sea at Phaleron and sacrificing a young pig at the Eleusinion on 17th Boedromion.
The procession to Eleusis began at Kerameikos (the Athenian cemetery) on the
19th Boedromion and the people walked to Eleusis, along the Sacred Way, swinging branches called bakchoi along the way. At a certain spot along the way, they shouted obscenities in commemoration of Iambe, an old woman who had made Demeter smile as she mourned the loss of her daughter. The
procession also shouted "Iakch' o Iakche!", referring to Iacchus, possibly an epithet
for Dionysus, or a separate deity, son of Persephone or Demeter.
Upon reaching Eleusis (along what was called the "Sacred Way"), there was a day of fasting in commemoration of Demeter's
fasting while searching for Persephone. The fast was broken while drinking a special drink of barley and pennyroyal, called kykeon. Then on 20th and
21st Boedromion, the initiates entered a great hall called Telesterion where
they were shown the sacred relics of Demeter and the priestesses revealed their visions of the holy night (probably a fire that
represented the possibility of life after death). This was the most secretive part of the Mysteries and those who had been
initiated were forbidden to ever speak of the events that took place in the Telesterion. The penalty was death.
Following this section of the Mysteries was the Pannychis, an all-night feast
accompanied by dancing and merriment. The dances took place in the Rharian
Field, rumored to be the first spot where corn grew. A bull sacrifice also took place late that night or early the next
morning. That day (22nd Boedromion), the initiates honored the dead by pouring libations from special vessels.
On 23rd Boedromion, the Mysteries ended and everyone returned home.
In the center of the Telesterion was the Anaktoron ("palace"), a small stone building which only the
hierophantes could enter. The sacred objects were stored there.
There were four categories of people who participated in the Eleusinian Mysteries:
- The priests, priestesses and hierophantes
- The initiates, undergoing the ceremony for the first time
- The others who had already participated at least once. They were eligible for the last category
- Those who had attained epopteia, who had learned the secrets of the greatest mysteries of Demeter.
The above is only a capsule summary— much of the Eleusinian mysteries was never written down. For example, "kiste" and
"kalathos" were a sacred chest and basket with a lid, respectively, the contents of which only initiates knew about. The contents
are still unknown, and probably will be forever.
The Mysteries are believed to have been begun about 1500 BCE, during the
Mycenean Age. It was held annually for about two thousand years.
Under Pisistratus of Athens, the Eleusinian mysteries became pan-Hellenic
and pilgrims flocked from Greece and beyond to participate.
Starting about 300 BCE, the state took over control of the Mysteries, specifically
controlled by two familes: Eumolpidae and Kerykes. This led to a vast increase in the number of initiates. The only requirements for membership were a lack
of "blood guilt", meaning having never committed murder, and not being a barbarian (able to speak Greek). Men, women and even
slaves were allowed to be initiated.
End of the Eleusinian mysteries
The Roman emperor Theodosius I closed the sanctuaries by decree in CE 392. The last remnants
of the Mysteries were wiped out in CE 396, when Alaric, King of the Goths, invaded accompanied by Christians "in their
dark garments" , bringing Arian Christianity and desecrating the old sacred sites. The closing of the Eleusinian Mysteries in the
4th century is reported by Eunapios, a historian and biographer of the Greek philosophers. Eunapios had been initiated by the
last legitimate Hierophant, who had been commissioned by the emperor Julian to restore
the Mysteries, which had fallen into decay. The very last Hierophant was a usurper, "the man from Thespiai who held the rank of
Father in the mysteries of Mithras" Euapios calls him.
There are, quite naturally, a great many paintings and pieces of pottery that depict various aspects of the mysteries. The
Eleusinian Relief, from
late 5th century BCE, stored in the Archaeological National Museum in Athens is a representative example. Triptolemus is
depicted receiving seeds from Demeter and teaching mankind how to work the fields to grow crops with Persephone holding her hand
over his head to protect him. Vases and other works of relief sculpture, from the 4th, 5th and 6th centuries BCE depict
Triptolemus, holding an ear of corn, sitting on a winged throne or chariot, surrounded by Persephone and Demeter with pine
torches. The Ninnion Tablet,
also from the Archaeological National Museum in Athens, depicts Demeter, followed by Persephone and Iacchus and then the
procession of initiates. Then, Demeter is sitting (inside the Telesterion) on the kiste with Persephone introducing the initiates
and holding a torch. The initiates each held a bakchoi. The second row of initiates were led by Iakchos, a male priest who held torches for the ceremonies. He is standing near the omphalos while an unknown female (probably a priestess of Demeter) sat nearby on the kiste, holding a scepter and
a vessel filled with kykeon. Pannychis is also represented.
LSA theory
Some scholars believe that the Eleusinian mysteries occurred because, in whole or in part, of the kykeon containing barley.
Aged barley, and many other grains, may contain the fungus ergot which contained LSA, a precursor to LSD. It is possible the initiates were
hallucinating and very open to suggestion; hence the possibility that they were ready to imagine having seen the secrets of life
after death and believe it totally.
This theory remains controversial.
Reference
- Carl Kerenyi, Eleusis: archetypal image of mother and
daughter, (in his series Archetypal Images in Greek religion) 1967
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