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EX
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STUDI IN ONORE DI
GIULIA SFAMENI GASPARRO

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con la collaborazione di Anna Multari

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Thiasoi in the Netherworld
Ana Isabel Jiménez San Cristóbal
Universidad Complutense de Madrid

1. The Eschatological Beliefs

T he thiasos is the usual form of association of the worshippers of several mys-

tery cults, as it is well known. The purpose of this brief paper is not to ex-
amine the activities of these groups, a hackneyed topic, but to analyze several notices
about underworld thiasoi, more precisely, the thiasoi whom the initiates into Dio-
nysiac mystery cults join after death. I would like to pay homage in this way to the
Prof. Giulia Sfameni Gasparro, an eminent scholar, whose studies on mystery cults
represent an indispensable reference for the knowledge and meaning of Greek reli-
gion. First, I will briefly outline the eschatological beliefs of these cults and then I will
analyze the texts concerned with the infernal thiasoi.
The eschatology of mystery cults as the Eleusinian, the Dionysiac or Orphic ones
has in common the belief in a better fate after death. I quote only a pair of exemples.
Plato informs us that those who purport that we are dead in life are the followers of
Orpheus and a bone tablet from Olbia, engraved with the words “life-death-life”, ech-
oes of a doctrine that proposes a new life after death1. The point of agreement of these
mystery cults can be sought in the figure of Dionysus, a god who is present with more
or less importance in all these cults and who keeps a close connection with the Neth-
erworld. From archaic times, we have plenty of iconographic and literary evidence
about Dionysus’ death and rebirth, his catabasis or his dialogue with the Chthonian
gods, Hades and Persephone2. Dionysus has gone and has returned from Hades. His
devotees had good reasons to trust him as guarantor of a happy fate.
In the Orphic gold tablets from Pelinna, Dionysus, called here Βάκχιος, plays the
role of mediator with the infernal gods. He fulfils a purificatory function in a person-
al and eschatological sense: he assists the initiate at the junction of the limit between
life and death, between the human and the divine3. The god has the same function in
an Apulian volute crater preserved in the Museum of Art in Toledo (Ohio)4. It shows
a pact between Dionysus and Hades in the presence of Hermes. Behind Dionysus are
the personages of his retinue: the initiates and a maenad with thyrsus and tambou-

1
 Pl. Cra. 400c; IOlb. 94a (OF 463), cf. Bernabé 2012.
2
  Rohde 19259, II, 12-13, 45; Otto 1997 (19482), 88, 139; Lesky 1936, 24-32; Jeanmaire 1951, 268-278;
Bruhl 1953, 309-331; Nilsson 1957, 116-132; Versnel 1990, 150-155; Daraki 1994, 21-28.
3
  OF 485-486, 1-2 (4th. cent. B.C.), cf. Bernabé - Jiménez 2008, 66-76.
4
  It is dated about 340-330 B.C., cf. Johnston - McNiven 1996, 25-36.
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rine who dances bare-breasted. On the other side of the naiskos there is an allusion to
the condemned, Actaeon and Agave. The message of the pact is clear: the initiates in
the mysteries of Dionysus, the mystai, will have a blessed destiny in the Netherworld
and will be freed from the evils that the profane will suffer.

2. The Dionysiac Thiasos

We can now focus on thiasoi. First of all, I would like to say that I stick to the thiasos
in its sense of religious group and, in particular, associated with the Dionysiac field5, or,
in Gernet and Boulangers’ words, as the elementary religious unity of orgiastic cult6. In
antiquity the term was not limited to the Bacchic sphere7, even if the close relationship
between thiasos and Dionysiac universe was drawn by the definitions of ancient scholars,
as Hesychius or Athenaeus8. Euripides’ Bacchae helped probably to this link, because in
the play the thiasos is the basic structure of the cult9. Curiously, it is only in postclassical
times when the term is used to refer to the Satyrs, Silenus and Maenads that make up the
mythical Dionysian entourage that appears in many iconographic representations10.
Most of the evidence about the mystery thiasos refers to the dances and orgiastic
rites celebrated by the initiates when they alive. The testimony of Herodotus, Demos-
thenes, and Plutarch can serve as example11. They put special emphasis on the ecstatic
experience of the initiates inspired or possessed by a god. All they share also the same
idea: belonging to a mystery thiasos involved mostly to become initiated, that is, to
join a selected group that, without distinction of birth or class, acquired a dignity
that was preserved after death12. Let us focus now on thiasoi in the next life, that were
supposed similar to those to which the worshipers had belonged in their life.

3. The Thiasos in Aristophanes’ Frogs

In Aristophanes’ Frogs, Heracles describes the hellish geography to Dionysus. The
hero mentions a bright area, full of myrtle groves, where it is possible to hear the sound

5
  On another senses, see the detailed “Petite histoire du thiase” reffered by Jaccottet 2003, I 16-29, who
analyzes the uses that secondary literature makes of this word in historic, iconographic, and epigraphi-
cal contexts. Gernet - Boulanger 1932, 121-126 and Daraki 1994, 11-13, discusses the term from a histo-
riographical point of view and conceive it as a social and religious reality (see Sol. fr. 76a Ruschenbusch).
In the epigraphical studies, thiasos has set as a common term to designate Dionysiac associations, al-
though old documents distinguish between κοινόν, σύνοδος, σπεῖρα, βακχεῖον, and so on. However the
first studies of Foucart 1873, Ziebarth, 1896 and Poland 1909, had tried to avoid ambiguity.
6
  Gernet - Boulanger 1932, 122 «le thiase est l’unité religieuse élémentaire dans le culte “orgiastique”».
7
  Ex. gratia, Pl. Plt. 303d; Ar. Th. 41; E. Or. 319, cf. Poland 1909, 16-28; Lécrivain 1919, 257-258.
8
 Hsch. s. v. Θίασος; Ath. 8, 64, 13.
9
  Jaccottet 2003, I, 25.
10
  See Ath. 8, 64, 12; Him. Or. 9, 257; Nonn. D., passim. The iconographical studies use thiasos as useful
word to designate the Satyrs, Silenus and Maenads accompanying Dionysus, especially in Attic vases,
cf. Schöne 1987.
11
  Hdt. 4, 79; D. 18, 259-260; Plu. Alex. 2, 9.
12
  Gernet - Boulanger 1932, 134-136.
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of flutes and the clapping of hands accompanying the happy thiasoi that dwell there13.
This is the place reserved in Hades to the initiates. Some verses before, Aristophanes has
described the area in which the damned ones lie as “a vast sea of mud an ever-flowing
dung”14. Later, Dionysus gets there, after crossing the lake in Charon’s boat, and he views
the sacred thiasoi that dance crowned with myrtle invoking Iacchus in a meadow15.
The members of the groups are all initiates into Iacchus’ mysteries. I cannot deal
here with the vexata quaestio whether the god’s reference shows the central role
played by him in Eleusis16, or, on the contrary, it is also a possible allusion to Bacchic
cults and ephebic rites of passage17. The scene has been considered by many scholars
a transcript of the procession that carries Iacchus from Athens to Eleusis on 20 Boe-
dromion – corresponding to 28th or 29th September18. Aristophanes, however, mixes
elements of several rituals, including that Eleusinian ones. Some details suggest a
Bacchic experience, so, for example, the initiates organized in thiasoi or the wild
dance in which the god, as a Bacchant, shakes his myrtle-crowned head.
A few verses later, the chorus describes how the devotees dance at night, in the
light of torches, in a flowery meadow. They invite the god to lead the group19. Aristo-
phanes’ descriptions show the essential features of the infernal thiasos that we find in
later testimonies: the light of the torches, a meadow full of flowers, the garlands and,
specially, the dance as activity that marks the otherworldly happiness20. Most of these
features are also characteristic of the worldly thiasos, as described by Herodotus, De-
mosthenes, and Plutarch.

4. The Thiasoi in Orphic Gold Tablets

We find also infernal thiasos in the so called Orphic tablets, brief texts engraved
in small gold tablets, that help to the deceased in his way to the Netherworld in order
that he can access to a privileged place reserved to the initiates21.
In three tablets from Thurii, the soul makes a solemn declaration in the first per-
son, addressing Persephone, Eucles and Eubouleus and the other gods22:

13
 Ar. Ra. 154-156.
14
 Ar. Ra. 146, cf. Pl. Phd. 69c (OF 434 III, 576 I), R. 363c-d (OF 431 I, 434 I).
15
 Ar. Ra. 324-336.
16
  So Martin - Metzger 1977, 197-199; Clinton 1992, 66-67; Dover 1993a, 40, 61-62; Dover 1993b, 176-
177, 182-184.
17
  Graf 1974, 55-58; Lada-Richards 1999, 50 and n. 18, id. 59 n. 60. See also Radermacher 1967, 184-186,
197-199; Richardson 1974, 320; Bowie 1993, 229-233.
18
  Cf. Radermacher 1967, 199; Graf 1974, 48 n. 38; Lada-Richards 1999, 100. See also García López
1993, 104; Jiménez San Cristóbal 2012, 132-134.
19
 Ar. Ra. 340-353.
20
 Plu. Non posse suav. viv. secundum Epicurum, 1105b and fr. 178 Sandbach.
21
  The most complete and recent editions are Pugliese Carratelli 2001, Tortorelli 2006, Graf - Johnston
2007 and Bernabé - Jiménez 2008, all they collect commentary and translation of the gold tablets, and
abundant literature on the topic.
22
  OF 488-490, 1, cf. Bernabé - Jiménez 2008, 100-102.
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OF 488-490, 1 Ἔρχομαι ἐκ καθαρῶ≥<ν> καθαρά
«I come from among the pure, pure»
This complex expression implies that the speaker defines himself/herself as be-
longing to a group characterized by the maintenance of a purity. It is probably ritual
purity that results from having experienced initiation and having maintained a life
that observes the precepts of this religious group. For all these reasons, the soul de-
serves a new life in the other world and it asks to be sent to the dwelling of the pure
ones23.
In other Orphic tablet also from Thurii, the initiate is said24:
Ἀλλ᾽ ὁποταν≥ ψυχὴ προλίπεη φάος ἀελίοιο,
δεξιὸν ἐς≥ θίασ<ο>ν δεῖ {ξ} <σ᾽> ἰ<έ>ναι πεφυλαγμένον εὖ μάλα πάντ≥α,
«Yet when the soul leaves the light of the soul behind,
you must go to the right thiasos, keeping everything very well»
This indication does not imply the existence of another one situated on the left,
but it shows the belief that the right is the correct way taken by the initiates. This
direction leads to the sacred meadows and groves of Persephone, as indicated some
verses later in the same lamella25.
A gold tablet from Pherai confirms that the dead joins a thiasos26. I give the com-
plete text:
πέμπε με πρὸς μυστῶν θιάσους, ἔχω ὄργια [Βάκχου
Δήμητρος Χθονίας <τε> τέλη καί Μητρòς ὀρεί[ας
«Send me to the thiasoi of the initiates; I have the sacred symbola of Bacchus
and the rites of Demeter Chthonia and the Mountain Mother».
The mystes addresses to an unknown divinity, but the parallels of the other gold
tablets suggest strongly that she is Persephone. The ὄργια are sacred symbols. The
word achieves that meaning in Hellenistic times and we find it later in the Latin
poets, in the Graeco-Roman epigraphy, and literature of the Imperial era27. The τέλη
allude probably to mystic initiations. The thiasos is the reunion of initiates in the Be-
yond, and the mystes makes “a claim of membership”28, arguing that he is initiated in
several different mysteries, because the place of initiates is the privileged abode, the
locus amoenus in Hades. The initiate encounters in Hades the same type of people

23
  OF 489-490, 6-7, cf. Bernabé - Jiménez 2008, 115-117.
24
  OF 487, 2. The verse 2 is unfortunately difficult to read. The proposed reading is owed to Santamaría
Álvarez per litt., cf. Bernabé - Jiménez 2008, 96.
25
  OF 487, 5-6. In other tablets it is said that the spring in which the initiates drink is on the right: Petelia
(OF 475), Crete (OF 478-483), cf. Bernabé - Jiménez 2008, 22-24.
26
  OF 493a, cf. Parker - Stamatopoulou 2004 [2007]; Graf - Johnston 2007, 38-39; Ferrari - Prauscello
2007; Bernabé 2008; Bernabé - Jiménez 2008.
27
  Turcan 1992, 220.
28
  Graf - Johnston 2007, 95.
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with whom he has shared in rites during his mortal life and he is happy with them. In
the gold tablets, we find other proof that the reward for initiates is imagined as a col-
lective one; the mystes belongs to a group during his life and after death belongs again
to a group. In the tablet from Hipponion, the dead is said to go “along the sacred
way by which the other mystai and bacchoi advance, glorious”29. In another tablet
from Petelia, the mystes is celebrated because he “will reign with the other heroes”30.
Finally in a tablet from Pelina someone congratulates the dead who “will go under
the earth, once you have accomplished the same rites as the other happy ones”31. In
the Netherworld, the individual identity of the initiates become meaningless. In the
gold tablet from Hipponion and others, the initiate declares himself to be son of the
Earth and the starry Heaven, which means he has lost the features that characterise
the existence on earth, such as name, family or gender32. Now he is an anonymous
member of the group.
As in Aristophanes’ Frogs, the thiasoi in the gold tablets are integrated by initiates
who celebrate rituals and dwell in a meadow. It is not said that Dionysus presides the
group, but in the Pheraii tablet the deceased claims to have the symbola of Bacchus as
a merit for being sent to the thiasoi of the initiates. It suggests his importance, special-
ly considering that the text is brief and concise. The gold tablets are very small both
because the price of gold dissuades people from using a very long text, and because
the dead man or woman had to transport them into the other world. The size of the
tablets does not allow for long, complete literary written texts, but for functional
ones. That explains why the tablets do not describe in depth the activities of the thia-
sos, but they show its situation. Only the information that is useful for the initiate has
been selected. The profanes’ fate, for example, is not alluded either, perhaps because it
might also be considered a bad omen at the moment of death to recall the possibility
that the soul could fail.

5. The Thiasoi in Roman Times

In the early Roman period Virgil offers us a beautiful example of the groups that
inhabit the Hades33. Anchises appears to his son Aeneas and advises him to visit the
mansions of hellish Dis, in which Anchises dwells not with the damned in Tartarus
or the purgatorial spirits, but with the happy throngs of the Blessed in Elysium. An-
chises does not seem to be an initiate into the Dionysiac mysteries, but the belief in a
dual Hades, in which the happy souls are spatially separated from the damned ones,
has become an effective literary device.

29
  OF 474, 15-16.
30
  OF 476, 11.
31
  OF 485, 7.
32
  Ex. gratia OF 474, 10, cf. Bernabé - Jiménez 2008, 41-44; Bernabé 2012.
33
 Verg. Aen. 5, 731-735.
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The prohibition of the Bacchanals by the famous Senatusconsultum in 186 B.C.34,
did not suppose the disappearance of mystery cults, but rather, it led to their trans-
formation into cults regulated and controlled by the state. The ancient thiasos, that
was independent and usually itinerant, gave way to the Bacchic priestly associations,
hierarchical and institutionalized and attached to a place of worship, as numerous
inscriptions witness35. The epigraphy also shows the diversity of technical terms used
to designate them, such as σπεῖρα, βακχεῖον or θίασος, the most general and almost
archetypal. In many cases we found these terms used as synonymous to designate
the same reality: a Dionisyac group36. We also observe in this period a recovery of
ancient rites, although not always linked to beliefs that motivated their celebration in
the past37. It is important to take in consideration all these factors before analyzing
the infernal thiasoi in Roman times.
Several inscriptions suggest that the dead goes into a group, sometimes similar
to the thiasos of which he has been member in life, but now led by the god himself38.
In an epigram of Tusculum (Rome), we read that a dead girl of nine years-old is
member of Dionysus Bacchius’ thiasos in order to dance and lead a σπείρα39, that is,
a Dionysiac association40:
παρθένος εἰναέτης, δέκατον βαίνουσ᾽ ἐνίαυτό[ν],
ἤδε καὶ τοκέων ἅλιον μόχθον νοέουσα
᾽Ιουλία Κυιντιλίου θυγατὴρ γλυκεροῖο τοκῆος
Ἐλπιδηφόροιο κεῖμαι τὴν πανυστάτην
δωτείνην πατέρος πολυδα<κ>ρυτον ναίουσα·
ὃν τείων Διόνυσος ὁ Βάκχιος ἐν θιά<σ>οισιν
[ἡγ]ήτειραν ἐμὲ σπείρης ἐ[ν]έβησε [χ]ορεύειν.
Maid of nine years, almost ten,
who already understands the vain torment of her parents,
«Julia, Quintilius Elpidephoros’ daughter of a sweet father,
lies here, inhabiting the last and much-weeped gift of his father;
in honor of whom Dionysus Bacchius invited me to dance
in his thiasos as leader of my group».
Surely the group member was the father, and not his daughter, perhaps even too
young. Nevertheless, the parent is confident that the prematurely dead girl may have
the same fate that is promised to the members of his association and she would dance

34
  Cf. Bruhl 1953, 82-116; Pailler 1988, specially 20-56.
35
  See Bruhl 1953, 268-308; Nilsson 1957, 45-65; Burkert 1987, 30-53; Burkert 1993, 259-275; Jaccottet
2003, I, 30-62, 112-123; Jiménez San Cristóbal 2008, 1473-1480.
36
  Bruhl 1953, 280-286; Jaccottet 2003, I, 59-62, II, 26.
37
  Herrero de Jáuregui 2008, 1392-1400.
38
  Numerous Dionysiac sarcophagi from imperial period represent happy Bacchic thiasos, cf. Turcan
1966, 554-551, 569-576.
39
  About the term and its epigraphical examples, cf. Bruhl 1953, 280-281; Jaccottet 2003, II, 296.
40
  See Merkelbach 1971, 280; Jaccottet 2003, II, no. 180, with earlier bibliography; we broadly follow
Jaccottet’s edition and interpretation. See also Cole 1993, 289.
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forever. It is difficult to assess to what extent thiasos is here used in poetic sense, that
is, without the connotations with which it is associated in mystery cults. In any way,
dance remains the favourite activity of the group in the Netherworld.
The same theme reappears in an inscription from Iaza, in Lydia41:
τὸν ἀδαῆ Κύπριδος καὶ ἀλ-
λότριον κακότητος | εἵλα-
τό με Βρόμιος σὺν Μοίραισιν
τὸν ἑταῖρον, | συνμύστην εἵ-
ν’ ἔχῃ με χορείαις ταῖς ἰδίαι- 5
σιν. | οὔνομά μοι Ἰουλιανός,
ἔτη δὲ ἔζησα δέχ’ ἑπτά (…).
«Unaware of Kypris and alien to evil, Bromius has chosen me as companion, with the
Moirae, having me as fellow initiate in his dances. My name is Julianus and I am seven-
teen years old (…)».
The dead celebrates to have been chosen by Bromius’ thiasos as fellow initiate
(συνμύστης) in his dances. In this case, the term συνμύστης could suggest that the
young had been really initiated into Bacchic mysteries.
At Philippi a Latin speaker imagines the happiness of a dead boy dwelling in Hades
and enjoying of eternal bliss after his pure and chaste life. I quote a part of the text42:
tu placidus, dum nos (cr)uciamur volnere victi,
et reparatus item vivis in Elysiis.
sic placitum est divis a(e)terna vivere form(a)
qui bene de supero (n)umine sit meritus:
quae tibi castifico promisit munera cursu 15
olim iussa deo simplicitas facilis.
nunc seu te Bromio signatae mystidis aise
florigero in prato congregi in Satyrum
sive canistriferae poscunt sibi Naides aequ(e)
qui ducibus taedis agmina festa trahas, 20
sis quodcumque, puer, quo te tua vita protulit aetas,
dum modo (pro meritis arva beata colas).
«While we were beaten by a grief torment, you dwell in the Elysian fields, calm and re-
freshed, he is pleasing to the gods that live forever he who has earned a superior numen.
Your gracious purity, ordered one day by the god, has ensured you these privileges as a
reward for a chaste life. Now, either the tattooed Bacchants of Bromius claim you in a
flowery meadow under the guise of a Satyr joined to their group, or similarly the Naiades
carrying baskets ask you to lead their happy armies led by your torches, whatever you are,
child, wherever your age takes you in life, I hope you will dwell in the fiels of the blessed,
as a reward for your merits».

  TAM V 1, 477; Merkelbach - Stauber 1998, no. 04/10/02; Jaccottet 2003, I, no. 112; cf. Cole 1993, 289.
41

 Cf. CIL III 126, no. 686 (OF 580), cf. Cole 1984, 46; Freyburger-Galland - Freyburger - Tautil 1986, 71
42

and n. 93; Cole 1993, 289; Jaccottet 2003, I, no. 29.

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The Bacchantes (mystidis) of Bromius claim that he joins their group (congregi)
in a flowery meadow. Here again, we cannot ensure that the young deceased was an
initiate into Dionysiac cults. The mentioned purity and strict way of life are conditio
sine qua non for achieving happiness in mystery cults, but the mention of the Naiads
and the comparison with a Satyr could suggest that the image of the Dionysiac Neth-
erworld has been used as poetic symbol of a locus amoenus helping to cope with the
loss of a loved one43. Regardless, the features of the Bacchantes’ group coincide with
those of previous thiasos: a festive crowd carrying torches and dwelling in a flowery
meadow, reserved for the blessed.
Finally, a funeral stele from Čekančevo, in Thrace, shows the possible integration
of a dead woman into a thiasos. The inscription, whose reading is controversial, can
be interpreted in Dionysiac code44:
D(is) M(anibus)
hic | ego ia|cio infelix no|mine Ilia |
C[l]audya dom|(i)ni Biacusti(i) at<t>ce|nsita.
Vixi an(nnos) decem ces|a [f]ui calend(is)
Iuni(i). Certe | cupiunt mei cari par|entes
me nuvere viro et glo|ria pascere omnes,
set ia(m) n|ec amplius licuit proli|xa(e) vivere tempus.
Bis | denos et tres annos cu|m cessa fuis|se<m>,
fatus aut | genesis me fe|cit carere pare|ntes.
Excitor ia(m) s|avis Filina comi|te matre,
Nisi a|ncilla. Vivite, | viv|ite c(arae) s(orores) vel odales) q(u)|an | diu|s
[-------] Ferociana | c(um) g(rege) b(ene) me(renti).
Vale viator.
«To Di (Gods) Manes. I lie here, unhappy, with the name of Ilia Claudia, servant of Lord
Biacustius. I was consacrated at ten years old on the Calends of June. My dear parents
wanted certainly to find me a husband and they all enhance my reputation. Nevertheless,
I was not destined to live longer than the time appointed. Twenty-three years after I was
consecrated, destiny or fate made me missable to my parents. Now, myself, the servant of
Niyseus, I am called between the initiates thanks to my mother in the initiation, Filina.
Live, live, dear daughters so long… Ferociana (has made erect this monument) for a good
woman. Goodbye walker».
The deceased have would been initiated and devoted to Dionysus at ten years,
such as show the expressions Sabis, that is Bacchis and Nisi ancilla, that is Nysii ancil-
la. When she dies, she hopes to become a Bacchant of the thiasos in the Netherworld
thanks to her mother in the initiation, Filina45.

43
  Cf. Jaccottet 2003, I, 67.
44
  Jaccottet 2003, II no. 51 includes other interpretations. See also Bruhl 1953, 245-246; Cole 1984, 46-
47; Cole 1993, 284, 289-91.
45
  Jaccottet 2003, I, 88-89, n. 101; 192, n. 68.
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The infernal thiasoi from Roman times answer the traditional model of a group of
men and women dancing and shaking torches. The terminology of late inscriptions
does not reveal, however, a special emphasis on the ecstatic experience, typical of pre-
vious mystery cults. In this case, it is not easy to discern whether the group members
were indeed initiated who imagined afterlife as the model learned during the ritual,
or the vision of Dionysiac Beyond, on its happy side, had already become an usual
poetic device to alleviate the fear and pain of death.

6. Death and Ritual

As final point, we can ask why mystery cults conceived the idea of thiasoi in the
next life. The answer has to do with the idea that the existence in Hades is considered
the real life and ritual is conceived as a preparation for death. Some passages reveal a
formal and conceptual relationship between the worship experience, τελετή, and the
death, τελευτή. Plato and Plutarch establish an etymological connection between the
two terms in the sense that the τελετή takes its name precisely because of the validity
of its effects after death, τελευτή46. Let see the Plutarch’s text47:
Οὕτω κατὰ τὴν εἰς τὸ ὅλον μεταβολὴν καὶ μετακόσμησιν ὀλωλέναι τὴν ψυχὴν λέγομεν
ἐκεῖ γενομένην· ἐνταῦθα δ’ ἀγνοεῖ, πλὴν ὅταν ἐν τῷ τελευτᾶν ἤδη γένηται· τότε δὲ πάσχει
πάθος οἷον οἱ τελεταῖς μεγάλαις κατοργιαζόμενοι. διὸ καὶ τὸ ῥῆμα τῷ ῥήματι καὶ τὸ
ἔργον τῷ ἔργῳ τοῦ τελευτᾶν καὶ τελεῖσθαι προσέοικε. πλάναι τὰ πρῶτα καὶ περιδρομαὶ
κοπώδεις καὶ διὰ σκότους τινὲς ὕποπτοι πορεῖαι καὶ ἀτέλεστοι, εἶτα πρὸ τοῦ τέλους αὐτοῦ
τὰ δεινὰ πάντα, φρίκη καὶ τρόμος καὶ ἱδρὼς καὶ θάμβος· ἐκ δὲ τούτου φῶς τι θαυμάσιον
ἀπήντησεν καὶ τόποι καθαροὶ καὶ λειμῶνες ἐδέξαντο, φωνὰς καὶ χορείας καὶ σεμνότητας
ἀκουσμάτων ἱερῶν καὶ φασμάτων ἁγίων ἔχοντες· ἐν αἷς ὁ παντελὴς ἤδη καὶ μεμυημένος
ἐλεύθερος γεγονὼς καὶ ἄφετος περιιὼν ἐστεφανωμένος ὀργιάζει καὶ σύνεστιν ὁσίοις καὶ
καθαροῖς ἀνδράσι, τὸν ἀμύητον ἐνταῦθα τῶν ζώντων <καὶ> ἀκάθαρτον ἐφορῶν ὄχλον
ἐν βορβόρῳ πολλῷ καὶ ὁμίχλῃ πατούμενον ὑφ” ἑαυτοῦ καὶ συνελαυνόμενον, φόβῳ δὲ
θανάτου τοῖς κακοῖς ἀπιστίᾳ τῶν ἐκεῖ ἀγαθῶν ἐμμένοντα. ἐπεὶ τό γε παρὰ φύσιν τὴν
πρὸς τὸ σῶμα τῇ ψυχῇ συμπλοκὴν εἶναι καὶ σύνερξιν ἐκεῖθεν ἂν συνίδοις.
«Thus we say that the soul that has passed thither is dead, having regard to its complete
change and conversion. In this world it is without knowledge, except when it is already
at the point of death; but when that times comes, it has an experience like that of men
who are undergoing initiation into great mysteries; and so the verbs teleutân (die) and
teleisthai (be initiated), and the actions they denote, have a similarity. In the beginning
there is straying and wandering, the weariness of running this way and that, and nervous
journeys through darkness that reach no goal, and then immediately before the con-
summation every possible terror, shivering and trembling and sweating and amazement.
But after this marvellous light meets the wanderer, and open country and meadow lands
welcome him; and in that place there are voices and dancing and the solemn majesty is

 Pl. R. 364e-365a; Plu. fr. 178 Sandbach.

46

  The translation is from Sandbach 1969. For connexion of this text with mystery cults, see Bernabé
47

2001.
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sacred music and holy visions. And amidst these, he walks at large in new freedom, now
perfect and fully initiated, celebrating the sacred rites, a garland upon his head, and con-
verses with pure and holy men; he surveys the uninitiated, unpurified mob here on earth,
the mob of living men who, herded together in mirk and deep mire, trample one another
down and in their fear of death cling to their ills, since they disbelieve in the blessings of
the other world».
The faithful goes to the τελετή in order to undergo a psychic, essential and mem-
orable experience through which he acquires an escathological knowledge about the
fate of the soul in the Netherworld. The τελετή is conceived as a training of death, so
the rites and doctrines of ritual illustrate what should do the dead in transit through
Hades and what happens in afterlife. The ritual thiasos brings forward the infernal
thiasos. In the Netherworld, the initiate will belong to a group similar to his ritual
group, he will make similar sacrifices and he will dance carrying torches and crowns.
Plutarch points out even feelings similar to both ritual and death, as for example,
anxiety, fatigue or amazing light. But the τελετή expounds also the image of a dual
Hades with rewards and punishments. The initiate learns that he can face safely the
bodily death and the entrance in the next life. He will be able to avoid the terrors of
Hades because he arrives there purified; he will dwell with the other blessed. Plutarch
describes the open country and meadowy lands that welcome the initiate, who cele-
brates sacred rites as, for example dances. Plutarch’s description shows many of the
essential features that we have seen associated with infernal thiasoi. Their members
enjoy the privileges of initiate people who achieve the happy fate in the Netherworld.
The existence in Hades is considered to be the true life.

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