T H E E L E U SI NIAN

M Y S T E R I ES 83 9
°
R I T ES

/ X

D U D LE Y VV R I G H T

I N TR O DUC T I O N BY T H E
R EV .
" F O
. RT N EW T O N l" , . a D D
. .

at G ad wa
P s r n f
o tie Gr ad
n L odg e qa '
,

T H E T H EO S O P HIC A L PU B LI S HI N G H O U SE
1 U P PER W O B U RN P LAC E

L O ND O N , W . C . 1

S"UARE CO M PAS S,
"
B EAC R C OU RT,
‘

4 ,

DENV ER, C O LO . U SA . . .
 P RE F A C E

T o n e time the Mysteries Of the vario u s nations

were the o n ly vehicle of religion throughout
the world and it is not impossible that the very
,

name of religion might have beco m e Obsolete but

for the s u pport of the periodical celebrations which
preserved all the forms and ceremonials rites and ,

practices of sacred worship .

With regard to the connection supposed ,

or r eal ,

between Freemasonry and the Mysteries , it is a

remarkable coincidence that the re is scarcely a single
ceremony in the former that has not its corresponding
rite in on e or othe r of the A ncient Mysteries . The
q u estion as to which is the original is an important
one to the st u dent . The Masonic antiquarian
m aintai n s that Freemas o nry is not a scion snatched
—
with a vi o lent hand from the Mysteries whether
Pythagorean , Hermetic ,
S amothracian ,
Eleusinian ,

D r usian D ru idical or the like

, ,
-
but is the original
i ns t i tu ti on fr o m which all the Mys t e rie s we re d e rive d
, .
8 ELEU S INIAN MY S TERIE S AND RI TE S

In the opinion of the ren o wned Dr . Ge o rge Oliver

There is ample testimony to establish the fact that

the Mysteries of all nations were originally the same ,

and dive r sified only by the accidental circumstances

Of local situation and political ec o no m y . The
original fo u ndation of the Mysteries has however , ,

never been established . Herodot u s ascribed the

institution of the Eleusinian Mysteries to Egyptian
influences while
, P o c oc ke declares the m to have been
of Tartar origin and , to have co m bined Brahminic a
l

and B u ddhistic ideas . Others are equally of opinion

that their origin must be sought for in Pe r sia while ,

at least o n e writ er — and w h o in these days will , ,

declare the theo r y to be fanciful — ven t ures t he

opinion that it is n o t improbable that t hey were
practised a m ong the A tlanteans .

The Eleusinian Mysteries — those rites of ancient

Greece , and later of R ome , of which there is historical
evidence dating back to the seventh century before
—
the Christian era b ear a ve ry striking resemblance
in many points to the rit u als of both Operative and
S peculative Freemasonry . As to their o rigin beyond
,

t he lege n dary account p ut f o r th the r e is n o trace , .

In the opinio n o f so m e wri t e r s of r ep ut e an Egyptia n

 PREFACE 9

s o u rce is at t ributed t o the m but O f this there is no

,

positive evidence There is a legend that S t John

. .

the Evangelist acharacter hono u red and revered

—
by Freemasons — was an initiate o f these Mysteries .

Certainly more than

, on e of the early Fathers of the
Christian Chu r ch boasted of his initiation into these
Rites . The fact that this is the first time tha t an
attempt has been made to give a detailed exposition
of the ce r emonial and its meaning in the English
langu age will ,
it is hoped ,
render the articles of
interest and utility to students of Masonic lore .

As to the influence of the Mysteries upon Christi

a mity it will be see n that in more than
, on e i n stance
the Christian ritual bears a very close resemblance
to the solemn rites of the Lati n and Gr eek Mysteries .

The Bibliography at the end does n ot claim to be

exhaustive but it will be found
, to contain the principal
sou r ces o f o ur knowledge o f the Eleusinian Mysteries .

DU D LEY WR I GHT .

OX F O RD .
 C O N T EN T S
P AG E

P RE F A C E
I N T R O D U CT I O N
1 . TH E E L E U S INI AN L E G EN D
II . TH E RI T U A L OF TH E MYS T ERI E S

I II . P R O G R AMM E OF TH E G RE AT E R MYS T ERI E S

IV . TH E INI T I AT O R Y RI T E S
V . TH EI R MYS T I C AL I NI F I CAN C E
S G

B BLI I O G RA P H Y
 I N T RO D U C T I ON

a aa
THE R E V .
J . F OR T NE W TON , D LIT T
. .
, D D
. .
,

P at G
s r nd Ch pl in f
o t he Gr ad
n Lodge f
o I ow a .

EW aspects of the his t ory o f the hu m an spiri t

are more fascinating than the story o f the
Mysteries o f antiquity o n e chapter o f which is told in
,

the following pages with accuracy insight and charm , , .

Like all human institutions they had their foundation ,

in a real need to which they ministered by dramatizing

,

the faiths and hopes and longings o f humanity and ,

evoking that eternal mysticism which is at once the

j y
o and solace o f man as he marches o r creeps o r
crowds through the Welter o f doubts dangers disease , , ,

and death which we call our life

, .

Once the sway o f the Mysteries was well nigh -

universal but towards the end of their power they

,

fell into the mire and became corrupt as all things ,

hu m an a re a p t to d o the C hurch
,
itself ,
being no .
.

exception Ye t at their best and highest they wer e

.

13
14 ELEU S INIAN M Y S TERIE S AND RI TE S

n ot only lofty and noble but elevating and r efining

, ,

and that they served a high p u rpose is equally clear ,

else they had not w o n the eulogiums o f the most

enlightened men of antiquity Fro m Pythagoras to .

Plutarch the teachers Of Old bear witness to the service

o f the Mysteries and Cicero testified that what a m an
,

lea r ned in the house o f the Hidden Place made him

want t o live nobly a n d gave him happy thoughts fo r
,

the hour of death .

The Mysteries said Pla t o we r e es t ablished by m en

, ,

O f great genius who m the early ages strove to teach

, , ,

puri t y to a m eliorate the cruelty o f the race to exalt

, ,

its mo r als a n d refine its manners and to restrain

,

society by st r o n ger bonds than those which hu m an

laws impos e S uch being their purpose he who gives ,

a thought to the life of man at large will enter their

vanished sanctuaries with sympathy ; and if no
mystery a n y longer attaches to what they taught
least o f all to their ancient allegory o f i m mortality
— there is the abiding interest in the rites drama , ,

and sy m bols employed in the teaching o f wise and

good and bea u ti fu l t ru th .

What influence the Mysteries had on the new ,

u prising Christia n ity is hard to know and the issue ,

is still in deb a te That they did infl u e nce the e arly

.

Church is evident f r o m the writi n gs of the Fa thers

m ore tha n one of who m boasted of i nitiati on a — nd

s om e g o s o fa r as to say that t h e Myst e ri e s died at

last o nl y to live a
, ga in i n the ri tu a
l of t h e Ch prch .
 INTR O DUC TI O N 15

St .
Paul in his m issionary j ourneys c a m e in con t act
with the Mysteries and even makes use o f some
,

o f their technical terms in his Epistles the better ,

to show that what they sought to teach by d rama

can be known only by spiritual experience NO .

doubt his insight is sound but surely drama may ,

assist to that r eali z ation else public worship m ight

,

also co m e u nde r ban .

Of the Ele u sinian Mys t eries in pa r tic u la r we have ,

long needed s u ch a study as is here O ffered in which ,

the author not only sums up in an attractive manne r

what is known but adds t o o u r knowledge some
,

impo r tant details A n E gyptian so u rce has been

.

attributed to the Myste ries Of Greece but there is ,

little evide n ce o f it save as we may conj ecture

,

it to have been so remembering the influence o f

,

Egypt upon Greece S uch influences are di fficult

.

to trace and it is sa f er to say that the idea and use

,

—
of Initiation as Old as the Men s House o f primitive
’

society —was universal and took di ffere n t fo r ms in

,

di fferent lands .

S u ch a study has m ore than a n antiq u a ria n i n te r est ,

not only to students in general but especially t o the ,

m en o f the ge n tl e C r aft o f F r ee m as on ry If we .

may not say that F r ee m aso n ry is historically

desce n ded fr o m the instit u ted Myste ries of antiq u ity ,

it do es perpet u ate to s om e extent their m inistry

, ,

a mon g us At le ast t h e r ese m bla n ce be twe e n thos e

a
.
,

a l s of b ot h Ope ra
n ci e n t rit es n d th e ce re mon i a tive
16 E LEUS INIAN M YS TERIE S A N D RI TE S

and S peculative Freemasonry are very striking

and the p r esent study must be reckoned as not the
least o f the se r vices of i t s a u thor to tha t g racio u s
Craft .

TH E CIT Y TE MPLE ,
LO ND O N , E C
. .
18 E LEU S INI A N M Y S TERIE S AND RITE S

and his accomplice Incensed at Zeus she left

.
,

Olympos and the gods and came down to scour the ,

earth disg uised as an Old woman .

In the course o f her wanderings she arrived at

Eleusis where she was honourably entertained by
,

K e le o s the ruler o f the country with whom and

, , ,

his wife Me t a n ir ashe consented to remain in order

,

to watch ove r the education o f D emophon who had ,

j ust been born to the aged king and whom she

undertook to make i m mortal .

Long was thy anxious search

F o r love ly P ros e rpin e nor didst thou br e ak
Thy mournful fast till the far fa
,

m d E l e u sis
’
-
,

R e c eive d the e wand e ring .

Orp hic Hy m n .

The city Of Eleusis is said to derive its name from

the hero Eleusis a fabulous personage deemed by
,

some to have been the o ffspring o f Mercury and

D aira daughter Of Oceanus while by othe rs he was
, ,

claimed as the s on o f Oxyge s .

Unknown to the parents D emeter used t o anoint

'

Demophon by day with ambrosia and hide him by ,

night in the fire like a firebrand D etected one night .

by Me t an ir ashe was compelled to reveal herself as

,

D emeter the goddess Whereupon she directed

, .

the Eleusinians to erect a temple as a peace O ffering -

,

and this being done she promised to initiate them

, ,

into the form o f worship which would obtain for

 TH E ELEU S INI A N LE GEND 19

them her goodwill and favour It is I D emeter , ,

full of glory who lightens and gladdens the hearts of

,

g ods and men Hasten

. ye my people to raise
, , ,

hard by the citadel below the ramparts a fane

, , ,

and o n the eminence of the hill an altar above the , ,

wall Of Ca llic h or u m I will instruct you in the rites

.

which shall be Observed and which are pleasing

to me .

The temple was erected but Demeter was still ,

vowing vengeance against gods and men and because ,

Of the continued loss o f her daughter she rendered

the earth sterile during a whole year .

What ails h e r that s h e come s not home P

D e m e t e r s e e ks h e r far and wi d e ;
‘

And gl oomy browe d doth c e as e l e s s roam

-

F ro m many a m o m till ev e ntide .

My life imm o rtal though it be

, ,

I s naught " she c r i e s for want Of thee

"

, ,

P e rs e phone— P e rs e phone

The oxen drew the plough but in vain was the ,

seed sown in the prepared ground Mankind was .

threatened with utter annihilation and all the gods ,

were deprived o f sacrifices and O fferings Zeus .

endeavoured to appease the anger o f the gods but ,

in vain Finally he summoned Hermes to go to

.

Pluto and order him to restore Persephone to her

mother Pluto yielded but before P ersephone left
.
,

she took from the hand o f Pluto four pomegranate

pips Which he o ffered her as sus t e n ance on her j ourney .
20 E LE US INI A N M Y S TERIE S AND RITE S

Persephone returning fr o m the land of shadows

, ,

found her mother in the temple at Ele u sis which had

recently been erected Her first question was
.

whether her daughter had eaten anything in the land

of her imprisonmen t because her unconditional
,

return to earth and Oly m pos depended upon th a t .

P ersephone informed her mother that all she had

eaten was the pomegranate pips in consequence of
,

which Pluto demanded that Persephone should

soj ourn with him fo r four months during each year ,

o r o n e month for each pip taken D emeter had no

.

option but to consent to this arrangement which ,

meant that she would enj oy the company Of Per

s e ph o n e for eight months in every yea r and that ,

the remaining four would be spent by P ersephone

with P luto D emeter c aused to awaken anew the
.

fruits Of the fertile plains and the whole ea r th

,

was r e clothed with leaves and flowers D emeter

-
.

—
called together the princes Of Eleusis Triptolemus ,

D iocles
, , ,
—
Eumolpus P o lyxe n o s and K e le o s and
—
initiated them into the sacred rites most venerable
-
into which no o n e is allowed to make enqu iries
or to divulge a solemn warning from the gods seals
our mouths .

A lthough secrecy on the subj ect o f the nature o f

the stately Mysteries 1 s strictly enj oined the writer,

of the Homeric Hymn to D emeter m akes no secret

of the happin ess which belonged to ll who became a
i n itiates : Happy is he w ho has b e en r e ceived
 THE E L E U S I N I A N L E G E ND 21

unfortunate he who has never received the initiation

nor taken part in the sacred ordina nc es and who ,

cannot alas " be destined to the same lot reserved

,

for the faithful in the darkling abode .

"

The earliest mention Of the Temple Of D emeter at

Eleusis occurs in the Homeric Hymn to D emeter ,

which has already been mentioned This was n o t .

written by Homer but by some poet versed in ,

Homeric lore and its probable date is about ,

60 0 R C It was discovered a little over a hundred

.

years ago in an Old monastery library at Moscow ,

'

and now r eposes in a museum at Leyden .

In this Homeric Hymn to D emeter Persephone ,

gives her o w n version O f the incident as follows

W e we r e all playing in the lovely meadows -a

Leucippe and P h a in o
,
and Electra and Ianthe , , ,

and Me lit é and I a c h é and R h o d e ia and Ca

,
llin h o e , ,

and Me lo bos is and I a n e ir aand A c a

,
s t é and A dmet e , , ,

and R hodope and P lo u t o and Winsome Calypso and

, , ,

S tyx and Urania and beautiful Ga

,
la
xa,
mé We .

were playing there and plucking beautiful blossoms

with o u r hands ; crocuses mingled and iris and , ,

hyacinth and roses and lilies a marvel to behold

, , , ,

and narcissus tha t the wide earth bare a wile for

, ,

my undoing Gladly was I gathering them when

.

the earth gaped beneath and therefrom leaped the ,

mighty prince the host of many guests and he bare

, ,

me against my will despite my grief beneath the , ,

l

"
earth in his golden chariot and shrilly did I cry
,
.
22 ELEU S INIAN M YS TERIE S A ND RI TE S

The version of the legend given by Min u c iu s Fel ix

is as follows : Pros e rpine the daughter of Ceres ,

by Jupiter as she was gathering tender flo w ers in

,

the new spring was ravished from her delightful

,

abode by Pluto ; and being carried from thence

,

through thick woods and over a length Of sea was ,

brought by Pluto into a cavern the residence o f ,

departed spirits over whom she afterwards ruled

,

with absolute sway But Ceres upon discovering

.
,

the loss Of her daughter with lighted torches and

,

begirt with a serpent w a ndered over the whole earth

,

for the purpose o f finding her till she came to Eleusis ,

there she found her daughter and discovered to ,

the Eleusinians the plantation Of corn .

A ccording to another version o f the legend Neptune ,

met Ceres when she was in quest o f her daughter ,

and fell in love with her The goddess in order to

.
,

escape from his attentions concealed herself under ,

the form Of a mare when the god Of the sea trans

,

formed himself into a horse to seduce her with which ,

act she was so highly o ffended that after having

washed herself in a river and reassumed human
form she took refuge in a cave where she lay concealed
, , .

When famine and pestilence began to ravage the earth ,

the gods made search for her everywhere but could ,

not find her until Pan discovered her and apprised

Jupiter o f her whereabouts This cave was in S icily
.
,

in which country Ceres was known as the black

Ce r es or the E r in n ys because the o u trages o ffered
, ,
 THE ELEUS INI A N LE GEND 23

her by Neptune turned her frantic and furious .

D emeter was depicted in S icily as clad in black ,

with a horse s head holding a pigeon in one hand

’

and a dolphin in the other .

On the submission o f Eleusis to A thens the ,

Mysteries became an integral part Of the A thenian

religion so that the Eleusinian Mysteries became a
,

Panhellenic instit u tion and later under the R omans

, , ,

a universal worship but the secr e t rites of initiation

,

were well kept throughout their history .

Eleusis was o n e o f the twelve originally independent

cities Of A ttica which Theseus is said to have united
,

into a simple state Le u s in anow occupies the site

.
,

and has thus preserved the name o f the ancient

city.

Theseus is portrayed by V irgil as su ffering eternal

punishment in Hades but Proclus writes concerning
,

him as follows Theseus and P irithous are fabled ,

to have ravished Helen and to have descended to ,

—
the infernal regions i e they were lovers o f in . .

t e lligibl e and visible beauty A fterwards Theseus .

was liberated by Pericles from Hades but Pirithous ,

remained there because he could n o t sustain the

arduous attitude of divine contemplation .

D r Warburton in his D iv in e Lega ti on of M os e s

'

.
, ,

gives it as his Opinion that Theseus was a living

character who once forced his way into the E leusinian
Mysteries for which crime he was imprisoned o n
,

earth and afterwards damned in the infernal regions .

24 ELE U S INI A N MYS TERIE S AND RITE S

The Ele u sinian Mysteries seem to have constituted

the m ost vital portion Of the A ttic religion and ,

always to have retained something o f awe and solem

n it y
. They were not known outside A ttica until
the time Of the Median wa r s when they spread to
,

the Greek colon ies in A sia as part o f the constitution

O f the daughter states where the cult seems to have
,

exercised a considerable influence both o n the

populace and on the philosophers Outside Eleusis .

the Mysteries were not celebrated so frequently nor

o n so magnificent a scale . A t Ce le a
s where they ,

were celebrated eve ry fourth year a hierophant w h o

, ,

was not bound by the law of celibacy as at Eleusis , ,

was elected by the people for each celebration .

Pausanias is the authority for a statement by the

P h lia s ian s that they imitated the Eleusinian Mysteries .

They maintained however that their rendering

, ,

wa s instituted by D ys a u le s,
brother Of Ce le u s who ,

went to their country after he had been expelled

from Eleusis by Ion the son o f X uthus at the time
, ,

when I o n was chosen commander in chief Of the - -

A thenians in the war against Eleusis P ausanias .

disputed that any Eleusinian was defeated in battle

and forced into exile maintaining tha t peace was
a
,

concluded between the A theni ns and the E leusinians

before the war was fought o u t even Eumolpus ,

himself being permitted to remain in Eleusis Pau .

sa n ias ,
also while admitting that D ys a
,
u le s might

have go n e to Phlias f or s o m e ca u se other than that

26 E LEU S INIAN MY S TERIE S AN D RITE S

added t o our life but nothing better than those

,

Mysteries by which we are formed and moulde d

from a rude and savage state o f humanity ; and ,

indeed in the Mysteries we perceive the real principles

,

Of life and learn not only to live happily but to die

, ,

with a fairer hope . Every manner Of writer

religious poet worldly poet sceptical philosopher
, , ,

orator — all are o f o n e mind about this that the

,

Mysteries were far and away the greatest o f all the

religious festivals Of Greece
.
 T H E R IT UA L OF THE MY S T E RI ES

HE Eleusinian Mysteries observed by nearly

,

all Greeks but particularly by the A thenians

, ,

were celebrated y early at Eleusis though in the ,

earlier annals o f their history they were celebrated

once in every three years only and once in every ,

four years by the Ce le a ns Cretans P a

,
r rh a
s ia
ns , ,

P he n e t eans,
P h lia
s ia
ns and S partans It was the
,
.

most celebrated o f all the religious ceremonies of

Greece at any period O f the country s history and
’

was regarded a s of such importance that the Festival

is referred to frequently simply as The Mysteries .

The rites were guarded most j ealously and carefully

concealed from the uninitiated If any person .

a
divulged any part Of them he was regarded as having
o ffended ag inst the divine law and by the act he
,

rendered himself liable to divine vengeance It .

was accounted unsafe to abide in the same house

with him and as soon as his O ffence was made public
,

he was apprehended S imilarly drastic punishment

.
,

was meted out to any person not initiated into

the Mysteries who chanced to be present at their
27
28 ELEU S INIAN MY S TERIE S A ND RITE S

celebration even through ignorance o r genuine

,

error.

The Mysteries were divided into two parts — the

Lesser Mysteries and the Greater Mysteries The .

Lesser Mysteries were said to have been instituted

when Hercules Castor and Pollux expressed a desire
, ,

to be initiated they happening to be in A thens

,

at the time O f the celebration o f the Mysteries by

the A thenians in accordance with the ordinance
of D emeter . Not being A thenians they were in ,

eligible for the honour o f initiation but the diffi ,

culty was overcome by Eumolpus who was desirous ,

o f including in the ranks o f the initiated a man o f

such power and eminence as Hercules foreigner ,

though he might be The three were first m ade

.

citizens and then as a preliminary to the initiation

,

ceremony as prescribed by the goddess Eumolpus ,

instituted the Lesser Mysteries which then and ,

afterwards became a ceremony preliminary to the

Greater Mysteries as they then became known
, ,

for candidates Of alien birth In later times this.

Lesser Festival celebrated in the month O f A nthes

,

t e r io n at the beginning Of spring at A gra became a

, ,

general preparation for the Greater Festival and ,

no persons were initiated into the Greater Mysteries

until they had first been initiated into the Lesser .

With regard to Hercules there is a legend that

,

on a certain time Hercules wished to beco m e a

me m ber o f o n e of the secret societies o f antiquity .
 THE R I TU A L OF THE MYS TERIE S 29

He accordingly presented himse lf and applied in

due form fo r initiation His case was referred to
.

a council O f wise and V 1 r t u o u s men who obj ected ,

to his admission o n account o f some crimes which

he had committed Consequently he was rej ected
. .

Their words to him were You are forbidd en to

"

enter here ; your heart is cruel your hands are ,

stained with crime Go repair the wron g you have

.

done ; repent Of your evil doings and then come ,

with pure heart and clean h ands and the doors o f ,

our Mysteries shall be opened to you The legend .

goes on to say that after his regeneration he returned

and became a worthy member of the Order .

The ceremonies of the Lesser Mysteries were

entirely di fferent from those of the Greater Mysteries .

The Lesser Mysteries represented the return o f

—
Persephone to earth which o f course took place , ,

at Eleusis ; and the Greater Mysteries represented

her descent to the infernal regions The Lesser .

Mysteries honoured the daughter more than the

mother who was the principal figure in the greater
,

Mysteries In the Lesser Mysteries Persephone was

.
,

k now n as P h e r r e ph a
t t aand in the Greater Mysteries
,

she was given the name o f K ore Everything was .

,

in fact a mystery and nothing was called by its

, ,

right name Le n o r m a
. n t says that it is certain that

the initiated o f the Lesser Mysteries carried away

from A gra a certain store o f religious knowledge
which enabled them to unde r stand the symbols
30 ELEU S INIAN M YS TERIE S AND RI TE S

and representations which were displayed after

wards before their eyes a t the Greater Mysteries at
E leusis .

The Obj ect Of the Lesser Mysteries was to signify

occultly the condition of the impure soul invested
with a terrene body and merged in a material nature .

The Greater Mysteries taught that he who in the ,

present life is in subj ection t o his irrational part

, ,

is truly in Hades If Hades then is the region o f

.
, ,

punishment and m isery the purified soul must ,

reside in the region Of bliss theoretically in the , ,

present life and according to a d e ifi c energy in the

,

next They intimated by gorgeous mystic visions

.

the felicity o f the s oul both here and hereafter , ,

when purified from the d e fi le m e n t s o f a material

nature and consequently elevated to the realities
of intellectual vision .

The Mysteries were supposed to represent in a

k ind Of moral drama the rise and establishment of
civil society the doctrine o f a state Of future rewards
,

and punishments the errors of polytheism and the

, ,

Unity of the Godhead which last article was after,

wards demonstrated t o be their famous secret .

The ritual was produced from the sanctuary I t .

was enveloped in symbolical figures of animals

which suggested a correspondence which was utterly
inexplicable to the uninitiated .

K O Muller in his H is tory of th e Lit er a

. .
,
tu r e o f
A n cien t G r e ece says ,
 THE RI TUAL OF THE M Y S TERIE S 31

Al l the Greek religious poetry treating o f death

and the world beyond the grave refers to the deities
whose infl uence was supposed to be exercised in
this dark region at the centre of the earth and were
,

thought to have little connection with the political

and social relations of human life These deities
.

formed a class apart from the gods o f Olympus

and were comprehended under the name o f the
Ch t h e n ian gods "gods o f the underworld " The .

mysteries o f the Greeks were connected with the

worship O f those gods alone That a love o f im
.

mortality first found asupport in a belief in these

deities appears from the fable o f Persephone the ,

daughter of D emeter Every year at the time o f

.

harvest Persephone was supposed to be carried

,

from the world above to the dark dominions o f the

invisible K ing of S hadows and to return every
,

spring in youthful beauty to the arms o f her mother .

It was thus that the ancient Greeks described the

disappearance and return Of vegetable life in the
alternations Of the seaso n s The changes Of Nature
.
,

however must have been considerable in typifying

,

the changes in the lot Of man otherwise Persephone

would have been merely a symbol o f the seed com
m it t e d to the ground and would not have become
queen of the dead B u t when the goddess Of inani
.

mate nature had become queen o f the dead it was ,

a natural analogy which must have early suggested

,

itself that the return of Persephone to the world

,
32 E LEU S INI A N MY S TERIE S A ND RI TE S

of light also denoted a renovation Of life and a new

birth in m an Hence the Mysteries of D emeter
.
,

and especially those celebrated at Eleusis inspired ,

the most elevated and animating hopes with regard

to the c on d it iOn of the soul after death .

No one was permitted to attend the Mysteries

who had incurred the sentence o f capital punishment
.

for treason o r conspiracy but all other exiles were

,

permitted to be present and were n o t molested in

any way during the whole period Of the Festival .

N 0 one could be arrested for debt during the holding

of the Festival .

S carcely a nything is known o f the programme

Observed during the course of the Lesser Mysteries .

They were celebrated o n the 1 9t h to z r s t Of the

month A nthesterion and like the Greater Myst eries
, , ,

were preceded and follow ed by a truce on the p a rt

o f all engaged in warfare The same O fficials presided
.

at both celebrations The Lesser Mysteries opened

.

with a sacrifice to De m eter and Persephone a portion ,

o f the victims o ffered bei n g reserved for the members

of the sacred families o f Eumolpus and K e r yc e .

The main Obj ect of the Lesser Mysteries was to

put the candidates fo r initiation in a condition O f
ritual purification and according to Clement Of
, ,
’

Alexandria they included certain instructions and

,

preparations for the Greater Mysteries Like the .

Eleusinian Mysteries properly so called they included

, ,

dramatic representations of the rape o f Persephone

34 ELEU S INI A N MYS TERIE S A ND RITE S

Pa u sanias relates that foll owing a wa r betwee n ,

the Eleusinians and the A thenians when E r e c t h e us , ,

K ing o f A thens ,
ra
conq u ered I m m a du s son o f ,

Eumolpus the subdued Eleusinians in making

, ,

their submission stipulated that they sho u ld remain

,

custodians O f the Mysteries but in all other respects ,

were to be subj ect to the A thenians This tradition .

is disputed by more modern writers but it was , .

accepted by the A thenians and acted u pon generally ,

and the right Of the two families solely to prepare

candidates for initiation was recognized by a decree
of the fifth century B C the privilege being confirmed
. .
,

afterwards at a convention between the r epresenta

t iv e s Of Eleusis and A thens The Eumolpides .

were the descendants Of a mythical ancestor E u m o l ,

pus son of Neptune who is first mentioned in the

, ,

time of P is a s t r us On the death o f Eu m olpus

.

acco r ding to one legend Ceryx the younger of the , ,

sons was lef t But the K e r yc e s claimed that

, .

Ceryx was a son Of Hermes by Agla m u s daughter ,

o f Cecrops and that he was not a s o n Of Eumolpus

, .

The members o f the family o f E u molpides had

the first claim upon the flesh o f the sacrificed animals ,

but they were permitted to give a portion t o any one

else as a reward or recompense for services rendered .

But when a sacrifice was O ffered to any o f the infernal

divinities the whole o f it had to be cons u med by
,

the fire . Nothing must be left A ll religious .

probl e ms r elating to the Myste ries which could

.
 THE RITUAL OF TH E MY S TERIE S 35

not be solved by the known laws were addressed

to the Eumolpides whose decision was final
, .

The m eaning o f the name E um olpus is a

good singer , and great importance was attached
to the quality o f the voice in the selection of the
hierophant the ch ief O fficiant at the celebration
,

o f the Mysteries and at the ce r emony o f initiation ,

and who was selected f rom the family Of the Eu m o l

pides It was essential that the formul a
. e disclosed

t o the initiates at Eleusis should be pronounced with

the proper intonation for otherwise the words would
,

have no e fficacy Correct intonation was of far

.

greater importance than syllabic pronunciation .

A n explanation o f this is given by Maspero ,

who says : The human voice is pre eminently -

a magical instrument without which none o f the

,

highest operations of art can be successful : each

o f its u tterances is carried into the region Of the

invisible and there releases forces of which the general

run Of people have no idea either as t o their existence
,

or their manifold action Without doubt the real

.
,

value Of an evocation lies in its text o r the sequence ,

o f the words Of which it is composed and the tone ,

in which it is enunciated In order to be e fficacious

.
,

the conj uration should be accompa n ied by chanting ,

either an incantation or a song In order to produce.

the desired e ffect the sacramental melody must be

chanted without the variation o f a single modulation
one false note one mistake in the measure the
, ,
36 E LE US INIAN MYS TERIE S AND RI TE S

i n tr o ve r si o n o f a n y tw o Of the s ou nds o f which it

is co m posed a ,
n d the intended e ffect is a n n u lled .

This is the r eason why all wh o r ecite a p raye r o r

f o r mu la i n ten d e d t o f o r ce the gods to p erfor m certain
acts m ust be of t ru e voice The result of their
.

e ffort whether s u ccess f ul or uns u ccess f ul will depend

, ,

upo n the exact n ess of thei r voice It was the voice

.
,

the r e f o r e which played the m os t i m p o rtant part

,

in the o blati o n in the praye r o f definite request

, ,

—
and in the evoca t io n in a word in every instance ,

"
where m an so u ght to seize hold of the god .

A pa r t fr om a true v o ice the w or ds we r e merely

dead so u nds Th e cha r acter of the voice plays
.

an important part in man y religions The V edas .

contain in them many invocations and hymns which

no uninitiated B rahman can r ecite : it is only the
initiate who knows thei r tr u e properties and how
to p u t the m int o use S ome of the hymns o f the
.

Rig V edawhen anagra mm atically arranged will yield

, ,

all the sec r et i n v o catio n s which we r e used for magical

purposes in the B r ah m anical ce r e m o n ies S ome .

Parsees pay m uch a t ten t i on t o what is called a za

’ ’

d
dw d or f r ee voice . It is r ecorded in Mosle m
tradition that a revelation came to the venerated
A rabian prophet r ese m bling the tone of a bell .

The e ffects which low monoto n ous chanting pro

,

duce on ne r vous people and children a r e well known .

Even ani m als a n d se r pe n ts a r e a m enable to the

influence of sound .
 THE RITU A L OF TH E MY S TERIE S 37

The hierophant was a reveale r of holy thi ngs .

He was a citizen o f A thens a man Of mature age

, ,

and held his O ffice for life devoting himself wholly

,

to the service of the te m ple and living a chaste life ,

to which end it was usual for him to a n oint himself

-

with the j uice o f hemlock which by its extr e me

, ,

coldness was said to extinguish in a great measure

,

the natural heat In the opinion of some writers

.

celibacy was an indispensable condition o f t h e

highest branch o f the priesthood ; but according ,

to inscriptions which have been discovered some at ,

any rate o f the hie r ophants were married s o that , ,

in all probability the r ule was that during the

,

celebration of the Mysteries and probably for a , ,

certain time before and after it was incumbent ,

on the hierophant to abstain fro m all sexual inte r

course Foucart is o f opinion that celibacy was
.

demanded only during the celebration o f the Mysteries ,

alth o ugh Pausanias states definitely otherwise In .

s u pport o f Foucart it may be stated that among

the inscriptions discovered at Ele u sis there is one
dedicating a statue to a hie r ophant by his wife .

It was essential that the hierophant should be a

man of co m manding presence and lead a si m ple
life On being raised to the dignity he received
.

a kind of consecration at a special cere m ony at ,

which only those of his o w n rank were permitted to

be present when he wa
, s entrusted with certain
secrets pertaining t o his high o ffice Prio r to this .
38 E LE U S INIAN M YS TERIE S A ND RITE S

ce r e m ony he went through a special pu r ific a t ory

rite im m e rsing himself in the sea an act to which
, ,

the Greeks attributed great virtue He had to be .

exemplary in his m o ral conduct and was regarded

,

by the people as being particularly holy The .

q u alifications Of a hierophant were so high that the

O ffi ce co u ld not be regarded as hereditary for it ,

would have been an exception to find both father

and s o n in possession o f the many various and high
qualifications regarded as essential to the holding
of the o flic e The robe of the hierophant was a
.

long purple ga r ment ; his hair crowned with a,

wreath of m yrtle flowed in long locks over his

,

shoulders , and a diadem ornamented his forehead .

A t the celebration of the Mysteries he was held to

represent the Creator O f the world He alone was .

permitted to penetrate into the innermost shrine

—
in the Hall Of the Mysteries the holy Of holies ,

as it we r e — and then only once during the celebration

o f the Mysteries ,when at the most solemn moment
,

of the whole mystic celebration his form appeared

,

suddenly to be t r a n s fi g u r e d with light before the

rapt gaze Of the initiated He alone was permitted

.

to reveal to the fully initiated the m ystic obj ects ,

the sight o f which marked the completion Of thei r

admission into the community He had the power
.

o f refusing admission to those applicants whom he

deemed u nfit to be ent r usted with the secrets He .

was not inac t ive du r ing the inte r vals between the
 THE RI TUAL OF THE M YS TE RIE S 39

celebrations of the Mysteries It was his duty to .

superintend the instruction of the candidates for

initiation who for that purpose were divided into
,

groups and instructed by O fficials known as m ys t a

g g
o u e
. s The personal name Of the hierophant
was never m entio n ed It was supposed to be.

unknown ,wafted away into the sea by the

mystic law and he was known only by the title
,

of the o ffice which he bore .

A n interesting inscription was found some years

ago at Eleusis engraved o n the base Of a statue
,

erected to a hiero phant : A sk not my name ; the

mystic rule " o r packet "has carried it away into the
blue sea But when I reach the fated day and go
.
,

to the abode Of the blest then all who care fo r me ,

On e o f his sons had written

"
will pronounce it .

below this inscription after t h e death Of the hiero

,

phant : Now we his children reveal the name of

, ,

the best of fathers which when alive he hid in the

, , ,

depths o f the sea This is the famous A pollonius

. .
"

There is extant an epigram by a female hierophant ,

which runs Let my name remain unspoken :

o n being shut O ff from the world when the sons o f

Cecrops made me h ie r oph a n t id e to Demeter I ,

myself hid it in the vasty depths E un ap iu s .

,

in V itaM a xim says I may not tell the name of

,

him who was then hierophant for it was he who ,

initiated me The manner in which the name was

.
"

committed to the sea was either by the i mm ersion

40 E LEU S I NIAN MY S TERIE S AND RITE S

of the bea r e r or by writing the na m e on a leaden

tablet which was cast into the sea The holy name
,
.
,

by which the hierophant was afterwards known ,

was der ived from the name Of so m e god o r bore

some r itualistic meaning S o m etimes the hierophant
.

was known simply by the title o f his office with

the ad d ition of his father s name The r ule as to
’
.

the public mention of the fo r me r n a m e o f the hiero

phant was occasionally tra n sgressed and there is ,

the ins t ance of the atheistic philosopher Theodorus

addressing a hierophant by his discarded name
o f La c ra
t e id e s and also Of D e in ia
, s who was p u t ,

into prison for the O ffence Of addressing a hieroph ant

by his discarded family name .

Lu cian refers to this in one passage in Lexipha n es

The first I met were a torch bearer a hiero phant -

, ,

and others o f the initiated haling D e in ia , s before

the j udge and protesting that he ha d called them

,

by their na m es though he well knew that from the

, ,

ti m e o f t hei r s a n c t ifi c a
t io n they were nameless
,

and no m ore t o be named bu t by hallowed names .

In the I m perial Inscriptions we find the titles

s u bstituted for the proper names The hierophant I

1
F romtwo inscripti ons found at El e usi s it wo ul d
app e ar that it was c usto m ary to make t h e name public
aft e r t h e d e ath o f t h e hi e rophant I t s e e ms also to
ha
.

ve b e e n t h e practic e to make t h e name kno w n to t h e

initiat e un d e r t h e pl e d ge O f s e cre c y S ir Jam e s F raz e r
.

thinks that t h e name s we re in all probability e ngrav e d

, ,

on tabl e ts of bronze or l e ad and the n thrown into d e e p

wa t e r in t h e Gulf of S alami s .
42 ELEUS INIAN MY S TERIE S AND RITE S

the torch bea r e r s and their duty consisted mainly

-
,

in carrying the torches at the S acred Festival .

They also wore purple robes myrtle crowns and , ,

diadems They were appointed for life and were

.
,

permitte d to marry The male dadouchos pa

. r t ic u

la r ly was associated with the hierophant in certain

s olemn and public functions s u ch as the opening

,

add r ess to the candidates for initiation and in the

public prayers for the welfare of the S tate The .

offi ce was frequently handed down from father to

son . Until the first century B C the dado u chos . .

was neve r add r essed by his o w n personal na m e ,

b u t always by the title of his o ffice .

The hie r o c c e r yx o r messenge r o f holy tidings

, ,

was the representative of Hermes o r Mercury , ,

who as the m essenger o f t he gods was indispensable

, ,

as m ediator whenever men wished to approach the

Immortals He also wo r e a purple colo u red robe
.
-

and a m yrtle crown He was chosen for life from

.

the family o f the K e r yc e s He made the necessary

.

proclamations to the candidates for initiation into

the various degrees and in particular enj oined them
,

to p r eserve silence It was necessary for hi m to have

.

passed through all the various degrees as his duties ,

necessitated his presence throughout the ceremonial .

The ph a id a n t e s had the custody o f the sacred

statues and the sacred vessels which they had to ,

maintain in good repai r They were selected fro m

.

one or othe r o f the two sace r do t al f a m ilies .

 THE RITUAL OF THE MY S TERIE S 43

A m ong the other o fficials were : The lik n Oph o r i ,

who carried the mystic fan ; the h yd r a n oi who ,

purified the candidates for initiation by sprinkling

them with holy water at the commencement o f
the Festival ; the s po n d o ph o r o i who proclaimed ,

the sacred truce which was to permit of the peaceful

,

celebration of the Mysteries ; the pyr ph o r o i who ,

brought and maintained the fire fo r the sacrifices ;

the h ie r a u le s w h o played the flute during the time
,

—
the sacrifices were being o ffered they were the
leaders Of the sacred music who had under their ,

charge the h ym n o d o i the h ym n e t r ia

,
i the n e o k o r o i ,

who maintained the temples and the altars ; the

p an ag e is
,
who formed a class between the ministers
"
and the initiated Then th e re were the initiates
.

o f the altar , who performed expiatory rites in the

n ame and in the place O f all the initiated There .

were also many other minor o fficials by the general ,

name Of m e is a l s e— i e bees perhaps s o called be

. .
,
-

cause bees being makers O f honey were sacred to

, ,

Demeter The diluvian priestesses and regenerated

.

souls were called bees A ll these officials had

.
"

to be of u nblemished reputation and wore myrtle ,

crowns while engaged in the service o f the temple .

The Oflic ia ls ; whose duty it was to take care that

the ritual was p u nctilio u sly followed in every detail ,

included nine archons who were chosen every yea r

,

to manage t h e a ffairs o f Greece The first o f these .

was always the K ing o r Ar chon Basileus whose

, ,
44 E LE US INIAN MY S TERIE S A ND RITE S

duty at the celebration of the Mysteries it was to

o ffe r prayers and sacrifices to see that no indecency
,

o r ir r egularity was committed d u ring the Festival ,

and at the conclusion to pass j u dgment on all O ffenders .

There were also four e pim e le t ee o r curators elected , ,

by the people o n e being appointed fro m the E u m o l

,

pides anothe r fro m the K e r yc e s and the re m aining

, ,

two fro m the rank and file Of the citi z ens and ten
h ie r o p o ioi whose d u ty it was to O ffe r sacrifices
,
.

It may be worthy o f remark here that Epimenides

of Crete who flourished about the year 6 0 0 B C
, , .
,

is said by Diogenes La e r t iu s in his life o f that philo

,

sophe r t o have been the first t o pe r fo rm expiatory

,

sacrifices and l u strations in fields and houses and to

have been the first to erect te m ples for the purpose
of sacrifice .

The sacred symbols used in the ceremonies were

enclosed in a special chamber in the Te le s t r io n o r ,

Hall o f Initiation known as the An a , c t or o n into ,

which the hierophant alo n e had the right to penetrate .

D uring the celebration o f the Mysteries they were

carried to A thens veiled and hidden from the gaze
of the profane whence they were taken back to
,

Eleusis . It w a
s permitted only to the initiated to

l ook upon these hiera as they were called These

, .

sacred Obj ects were in the charge o f the Eumolpides

family .

Written descriptions however graphic o r eloquent

, ,

c on vey b ut a f aint imp r ession Of the wonderful

 T H E RI TUAL OF THE MY S TERIE S 45

sce n es that were e n acted ; A ristides says that what

was seen rivalled anything that was heard Another .

write r has declared Many a wondrous sight

may be seen a n d not a few tales o f wonder m ay be
heard in Greece ; but there is n o thing on which
the blessi n g o f God r ests in so full a measure as
the rites O f Ele u sis and the Oly m pic ga m es For
.

nin e centuries — that period Of ti m e being divided

al m o s t equally between the pre Christian and
-

—
Christian eras they were the Palladium Of Greek
Paganism . In the latter part o f their history ,

when the restrictions as to admission began to be

relaxed and in proportion to that relaxation their
, ,

essential religio u s character disappeared they ,

became b u t a ce r emony their splend o ur being their

,

principal attraction until finally they degenerated

,

into a mere s uperstition Julian strived in vain to

a
.

infuse new life into the vanishing cult but it w s too

,

1ate the Eleusinian Mysteries were dead

-
.

The Athenians we r e pio u s in the extreme and ,

throughout the period that initiation was limited

to that race the reputation o f Eleusis was maintained ,

although pil grims fro m various and re mo te parts

of the wo r ld visited it at the season o f the Mysteries .

When the Eleusinian Mysteries were taken to R ome ,

as they were in the reign of H adrian they cont r acted

,

impurities and d egene r ated into riot and vice ;

the spirituality Of their teachings did n o t accompany
the transfer e n ce o r it failed t o be c om prehe n ded
46 E LEU S INIAN MY S TERIE S AND RITE S

Although the fo rm s Of initiation we r e still symbolical

o f the original and n oble Obj ects o f the institution ,

the licentious Romans mistook the shadow for the

substance and while they passed th r ough all the
,

cere m onies they were st r angers to the obj ects for

which they we r e framed .

In A D 3 64 a law prohibiting nocturnal rites was

. .
,

published by V alentinian b u t P r a e t e xt a
t u s whom
, ,

Julian had constituted governor Of A chaia prevailed ,

o n him to revoke it urging that the lives o f the

,

Greeks would be rendered utterly unsupportable

if he deprived them of this their most holy and ,

comprehensive festival Much has been made by

.

some writers Of the fact that the ceremonies were

held at night but in the early days o f Christianity also
,

it was the custo m for Christians to forgather either

at night or before daybreak a circumstance which ,

led to their assemblies being known as a n telu ca

ni

and the m selves as lu cif ug a or light haters by "

-
,

way o f reproach A bout the beginning of t he fifth

.

century Theodosius the Great prohibi t ed and almost

totally extinguished the pagan theology in the Roman
Empire and the Eleusinian Mysteries su ffered in
,

the general destruction It is probable however

.
, ,

that the Mysteries were celebrated secretly in spite

Of the severe edicts Of Theodosius and that they were
partly continued through the dark ages though ,

stripped o f their splendo u r It is certain that many

.

rites of the pagan religion were pe rf or m ed under

 THE RITUAL OF THE MY S TERIE S 47

the dissembled na m e of convivial meetings lon g ,

after the publication o f the Emperor s edicts and

’

P s e lliu s informs us that the Mysteries Of Ceres existed

in Athens until the eighth century of the Christian
era and were never totally s uppressed .

G —
The Festival Of the reater Mysteries and this
, ,
—
was of course by far the more important began on
the 1 st h o f the month o f Boedromion corresponding
,

roughly with the month of S eptember and lasted ,

u ntil the 2 3 r d o f the same month During that

.

time it was unlawful to arrest any m an p r esent

,

o r present any petition except for offences co m mitted

at the Festival heavy penalties being inflicted

,

for breaches of this law the penalties fixed being a

,

fine Of n ot less than a tho u sand drachmas and some ,

assert that transgre ssors were even put to death .

 P ROG RA MME OF THE G REA T ER
MY S T ERI ES

HE f ollowing is the p r og ra mm e o f the Gr eate r

Mysteries which extended ove r a period of
,

ten days The various f u nctions were cha r acteri z ed

.

by the greatest possible sole m nity a n d decorum ,

and the cere m onies were rega r ded as religious "

in the highest interpretation of that ter m .

F I S T D A Y The first day was kno w n as the

R -
.

Gathering or the
, A sse m bly when all who
,

had passed through the Lesser Mys t eries assembled

to assist in the celebration Of the Greater Mysteries .

On this day the Archon Basileus presided over all

the cults o f the city and asse m bled the people at
,

a place known as the Poikile S toa A fter the A rchon

.

Basileus with f o u r assis t ants had o ffered up sacri

, ,
"

fi c e s and prayers for the welfare O f Greece the follow ,

ing proclamation was m ade by the A rchon Basile u s ,

wearing his robe of O ffice

Come whoever is clean o f all pollution and whose
,

soul has not conscio usness of sin Come wh o soeve r

.
,

hath lived a life of r ighteous n ess and j u s t ice Co m e .

48
50 E LEU S I N I A N MY S TE R IE S A ND RITE S

not be in plaits or coiled upon the head No wo m an .

wa s permitted to use cosmetics .

S E CO N D D A
. Y — The second day was known as
Ha la d e M v s t ce or
,
To the sea ye m ys t a
,
e from ,

the com m and which greeted all the initiates to go

and purify themselves by washing in the sea or ,

in the salt water Of the two consecrate d lakes called ,

R h e it i on what was kno w n as

,
The S acred Way .

The priests had the exclusive right Of fishing in these

lakes A procession was formed in which all j oined
.
,

and made their way to the sea o r the lakes where ,

they bathed and purified themselves This general .

purification w a s akin to that practised to this day

.

by the Jews at the beginning o f t h e Jewish year .

The day was consecrated to S aturn into whose ,

province the soul is said to fall in the course o f its

descent from the tropic O f Cancer Capella compares
.

S aturn to a river voluminous sluggish and cold

, , , .

The planet signifies p u re intellect and Pythagora s ,

symbolically called the sea a tear Of S aturn The .

bathing was preceded by a c o n fe s s 1 on and the ,

manner in which the bathing was carried o u t and

the number of immersions varied with the deg r ee
o f guilt which each confessed . A ccording to S u id a
s ,

those who had to purify the m selves from murder

plu n ged into salt wate r on two separate occasions ,

i mm e r sing the m selves seven times o n each occasi on .

On r e t urn ing f rom the bath all we re r egarded a s

n ew c r eat ur es , t he bath being r e gar d ed a s a

 PR OGR A M ME OF GRE A TER MY S TE R IE S 51

laver of regeneration and the initiate s were clothed

,

in a plain fawn skin or a sheep skin The purification

- -
.
,

however was not regarded as complete until the

,

following day when there was added the sprinkling

,

o f the blood Of a pig sacrificed Each had carried .

to the river or lake a little pig which was also purified ,

by bathing and on the next day this pig was sacrificed

, .

The pig was O ffered because it was very pernicious

to c o r n fi e ld s On the Eleusinian coinage the pig
.
,

standing o n a torch placed horizontally appears ,

as the sign and symbol of the Mysteries On this .

day also some o f t h e initiated submitted t o a special

purification near the altar o f Zeus Me llic hio s on
the S acred Way F o r each person whom it was
.
.

desired to purify an ox was sacrificed to Zeus Melli

chios the infernal Zeus the skin Of the animal was
, ,

laid o n the g r ound by the dadouchos and the on e ,

who was the Obj ect Of the lustration remained there

squatting on the left foot .

—
T H I R D D A Y C m the third day pleasures Of every
.

description even the most innocent were strictly

, ,

forbidden and every one fasted till nightfall when

, ,

they partook o f seed cakes parched corn salt , , ,

pomegranates and sacred win e mixe d with milk

,

and honey The Ar chon Basileus assisted again

.
,

by the f ou r e pim e le t ae celebrated in the presence

, ,

of repre sentatives from the allied cities the great ,

sac rifice Of t h e S o t e riafor the well being o f the -

S tate the A thenia n citi z ens and their wives and

‘

, ,
52 E LEU S INIAN MY S TERIE S A ND RITE S

child ren This ceremony took place in the Eleusinion

.

at the foot Of the A cropolis The day was known .

as the D a y of Mourning and was supposed

,
to com
memorate Demeter s grief at the loss of P ersephone
’
.

The sacrifices O ffered consisted chiefly o f a mullet

and o f barley out of Rh a r iu m a field of Eleusis ,
.

The oblations were accounted s o sacred that the

priests themselves were not permitted as was usual ,

in other o fferings to partake of them A t the con

,
.

e lusion o f the general ceremony each one individually

sacrificed the little pig purified in the sea the night

before .

The hog Of propitiation o ffered to Frey was a

sole m n sacrifice in the North o f E u rope and in
S weden down to modern times the custom has been
, ,

preserved by baking o n Christmas Eve a loaf , ,

o r cake in the form Of a hog .

—
F OU R TH D A Y The principal event Of the fourth
.
~

day was a solemn procession when the holy basket ,

o f Ceres "D emeter " was carried in a consecrated

cart the c r owds o f people shouting as it went along
, ,

Hail Ceres
, Th e rear end Of the procession was
co m posed O f wo m en carrying baskets containing
sesamin carded wool grains o f salt co r n po m e
, , , ,

granates reeds ivy boughs cakes known as poppies

, , , ,

and sometimes serpe n ts On e kind o f these cakes .

was known as o x cakes they were m ade with

-

li t tle ho r ns a n d de d ica t e d to the mo on Anot he r

a
.

kin d cont in ed po p py s e e ds Poppy w a s u s ed in .

 P R OGRAM ME OF GREATER M Y S TERIE S 53

the ceremonies because it was said that so m e grains

o f poppy were given to Demeter upon her arrival

in Gree ce to induce sleep which she had not enj oyed,

from the time of the abduction O f Persephone .

D e m eter is invariably represented in her statues

as being very rotund crowned with ears o f corn , ,

and holding in her hand a branch of poppy .

F —
F I TH D A Y The fifth day was known as the
.

Da y of Torches from
,
the fact that at nightfall
all the initiates walked in pairs round the temple
Of Demete at Eleusis the dadouchos himself leadi n g
,

the procession The torches were waved about

.

and changed from hand to hand to represent the ,

wanderings o f the goddess in search of her daughter

when she was conducted by the ligh t of a torch
kindled in the flames of Etna .

S I X TH D A Y .
—Iacchos was the name given to
the sixth day o f the Festival The fair young .

god Iacchos or D ionysos or Bacchus was the s o n

, , , ,

o f Jupiter and Ceres and accompanied the goddess

,

in her search for Persephone He also carried a .

torch hence his statue has always a torch in the

,

hand This statue together with other sacred

.
,

obj ects were taken from the I a

,
c c hio n the sanctuary ,

Of Iacchos in A thens mounted on a heavy rustic ,

fou r wheeled chariot drawn by bulls and accompanied

-
, ,

by the I a c c h o g o gu e and other magistrates nominated

for the occasion conveyed from the K e r a

,
m e ik o s ,

or Potter s "uarter to Eleusis by the S acred Way

’

,
54 ELEU S INI A N MY S TERIE S A ND RITE S

in solemn procession It was on this day that the .

solemnity o f the cere m onial reached its height .

The s tatue a s well as the people accompanying

,

it were crowned with m yrtle the people dancing

, ,

all the way along the ro u te beating brass kettles ,

and playing instruments of vario u s kinds and singing

sacred songs Halts were made during the p rocession
.

at various shrines at the site o f the house Of Phytalus

, ,

who it was said received the goddess into his house

, , ,

and according to an inscripti o n o n his tomb she

, ,

requited him by reveali n g to him the culture of the

fig ; particularly at a fi g tree which was regarded -

as sacred because it had the renown o f bei n g planted

,

by Phytalus also upon a bridge built over the

river Ce ph is s u s by the side Of which Pluto descended
,

into Hades with Persephone where the bystanders ,

made themselves m erry at the expense of the pilgrims .

A t each of the shrines sacrifices and libations were

o ffered hymns sung and sacred dances perfo r med
, , .

Having passed the bridge the people ente r ed Ele usis ,

by what was known as the Mystical Entrance .

Midnight had set in before Eleusis was r eached so ,

that a great part of the j ourney had to be accomplished

by the light o f the torches carried by each o f the
pilgrims and the nocturnal j o u rney was spoken
,

o f as the Night of T o rches by many ancient

"

authors The pit ch and resin Of which the torches

.

were composed were substances supposed t o have

the virtue of warding O ff evil spirits The barren .
 P R OGR A MME OF GRE A TER MYS TERIE S 55

m ountains o f the Pass o f D aphni and the surface of

the sea resounded with the chant Iacchos O , ,

Iacchos " A t one o f the halts the Cr oc on ia ns ,

descendants of the hero Cr o c o n who had formerly,

reigned over the Th r ia s ia

n Plain fastened a sa ffron
,

band o n the right arm and left foot Of each o n e in

the procession Iacchos was always regarded as
.

a child of D emeter inasmuch a ,

s the vine grows
o u t O f the earth V arious symbols were carried by
.

the people who numbered sometimes as many as

,

from thirty t o forty thousand These symbols .

consisted o f winnowing fans the — Mystic Fan Of

a
Iacchos ,
plaited reeds and baskets both relating ,

to the worship of the goddess and her s o n The f n .

,

or van as it was sometimes called was the in s t r u

, ,

ment that separates the wheat from the cha ff and ,

was regarded also as an emblem Of the power which

sepa r ates the virtuous from the wicked In the .

ancient paintings by Bellori t w o pe r s o n s are r e pr e

sented as standing by the side of the initiate On e .

is the priest who is performing the ceremony who is ,

represented as in a devout posture and wearing a ,

veil the o ld mark o f devotion while another is

,
‘

holding a fan ove r the head o f the candidate In .

some of the editions o f S outhey s translation Of the

’

E n e id the foll o wing lines app e a

r

a
No w l e arn wh t ar m s in d ustri o us p e a s nt s wi e l d a
To s o w t h e furr o w s gl e b e
’

, a
n d c l o th e t h e fi e ld
°
56 E LEU S INIAN M Y S TERIE S AND RITE S
Th e hare t h e cro o ke d plough s strong b e am t h e wain ’
s , ,

That slowly ro lls on Ce re s to h e r fan e

Hails s l e ds lig ht osi e rs and t h e harrow s loa d ’

Th e hur d l e and the mys tic v a

, , , ,

, n of God .

The distance covered by the procession was twenty

two kilometres but Lyc u rgus ordered that if any
,

woman should ride in a chariot to Ele u sis she should

be mulcted i n a fine o f drachmas This was .

t o prevent the richer women f ro m distinguishing

themselves f ro m their poorer sisters S trange t o .

relate the wife o f Lycurgus was the first to break

,

this law and Lycurgus himself had to pay the fine

,

which he had ordained He not only paid the .

penalty but gave a talent to the informer I m m e d i

, .

ately upon the deposit o f the sacred Obj ects in the

Eleusinion at the foot of the A cropolis o n e Of the
, ,

Eleusinian priests solemnly announced their arrival

to the priestess of t he tutelary goddess o f Athens
Pallas A thene Plutarch in commenting upon lucky
.
,

and unlucky days says that he is aware that u n,

lucky things happen sometimes o n lucky days ,

for the A thenians had to receive a Macedonian

garrison even o n the 2 0 t h o f Boedromion the ,

day o n which they led f orth the mystic Iacchos .

S E V E N TH D A Y —On the seventh day the statue

.

wa s carried back to A thens The return j ourney .

was also a solemn procession and attended with ,

numerous ceremonies Halts were again made at .

sev e ral places like the stations o f Roman Catholic

,
"
58 E LE US INIAN MYS TERIE S A ND RITE S

Mysteries A ccording to the ancient writers the

.

"
j ests
, s o called would be regarded to day as in
-
,
-

bad taste .

Having thus spoke n s h e dr e w a s id e h e r garm e nts ,

And showe d all that shap e of t h e body which it is

improp e r to nam e — t h e growth of pub e rty .

And with h e r o w n hand Iambe stripp e d he rs e lf und e r

t h e br e asts .

B landly th e n the go d d e ss laugh e d and laughe d in h e r

m ind ,

And r e c e ive d the glancing cup in which was t h e

draught .

During the Peloponnesian war the A thenians were

u nable t o obtain an armistice from the Laced a
e monians

who held D e c e le aand it became necessary to send ,

the statue o f Iacchos and the processionists to

Eleusis by sea Plutarch says Under these
.

conditions it was necessary to omit the sacrifices

u sually o ffered all along the road du ring the passing
o f Iacchos .

E I GHTH D A Y The eighth day was called Epi.

-

da u r io n because it happened once that ZEs c u la

, piu s ,

coming from E pid a u r iu s to Athens desired to be ,

initiated and had the Lesser Mysteries repeated for

,

that purpose It therefore became customary to

.

celebrate the Lesser Mysteries a second ti m e upon

this day and to admit to initiation any such approved
,

candidates who had not already enj oyed the privilege .

There was also another r e ason for the repetitio n o f

 PR O GRAM ME OF GRE A TER MY S TERIE S 59

the initiatory rites t hen The eighth d a y. w as r e

-
,

garded as symbolical o f the soul fal ling into the

lunar orbi and the repeated initiation the second
, ,

celebration of that sacred rite was symbolical o f ,

the soul bidding adieu to everything o f a celestial

na ture sinking into a perfect Oblivion o f her divine
,

origin and pristine felicity and rushing profoundly ,

into the region o f dissimilitude ignorance and error , , .

The day opened with a solemn sacrifice o ffered to

D emeter and Persephone which took place within ,

the peribol us The utmost precision had to be

.

observed in o ffering this sacrifice as regarding the age ,

colour and sex of the victim the chants perfumes

, , , ,

and libatio n s The acceptance or rej ection of a

.

sacrifice was indicated by the movements of the

ani m al as it approached the altar the vivacity of ,

the fla m e the direction of the s m oke etc If these

, ,
.

sign s were not favourable in the case of the first

victim o ffered other animals m ust be slain until
,

o n e presented itself in which all the signs were favour

able The flesh o f the animal o ffered was not allowed

.

to be taken outside the sacred precincts but had ,

to be consumed within the building The following .

is said to have been an Invocation used during

the celebration o f the Mysteries

D aught e r of Jove P ers e phone di v in e

, ,

Co m e b le s s e d q
,
ue e n and to the s e rit e s
,
i n c li n e ;
On ly-b e go tt e n P lut o s ho n o ure d wif e
’

, ,

0 ve n e rabl e go d d e s s s ourc e o f lif e :

,
60 ELEU S INIAN MY S TERIE S AND RITE S
’
Tis thine in e arth s pr o foun dit ie s to dwe ll
’

F a s t by t h e wid e and d ismal gat e s of he ll

Jove s holy o ffe ring of a b e a
.

’
ut e ous mi e n
, ,

Ave nging godd e ss subt e rran e an q ue e n

Th e F uri e s s o urc e fair h a
.
,

ir d whos e fra m e pro c e e d s

’ ’
-
, ,

F ro m Jove s in e ffable and s e cr e t s e e d s

’
.

Mo the r of B acchus sonorous divin e , , ,

An d many fo r m d t h e par e nt of t h e vin e

’

A sso ci a
.
,

te of t h e S e asons ess e nc e bri ght

All ruling virgin b e aring h e a
, ,

v n ly light
’
-

With fruits abounding of abount e ous mind

.
,

, ,

H o r n d and alone d e s ir d by those of m ortal kin d

’ ’
.
,

0 v e rnal q ue e n whom grassy plains d e light

, ,

S we e t to the s m e ll and pl e asing to t h e si ght

,

Who s e holy forms in bud d ing fruits w e V i e w ,

E arth s v ig r o u s o ffspring of a various h u e

’ ’

E s p o u s d in autumn lif e a n d d e ath alon e

’

To wre tche d mortals fro m thy p o w r is kn o wn

’

F o r thin e the task according to thy will

Life to pr o duc e and a
, ,

ll that liv e s to kill

,
.

H e ar bl e sse d Godd e ss s e nd a rich incre ase

, ,

O f various fruits fro m earth with lov e ly P e a c e ,

S e n d H e alth with g e ntle hand and crown my life ,

With bl e st abundanc e fre e from noisy strife ; ,

Last in extre me old age t h e pr e y of d e at h ,

D ismiss me willing to the r e alms b e n e ath ,

To thy fair palace and the blissful plains

Whe re happy spirits dwe ll and P luto re igns ,
.

N I N TH D A Y — Th e ninth day was known as the

.

Da y of Earthe n V essels because it was t h e custom ,

o n that day to fill two j ugs with wine On e was .

placed towards the East and the other towards

the West and after the repetition of certain mystical
,

formul a e both were overthrown the wine being ,

 P R OGR A MME OF GREATER MY S TERIE S 61

spilt upon the gro u nd as a libation The first of .

these formul a e was directed towards the sky as a

prayer for rain a n d the second to the earth as
,

a prayer for fertil ity .

The words used by the hierophant to denote the

termination o f the celebration of the Mysteries
C on n 0 m P a '
x Watch and do no evil are said
-

to have been Egyptian and were the same as those

,

used at the conclusion of the Mysteries of Isis This .

fact is sometimes used as an argument in favo u r

o f the Egyptian origin of the Ele u sinian Mysteries .

—
T E N TH D AY On the tenth day the maj ority o f
.

the people returned to their homes with the e x c e p ,

tion of every third and fifth year when they remained

,

behind for the Mystery Plays and S ports which ,

lasted from two to three days .

The Ele u sinian Games are described by the r h e t o

r ic ian A ristides as the Oldest of all Greek games .

They are supposed to have been instituted as a

t hank o ffering to D emeter and P ersephone at the
-

conclusion of the corn harvest From an inscription

.

dating fro m the latter part o f the third cent u ry B C . .

sacrifices were o ffered to De m eter and Persephone

at these games They included athletic and musical
.

contests a horse race and a competition which

, ,

bore the name of the A n cestral or the H eredita ry

Contest t he nature of which is no t known but
, ,

which i t is tho u gh t m ay have had it s o rigin in a

co nt e s t b e t wee n t he re a pe rs o n t h e s a
c red Rh ar ia
n
62 E LEUS INIAN M YS TE R IE S A ND RITE S

plain to see which sho u ld first complete his llotted a

task .

The ancient sanctuary in which the Mysteries

were celebrated was burnt by the Persians in 4 8 0
or 4 7 9 B C and a new sanctuary was built o r
. .
,
— ,

,
—
at least begun under the administration of Pericles .

Plutarch says that Coroe bus began the Temple of

Initiation at Eleusis but onl y lived t o finish the lower
,

r ank o f columns with thei r architraves Me t a g e n e s ,

of the ward of X yp e t e added the rest of the entabla

,

ture and the upper row o f columns and that X e n o c le s

,

o f Ch o la
r g u s built the do m e on the top The long .

wall the b u ilding o f which S oc r ates says he h e ard

,

Pericles propose to the people was undertaken ,

by Callic r ates Cr a t in u s
. satiri z ed the work as
proceeding very slowly

S ton e
upon ston e the orator has pil d ’

With swe lling words but words will build no walls

, .

A cco r ding to some write r s the Te m ple was planned

by Te t in u s the architect o f the Parthenon and
, ,

Pericles was me r ely the overseer of the building .

We a r e told by V it ru vius that the Te m ple at Ele u sis

consisted at first o f one cell O f vast magnit u de ,

without col um ns th o ugh it was p r obable tha t it was

,

m ea n t to be s ur rounde d in the custo m ary manner ;

a p r ostyle however only was added and that n ot
, , ,

u ntil the ti m e o f Demet ri u s P h a

le re us so m e ages
a
,

afte r the o riginal str u c tu re w s erected It is

.
.
 P R OGR A M M E OF GR EAT E R MY S TE R IE S

p r obable that the unco mm on magnitude o f t he cell ,

added to the various and complicated rites o f initia

tion to the Eleusinian Mysteries of which it was ,

the scene prevented its being a peristyle the expense

, ,

Of which would have been enormous The Temple .

was one of the largest of the sacred edifices of Greece .

Its length was 6 8 metres its breadth 5 4 6 6 metres

,

and its superficial area 3 7 1 6 8 23 square metres The .

mon u mental altar o f sacrifice was placed in front

of the fa cade close by the eastern angle of the
,

enclosure. A ccording to V irgil the words Far "

hence C be ye far hence ye profane ones

, , were ,

inscribed over the main portal .

I n the fo ur th century o f the Christian era the

Temple of Eleusis was destroyed by the Goths at ,

the instigation o f the monks who f ollowed the ,

hosts o f A laric .

The revenues fro m the celebrations must have

been consid erable A t both the Lesser Mysteries
.

and the Greater Mysteries acharge O f o n e Obole

.

a day was demanded from each one attending which ,

was given to the hierophant The h ie r oc c e r yx .

received a hal f Obole a day and other assistants

-
,

a similar su m In current coinage an Obole was of

.

the value of a f r actio n ove r r id .

 THE I N I T I A T O RY RI T E S

W0 important facts m u st be set down with

regard to the Mysteries : first the general ,

custo m o f all Athenian ci t i z ens and afterwards ,

o f all Greeks generally and eventually of many ,

foreigners to seek admission into the Eleusinian

,

Mysteries in the only p o ssible manne r—viz by

.
.

initiation ; and second the scrupulous care e x e r

, ,

c is e d by the Eumolpides to ensure that only persons

,
—
duly qualified of irreproachable o r at any rate , ,

o f circumspect character passed the portals In

, .

the earlier days o f the Mysteries it w a s a necessary

condition that the candidates for initiation should

be free born A thenians but in course o f time this
-
,

rule was relaxed until eventually strangers "

, as
residents ou t side A thens were called " aliens slaves , , ,

and even courtesans were admitted o n condition

, ,

that they were intro d uced by a mystagogue who ,

was of course an At h enian An interesting in s c rip

, , .

t io n was discove r ed a f ew yea r s ago demo n strating

t h e fa c t that t he p u blic s laves of t he city we r e i ni tiate d
a t t h e p u b lic exp e nse F rom hi s to rical r eco rd s w e
.

54
66 E L E U S INI A N M YS TERIE S A ND RI TE S

exclusion of A pollonius was not by any means p opu

lar with the crowd changed his tone and said
,

Be thou initiated for thou s e e m e s t to be some

,

wise man that has come here But A pollonius

.

replied : I will be initiated at another time and ,

it is " mentioning a name " who will initiate me .

Hereon says P h ilo s t r a

, t us he showed his gift o f
,

prevision for he glanced at the o n e w h o succeeded

,

the hierophant he addressed and presided over ,

the temple four years later when A pollonius was

initiated .

Persons of both sexes and o f all ages were initiated ,

and neglect o f the ceremony came to be regarded

almost in the light o f a crime S ocrates and Demonax
.

were reproached and looked upon with suspicion

because they did not apply for initiation Persians .

were always pointedly excluded from the ceremony .

A thenians of both sexes were granted the privilege

of initiation during childhood o n the presentation
o f their father but only the first degree o f initiation
,

was permitted For the second and third degrees

.

it was necessary to have arrived at full age The .

Greeks looked upon initiation in much the same light

as the maj ority of Christians look upon baptism .

S o great was the rush o f candidates for initiation

when the restrictions were relaxed that Cicero was
able to write that the inhabitants of the most distant
regions flocked to E leusis in order to be initiated .

T h u s it became the custom with all R omans who

, ,
 THE INITIAT ORY RITE S 7

j ourneyed to A thens to take advantage of the Opp or

t u n it y to become initiates Even the Emperors
.

of Rome the o fficial heads of the R oman religion

, ,

the masters of the world came to the Eumolpides

,

to pro ffer the request that they might receive the

honour o f initiation and become participants in the
S acred Mysteries revealed by the goddess .

While A ugustus who was initiated in the year

,

21 . B C
. did not hesitate to show his antipathy
,

towards the religion o f the Egyptians towards ,

Judaism and Druidism he was always scrupulous in

,

observing the pledge o f secrecy demanded o f initiates

into the Eleusinian Mysteries and o n one occasion , ,

when it became necessary for some of the priests

of th e Eleusinian temple to proceed to R ome to
plead before his tribunal o n the question o f privilege ,

and in the course o f the evi dence to speak of certain

ceremonial in connection with the Mysteries o f
which it was not lawful to speak in the presence
of the uninitiated he ordered every o n e who had
,

not received the privilege of initiation t o leave the

tribunal so that h e and the witnesses alone remained .

The E le u s in ian M s t e r ie s were not deemed inimical

y
’

to the welfare of the Roman Empire as were the

religions o f the E gyptians Jews and ancient Britons
, ,
.

Claudius another imperial initiate conceived the

, ,

idea of transferring the scene o f the Mysteries to

Rome and according to S uetonius was about to put
, , ,

the proj ect into execution when it was ruled that it

,
68 ELEUS INIAN MYS TERIE S AND RITE S

was obligatory that the principal scenic presentation

of the Mysteries must be celebrated on the ground
trodden by the feet of D emeter and where the goddess
herself had ordered her temple to be e r ected .

The initiation of the Em peror Hadrian " who

succeeded where Claudius had failed in introducing ,

the celebration of the Mysteries into Rome " took

place in A D 1 2 5 when he was present at the Lesser
. .
,

My steries in the spring and at the Greater Mysteries

in the following autumn In S eptember A D 1 2 9 .
, . .
,

he was again at A thens when he presented himself

,

for the third degree as is known from Dion Cassius

, ,

confirmed by a letter written by the Emperor himself ,

in which he mentions a j ourney from Eleusis to

Ephesu s made by him at that time Hadrian is .

the only imperial initiate so far as is known who , ,

persevered and passed through all three degrees .

S ince he remained at Eleusis as long as it was

possible for him to do so afte r the completion o f
his initiation it is not rash t o assume that he
,

was inspired by so m ething m ore than curiosity o r

even by a desire to show respect .

It is uncertain whether the Empero r A ntonin

was initiated although from an inscription it seems
,

probable that he was and that he should be included

in the list of imperial initiates Both Marcus .

A urelius and Commodus father and son were , ,

initiated at the same time at the Lesser Mysteries ,

in March A D 1 7 6 and at the Greater Mysteries in

, . .
,
 THE INITI A T OR Y RITE S 69

the following S eptember S e p t im ius S everus was

.

initiated before he ascended the throne .

There was as stated three degrees and the ordi

, , ,

nary procedure with regard to initiation was as

follows
In the month o f Anthesterion the flower month ,

o f spring corresponding with February March an

,
-
,

applicant could if approved become an initiate

, ,

into the first degree at the celebration of the Lesser

Mysteries and take part in their celebration at the
Eleusinion at A gra near to A thens The ceremony
, .

o f initiati o n into this first degree was o n a far less

imposing scale than the ceremony o f initiation into

the second and third degrees at the Greater Mysteries .

The candidate however had to keep chaste and

, ,

unpolluted fOr nine days prior to the ceremony ,

which each o n e attended wearing crowns and garlands

o f flowers and observed by o ffering prayers and
sacrifices Immediately previous to the celebration
.

the candidates fo r initiation were prepared by the

Mystagogues the special teachers selected for the
,

purpose from the families o f the Eumolpides and

K e r yc e s
. They were instructed in the story o f
Demeter and Persephone the character o f the ,

purification necessary and other preliminary rites ,

the fast days with particulars of the food permissible

,

and forbidden to be eaten and the various sacrifices

,

to be o ffered by and for them under the direction of

the mystagogues .
70 E LEU S INI A N MY S TERIE S A ND RITE S

Without this preparation no o n e could be admitted

to the Mysteries There was however neither
.
, ,

secret doctrine n o r dogmatic teaching in this pr e lim i

nary instruction Revelation came through contem
.

l at i n of the sacred obj ects d is pl a

v e d during the
p o

ceremonies by the hierophant the meaning of which ,

was communicated by means o f the mystic formul a e

but the preparation demanded o f the initiates ,

the secrecy imposed the ceremonies at which the

,

initiates assisted all of which were performed in

,

the dead o f night created a strong impression and

,

lively hope in regard to the future life No other .

cult in Greece still less the cold R oman religion

, ,

had anything of the kind or approaching to it , ,

to offer Fasting from food and drink for a certain

.

period before and after initiation was essential ,

but the candidates did not attach to this act any

idea of maceration or expiation o f faults : it was
simply the reproduction o f an event in the life of
the goddess and undergone in order that the body
,

might become more pure Bowls o r vases o f con .

s e cr a t e d o r holy water were placed at the entrance

of the temple for the purposes o f aspersion In .

cases o f special or particular impurity an extra

preparation extending over two o r three days longer
became necessary and unctions o f oil or rep eated
,

immersions in water were administered The o u t .

ward physical purity the result of immersion prior

,

to initia t ion was but the symbol o f the inward

,
 THE INITI A T ORY R IT E S 71

purity which was supposed to result from initiation .

On e of the duties of the mystagogues was to see that

the candidates were in a state o f physical cleanliness
both before and throughout the ceremony A ccording .

to inscriptions which have been discovered there

appear to have been temples or buildings set apart
for the cleansing of candidates from special im
purities Initiation into the Lesser Mysteries only
.

permitted the neophyte to go as far as the outer

vestibule o f the temple .

In the following autumn if of full age and approved ,

by the hierophant the neophyte could be initiated

,

into the Greater Mysteries into the second degree , ,

that of Mys t a This however did not secure

‘

.
, ,

a dmission to all the ceremonies performed during

the celebration o f the Greater Mysteries A further .

year at least had to elapse before the third degree

, , ,

that of E p Op t awas taken before he could see with

, ,

his own eyes and hear with his own ears all tha t ,

took place in the temple during the celebration o f

the Mysteries Even then there was o n e part of
.
,

the temple and o n e portion o f the ceremony which

could be entere d and witnessed only by the hierophant
and h ie r o ph a
n t id e .

A ccording to Plutarch D emetrius when he was , ,

returning to A thens wrote to the republic that on

,

his arrival he intended to be initiated and to be

admitted immediately not only to the Lesser Mys
,

t ories but to the Greater as well Thi s was unlawful

, .
72 ELE U S INIAN MYS TERIE S A ND RITE S

and unp r ecedented though when the letter was

,

read P yt h o d o r u s a torch bearer was the only

, ,
-
,

person who ventured to Oppose the demand and ,

his opposition was entirely ine ffectual S t r a t o c le s.

procured a decree that the month o f Munychion

should be reputed to be and called the month of
A nthesterion to give De m et r ius the opportunity
,

fo r the initiation into the first degree This was .

done whereupon a second decree was issued by which

,

Munychion was again changed into Boedromion ,

and Demetrius was admitted to the Mysteries o f

the next degree P h ilippid e s the poet satirized
.
, ,

S t ra
[
t o c le s in the words The man who can con
tract the whole year into o n e month and D emetrius
,
"

with reference to his lodging in the Parthenon in ,

the words : The man who turns the temples in t o

inns and brings prostitutes into the company o f the
virgin goddess .

The design o f initiation according to Plato was

, ,

to restore the soul to that state from which it fell ,

and Proclus states that initiation into the Mysteries

drew the souls o f men from a material sensual , ,

and merely human life and j oined them in communion

with the gods . Happy is the man wrote Euripides
,
"

who hath been initiated into the Greater Mysteries

and leads a life o f piety and religion and A risto ,

phanes truly represented public Opinion when he

wrote in The F r og s : On us only does the sun
dispe n se his blessings we o n ly receive pleas u re from
74 EL E U S INIAN MY S TERIE S A N D RITE S

and H e r a c lid e s o f Pontus says that o n this account

he w a s in danger o f being killed by the populace if

he had not fled for refuge to the altar o f D ionysos

and been begged o ff by the A reopagites and acquitted
on the ground o f his exploits at Marathon A n .

accusation was brought against A ristotle of having

performed a funeral sacrifice in honour of his wife
in imitation o f the Eleusinian ceremonies A lci .

bia d e s was charged with mimicking the sacred

Mysteries in one o f his drunken revels when he ,

represented the hierophant ; Theodorus one of ,

his frie n ds represented the herald ; and another

, ,

P o lyt io n represented the dadouchos other com

,

panions attending as initiates and being addressed

as m ys t a e The information against him ran
.

"
Thessalus the son o f Cimon o f the ward o f
, ,

La ca is accuseth Alcibiades the son o f Clin ia

, ,
n of ,

the ward of S c a m bo n is o f sacrilegiously o ffending

,

the goddess Ceres and her daughter Persephone , ,

by counterfeiting their Mysteries and showing them

to his companions in his o w n house wearing such a ,

robe as the high priest does when he shows the holy

things he called himself high priest ; as did P oly
tion torch bearer and Theodorus of the ward of
-
,

Th yg e s herald ; and the rest o f his companions

,

he called persons initiated and Brethren o f the

S ecret ; therein acting contrary to the rules and
ceremonies established by the Eumolpides the ,

"
H eralds and P r iests a t Eleusis .
 THE I NI TI ATOR Y RITE S 75

A lcibiades did not appear in answer to the charge ,

and he was condemned in his absence an order ,

being made that his goods were to be confiscated .

This occurred in 4 1 5 B C and the incident created

. .

quite a panic as many prominent citizens An d o c id e s

, ,

included were implicated

,
This man said the.
,

accuser o f An d o c id e s vested in the same costume

,

as a hierophant has shown the sacred obj ects to

,

men who were not initiated and has uttered words

which it is not permissible to repeat A n d o c id e s .

’
admitted the charge b u t turned king s evidence
, ,

and named certain others as culprits with him .

He was rewarded with a free pardon under a decree

which I s o t m id es had issued bu t those whom he ,

named were either put to death or outlawed and

their goods were confiscated An d o c id e s afterwards .

entered the temple while the Mysteries were in

progress and was charged with breaking the law in
s o doing He defended himself before a court o f
.

heliasts all o f whom had been initiated into the

,

Mysteries the president o f the court being the

,

A rchon Basileus The indictment was lodged by

.

Ce ph is iu s the chief prosecutor with the A rchon

, ,

B asileus ,
during the celebration o f the Greater
Mysteries and while An d o c id e s was still at Eleusis .

An d o c id e s was acquitted and it is stated that,

Ce p his iu s having failed to obtain one fi ft h of the -

votes of t h e court the result according to the

, ,

law w a
, s that he had to pay a fine of a thousand
76 ELEUS INIAN MY S TE R IE S AND RITE S

d r achmas and to suffer permanent exclusion f rom

the Eleusinian shrine Dia .
g ir as was accused of
railing at the sanctity o f the Mysteries of Eleusis
in such a manner as to deter persons from seeking
initiation and a reward of one talent was o ffered
,

to any one who should kill him o r two talents to

any one w ho should bring him alive The Greek .

talent was of the value of about £ 2 0 0 .

A n ancient the m e o f oratorical composition and

o n e set even in the sixth century of the Christian

era ran :
The law punishes with death whoever has d is
closed the Mysteries some o n e to whom the initiation
has been revealed in a dream asks o n e of the initiated
if what he has seen is in conformity with reality
the initiate acquiesces by a movement o f the head
and for that he is accused o f impiety
Every care therefore was taken to prevent the
, ,

secrecy o f the Mysteries from being broken and the

ceremonial becoming known to any not initiated .

D etails have nevertheless come to light in various

, ,

ways but chiefly through the ancient writings a

, nd

inscriptions S tep by step and piece by piece the

.

diligent researcher has been rewarded by the dis

c o v e r y of disconnected and isolated fragments which ,

by themselves supply no precise information but

, , ,

taken in the aggregate form a perfect mosaic Though

, .

it was strictly forbidden to reveal what took place

within t he sac r ed enclosu r e a n d i n the H all of Initia
 THE INITI A T ORY RI TE S 77

tion it was permissible to state clearly the main

,

obj ect of initiation and the advantages to be derived

from the act Not only was the breaking o f the
.

obligation of secrecy given by an initiate visited

with severe sometimes even with capital punish
, ,

ment but the forcing o f the temple enclosure by

,

the uninitia t ed as sometimes happened was an

, ,

o ffence o f an equally impious and heinous character .

By virtue o f the unwritten laws and customs dating

back to the most remote periods the penalty o f
death was fre quently pronounced for faults not
grave in themselves although the forcing of the
,

temple enclosure was of course a grave crime

, , ,

but because they concerned religion It was pro .

bably by virtue o f those unwritten laws that the

priests ordered the death of two young Ar c a na n ia
ns

who had penetrated through ignorance into the

, ,

sacred precincts They happened inadvertently to

.

mix with the crowd at the season o f the Mysteries

and to enter the temple but the questions asked
,

by them in consequence o f their ignorance o f the

,

proceedings betrayed them and their intrusion was

, ,

punished with death This was in 2 0 0 B C and

. . .
,

Rome made wa r upon Philip V o f Macedonia o n

the complaint of the government o f A thens against
that king who wished to punish them for having
rigorously applied the ancient laws to those two
o ffenders who were found guilty merely o f entering
,

the sanctu a ry at Eleusis without having previously

78 E LE U S INI A N MYS TE R IE S A ND RITE S

been initiated No j udicial penalty however was

.
, ,

meted o u t to the fanatical E picurean eun u ch who ,

with the obj ect of pr o v m g that the gods had no

existence forced himself blaspheming int o that part
,

of the sanctuary into which the hierophant and the

hie r o ph a
n t id e alone had the right o f entry ZElia
. n us

states that a divine punishment in the form of a

disease alone overtook him . Horace declared that
he would not risk his life by going o n t o t h e water
with a companion who had revealed the secret o f
the Mysteries .

The two days prior to initiation into the second

and third degrees were spent by the candidates in
solitary retirement and in strict fasting It was .

a retreat in the strictest sense of the word .

Fasting was practised not only in imitation of the

,

su fferings of D emeter when searching for P ersephone ,

but because o f the dange r o f the contact of holy

things with unholy the clean with the unclean
,
.

This also is o n e of the reasons why it was held to

be impious even to speak of the Mysteries to one
who had not been initiated and especially dangerous
to allow such unclean and profane persons to take
any part even that o f a viewer in the ceremonies
, ,
.

Hence th e punishment meted out by the S tate was in

lieu of or to avert the divine w rath which such
, ,

pollution might bring on the community at large .

A t the entrance to the temple tablets were placed

containing a list of f orbidden foods The list included
.
 THE IN I TI A TOR Y RITE S 79

se v eral kinds o f fi s h — the whistle fi s h gurnet crab -

, , ,

and mullet In all probability the whistle fi sh

.
-

is that known as S cia zn aa

qu ila a Mediterranean ,

fish that makes a noise under the water which has

been compared to bellowing buzzing purring o r , , ,

whistling the air bladder being the sound producing

,
-

organ The fish was greatly esteemed by the Romans

. .

There is a large S ciwn a not a qu ila though

,
very ,

like it in the Fish Gallery o f the British Museum

,

"Natural History " opposite the entrance from the

Zoological Library The whistle fi s h and crab were
.
-

h eld to be impure the first because it laid its

,

eggs through the m Ou t h and the second because it

,

ate filth which other fish rej ected The gurnet w a s .

rej ected because of its fecundity as witnessed in its

annual triple laying of eggs but according to some , ,

Writers it was rej ected because it ate a fish which

,

was poisonous to mankind It may well be that .

other fish were interdicted but Porphyry was pr o bably

,

exaggerating when he said that all fish were forbidden .

Birds bred at home such as chickens and pigeons

, ,

were also o n the banned list as were beans and ,

certain vegetables which were forbidden for a mystical

reason which P ausanias said he dare not reveal
save to the initiated The probable reason was that
.

they were connected in some way with t he wander

ings o f D emeter Pomegranates were of course
.
, ,

forbidden from the incident o f the eating o f t h e

,

pomegranate seeds by Persephone .

 80 ELEU S INIAN MYS TERIE S A ND RITE S

The candidates were carefully instr u cted in these

rules before the beginning of the celebration Origi .

nally the instruction o f the candidates was in the

hands o f the hierophant who following the example , ,

of his ancestor Eumolpus claimed the privilege

, ,

of preparing the candidates as well as that of com

m u n ic a
t in g to them the knowledge o f the divine
Mysteries B u t the continually increasing number
.

o f candidates made it necessary to employ auxiliary

instructors and this particular work was handed
,

over to the charge of the mystagogues w h o prepared ,

the candidates either singly o r in groups the hiero ,

phant reserving to himself the general direction

o f the instruction In the course o f the initiation
.

ceremony certain words had to be spoken by the

candidates and these were made known to them
,

in advance although o f course apart fro m their

, , ,

context .

A dmission to the second degree took place during

the night between the sixth and seventh days of
the celebration o f the Mysteries the candidates ,

being led blindfolded into the temple and the ceremony

opened with prayers and sacrifices by the second
A rchon The candidates were crowned with myrtle
.

wreaths and on entering the building they purified

, , ,

themselves in a formal manner by immersing their

hands in the consecrated water S alt laurel leaves .
,
-
,

barley and crowns o f flowers were also employed

,

in the purification The priests vested in their. ,

82 E LEU S INIAN MY S TE RIE S A ND R ITE S

flashes o f lightning lit up the darkness rendering ,

it more terrible while a more persistent light from

,

a fire displayed fearful forms S ighs groans and .

, ,

cries of pain resounded o n all sides like the shrieks ,

of the condemned in Tartarus The novitiates .

were taken hold o f by invisible hands their hair ,

was torn and they were beaten and thrown to the

,

ground Then a faint light became visible in the

.

distance and a fearful scene appeared befor e their

eyes The gates o f Tartarus were opened and the
.

abode o f the condemned lay before them They .

could hear the cries of anguish and the vain regrets

of those to whom P a rad is e w as lost for ever They
'
.

could moreover witness their hopeless remorse

, ,

they saw as well as heard all the tortures o f the

, ,

condemned The Furies armed with relentless

.
,

scourges and flaming torches drove the unhappy ,

victims incessantly to and fro never letting them ,

rest for a moment Meanwhile the loud voice

.

of the hierophant who represented the j udge o f

,

the earth could be heard expounding the meaning

,

o f what was passing before them and warning and

a
,

threatening the initiates It may well be im gined

.

that all these fearful scenes were so terrifying tha t

very frequently beads o f anguish appeared o n the
brows o f the novices Howling dogs and even .

mate r ial dem o ns are said act u ally to have appear e d

to the initiates befo r e the sce n e was cha n ged Proclu s .
,

in his Commen ta ry on A lc ib iade s s ay s I n the m o s t; ,

 THE I NITIAT O R Y R IT E S 83

holy of the Mysteries before the presence o f the god

, ,

certain terrestrial demons are hurled forth which ,

call the attention from u n d e file d advantages to

matter A t length the gates of Tartarus were closed
.
,

the scene was suddenly changed and the innermost ,

sanctuary of the temple lay open before the initiates

in dazzl ing light In the midst stood the statue
.

of the goddess Demeter brilliantly decked and

gleaming with precious stones ; heavenly music
entranced their souls a cloudless sky overshadowed
them fragrant perfumes arose and in the distance
the privileged spectators beheld flowering meads ,

where the blessed danced a n d amused themselves

with innocent games and pastimes A mong other .

writers the scene has been described by A ristophanes

in The F r ogs :

H er al
c es . vo yage is a l on g o n e F o r yo u will
Th e .

c o m e d ir e c t ly t o a v e ry big lak e o f abys m al d e p th

a
.

D iony os
s Th e n h o w sh a ll I g e t t k e n acr o s s it "

H er a I n a littl e b o a t just s o high : a n o ld m a

.

cles n

who pli e s that bo a

.

t will tak e yo u acr o s s fo r a fe e

o f two o b o l e s

Oh d e a
.

a
D iony s os r " H ow ve ry powe rful tho s e t w o
Ob o l e s a
.

re ll ove r t h e world . How did the y man age

t o g e t h e re "

H erac les The s e us bro ught the m Aft e r thi s yo u will

s e e s e r pe nts a n d wil d b e a
. .

s ts in cou n tl e s s nu m b e rs

a n d v e ry t e rribl e The n a gr e at s l o ugh and o ve r

fl owing d un g ; and in this y o u ll s e e lyi n g a
.

’
n
y o n e

w h o e ve r ye t a t a ny
p l a c e wro ng e d his gu e s t or

a
be t his m othe r o r s m ot e his f a
,
the r s ja
’
w or s w o re
,
84 ELE US INIAN MY S TERIE S A ND RITE S
an o a th and f ore swore hi m s e lf And n e xt a
bre athi n g of flut e s s hal l be wa
.

ft e d aro un d you and

you shall s e e a v e ry b e a
,

utiful li g ht e v e n as in this
,

world and myrtl e gro v e s and happy cho irs of

m en a n d wom e n and a l o ud clapping o f h a
, ,

nds
a
.
,

D iony o
s s A nd who r e th e s e p e opl e pray "

H er a
.
,

cles. Th e initiat e d .

It was regarded as permissible to describe certain

scenes o f the initiation and this has been done by
,

many writers but a complete silence was demanded

,

as to the means employed to realize the end the ,

rites and ceremonies in which the initiate took part ,

the emblems which were displayed and the actual ,

words uttered and the slightest contraventi on of

,

this rule rendered the o ffender liable to the strongest

possible condemnation and chastisement .

In the course o f the ceremony the hierophant

asked the candidates a series o f questions to which ,

written answers had been prepared and committed

to memory by the candidates The holy Mysteries .

were revealed to them from a book called P etr om a ,

a word derived from petr a a stone and so called

, ,

because the writings were kept between two cemented

stones which fitte d in to each other The P h e n e a . t ia
ns

used to swear by and o n the P e t r o m a The domed .

top held within it a mask o f Demeter which t he

hierophant wore at the celebration o f the Mysteries ,

or d u ring part o f the cer emonial The gar m ents .

worn by t he initiates d u ring the ce r emony were

acc ount e d s ac r e d a
n d e q u al t o inca n tati o ns a nd
 TH E INITIAT O RY RI TE S 85

charms in their power to avert evils Conseq u ently .

they were never cast o ff until torn and tattered .

a
Nor was it usual even then to throw them away
, , ,

but it w s customary to make them into swaddling

clothes for children o r to consecrate them t o D emeter
and P ersephone .

A dmission to the third degree took place during

the night between the seventh and eighth days
o f the celebration of the Greater Mysteries This .
,

the final degree with the exception o f those called

,

to be hierophants was known as the degree o f

,

E po p t a E xactly in what the ceremonial consisted

.
,

save in o n e particular presently to be described ,

is unknown Hippolytus is practically the only

.

authority fo r the main incident of the degree Certain .

words and signs were however communicated to , ,

the initiated which it was stated would when pr o

, , ,

n o u n c e d at the hour of death ensure the eternal

,

happiness o f the soul .

The most solemn part o f the ceremony was that

which has been described by some writers as the
hierogamy or sacred marriage o f Zeus and D emeter
, ,

although some have erroneously referred to it as

the marriage o f Pluto and Persephone D uring .

the celebration o f the Mysteries the hierophant and

h ie r o ph an t id e descended into a cave or deep recess

and after remaining there for a time they returned

, ,

to the assembly surrounded seemingly by flames

, ,

and the hierophant displaying to the gaze of the

,
86 E LEU S INI A N MY S TE R I E S A ND RITE S

initiated an ear of corn exclaimed with a loud voice

,

The divine Brimo has given birth to the holy child

Brimos : The strong has brought forth strength .

The scene was dramatic and symbolical and there ,

could have been nothing material in the incident .

The torches of the multitude were extingu ished

while the throng above awaited with anxious suspense
the return Of the priest and priestess from the murky
place into which they had descended fo r they believed,

their own salvation to depend upon the result o f the

mystic congress The charges brought against the
.

Eleusinian Mysteries of rioting and debauchery

during their Grecian history are brought by those
who were not permitted to share their honours ,

o r who were prej udiced in favour o f some other

form o f religion In the Opinion o f the maj ority

.

of contemporary writers these charges were wholly

gr atuitous and they maintain that the Eleusinian
,

Mysteries produced a sanctity o f manners and a

cultivation o f virtue They could not o f course
.
, ,

make a man virtuous against his will and Diogenes ,

when asked to submit to initiation replied that ,

Pa tae c io n a notorious robber had obtained initiation

, , .

The A thenians says Hippolytus

,
"
in the ,

initiation of Eleusis show to the e p o p t a

, e the great ,

admirable and most perfect mystery o f the e po pt a

, a
an ear of corn gathered in silence The statement
.

is so clear as to leave no doubt whatever on the

subj ect indeed it has never been called into question
, .
 THE INITIAT OR Y R ITE S 87

The presentation of the ear of corn was regarded as

a special indeed the most important feature o f the
, ,

Mysteries o f E leusis and it was reserved for the

,

final degree Much has been made o f this incident

.

by many who can see no beauty in pre Christian -

o r non Christian systems o f religion

-
their comments
,

being based mainly on a statement o f Gregory

Na z ian us who stands almost alone in discerning
,

lewdness in the E leusinian ceremonial He says : .

It is not in o u r religion that yo u will find a seduced

Cora a wandering D emeter a K e le o s and a Trip
, , ,

t o le m u s appearing with serpents ; that Demeter is

capable o f certain acts and that she permits others .

I am really ashamed to throw light o n the nocturnal

orgies o f the initiations Eleusis knows as well
.

as the witnesses the secret of the spectacle which ,

is with reason kept so profound .

A part from this isolated statement the Eleusinian

Mysteries have not been charged as ma n y other ,

ancie n t rites were with promoting a n d encouraging

,

im m orality I n his account o f the doings o f the

.

false prophet A lexander of Abou n t ich o s Lucian ,

'

describes how the impostor instituted rites which

were a close par o dy o f those celebrated at E leusis ,

and he narrates the details o f the travesty A mong .

t h e mimetic performa n ces were not o n ly the epiphany

and birth of a g o d but the enactment o f a sacred

marriage A ll preli m inaries were gone through and
.
,

Lucian says that but for the abundance of lighted

88 ELEUS INI A N M Y S TERIE S AND RITE S

to r ches the marriage would actually have been

consum m ated The part of the hierophant was
.

taken by the false prophet himself Fro m the .

travesty it is evident that in the genui n e Mysteries ,

in silence in dark n ess and in perfect chastity the

, ,

sacred marriage was symbolized and that immediately

afterwards the hieropha n t came forward and stand
ing i n a blaze of torchlight made the announcemen t
to the i n itiates .

The na m e B r im o expresse d at full le n gth Obr im o

, ,

see m s to be a variatio n of the compound term Oh

Rim on , the lofty serpe n t goddess .

The birth of B rimo ; and the mighty d e e d s

O f t h e Titanic ho s t s ; t h e s e rvitud e
O f Jove ; and the myst e ri o us mountain rit e s
Of Cyb e l e wh e n with di s tract e d pac e s h e s o ught
Th rough t h e wid e world t h e b e a
,

ut e ous P ros e rpine ;

The far fa m d labours of t h e Machian H e rcul e s
-
’

Th I d ean orgi e s ; and the giant force

’

O f the dr e ad Corybant e s ; and t h e wand e ring s

Of Cer e s and t h e wo e s of P r o s p e r pin e :
,

With the se I sung t h e gifts of t h e Cabiri ;

The Myst e ri e s of B acchus ; and the prais e
Of Lemnos S a m othrac e and lofty Cyprus
, , ,

F air A d on e an V e nu s ; and the rit e s

Of d re a d Ogygian P r a x id ic é ;

Ar in ia n Min e rva s n i g htly f e stival;

’

An d E g ypt s sorrow f o r t h e lost Os iri s

’
.

Orp hic Hy m n .

Dr Jevo n s mai n tains that this ear o f corn was

.

the totem of Eleusis and this V iew has been adopted

,
90 E LEU S INIAN MY S TERIE S AN D RITE S

follows : S o help m e heaven the work o f Go d

,

who is great and wise : so help me the word o f

the Father which he spake whe n he e stablished
"
the whole u niverse in his wisdom .

With this ceremony the third degree ended save ,

that the e p o p t m were placed upon exalted seats ,

arou n d which the priests circled in mystic dances ,

The day succeeding admission into the final degree

was regarded as a rigorous fast at the conclusion
,

of which the e po pt a e drank of the mystic c yc e o n

a n d ate of the sacred cakes .

A ccordi n g to Theo of S myrna the full or complete

,

initiation co n sisted of five steps or degrees which ,

he sets out as follows :

A gain philosophy may be called the initiation
,

i n to true sacred ceremonies and the tradition o f

,

ge n ui n e mysteries for there are five parts of initia

tion ; the first of wh ich is previous purgation for ,

neither are the Mysteries communicated to all who

are willing to receive them but there are certain
,

characters who are prevented by the voice of the

crier such as those who possess impure hands and
,

an inarticulate voice since it is necessary that such

,

as are not expelled from the Mysteries should first

be refined by certain purgations but after purgation
,

the traditio n o f the sacred rite succeeds The .

third part is denominated inspection An d the fo u rth.

,

which is the end a n d design of inspection is the ,

binding of the head and fixing the crow n so that the ,

 TH E INI TIAT O R Y RI TE S 91

initiated may by this means be enabled to co m muni

, ,

cate to others the sacred rites in which he has been

instructed Whether after this he becomes a torch
.

bearer o r an interpreter of the Mysteries o r sustains

, ,

some other part o f the sacerdotal o ffice B u t the .

fifth which is produced from all these is friendship

, ,

with divinity a n d the e n j oyment o f that felicity

,

which arises from intimate converse with the gods .

A ccordi n g to Plato purification is to be derived from

,

the five mathematical disciplines viz arithmetic , .

,

geometry stereo m etry music and astronomy

, , , .

A puleius is represented as saying to hi mself

I approached the confines o f death a n d having ,

c rossed the threshold of Proserpine I at length ,

returned borne along through all the elements

, .

I beheld the sun shining in the dead of night with

lu m inous splendour : I saw both the infernal and
the celestial gods I approached and adored them
. .

Th e m is t iu s represents initiation in the following

words
Entering n ow the mystic dome he is filled with ,

horror and amazement He is seized with solicitude

.

and a total perplexity He is unable to move a .

step forward and he is at a loss to find the entrance

to that road which is to lead him to the place he
aspires to But now in the midst of his perplexity
.
, ,

the prophet " hierophant "suddenly lays open to him

the space before the portals o f the temple Havin g .

thoroughly purified him the hierophant now dis ,

92 ELE U S INIAN MY S TERIE S AND RI TE S

cl oses to the initiated a region all over illuminated

and shining with a divine splendour The cloud a n d .

thick darkness are dispersed ; and the mind which ,

before was full of disconsolate obscurity now emerges , ,

as it were i n to day replete with light and cheerful

, ,

ness o u t of the profound depth i n to which it had

,
.

been plunged .

The fee for initiatio n was a m inimu m sum o f

fifteen drachmas " a drachma being of the value o f
in addition to which there were the usual
ho n oraria to be bestowed upon the various o fficials ,

t o which reference has already been made P r e .

sum a bly also

, gifts in kind were made to the
,

principal o ffi cials for an inscription of the fifth

,

century B C found at Eleusis reads

.
, ,

Let the Hierophant and the Torch bearer co m -

m and that at the Mysteries the Hellenes shall o ffer

fi r s t fr u its of their crops in accordance with ancestral
-

usage . To those who do these things there shall

be many good things b oth good a n d abundant crops
, ,

whoever o f them do not inj ure the A thenians nor ,

the city of A thens n or the t w o goddesses

,
.

The Te le s t r io n o r Hall o f Initiation sometimes ,

called The Mystic Temple was surrounded on all ,

sides by steps which presumably served as seats

,

for the initiated while the sacr e d dra m as a n d pro

cessio n s took place o n the floor o f the hall These .

steps were partly built in a n d partly cut i n the solid

rock i n later times they appear to have been covered
 THE INITI A T O RY RITE S 93

with marble There were two doors o n each side

.

of the hall with the exception of the north west -

,

where the entrance was cut o u t o f the solid rock a ,

rock terrace at a higher level adj oining it This .

was probably the station o f those not yet admitted

to full initiation The roof o f the hall was carried
.

by rows o f colum n s which were m ore than once

renewed The Hall itself did n o t accommodate
.

more than four thousand people The building was .

perhaps more accurately described by A ristophanes ,

who called it The House that welco m ed the

‘

Mys t ae , and he carefully distinguished it from the

Temple o f D emeter I t was not the dwelling place
.
-

o f any god and it therefore did not contain any

, , ,

holy image It was built for the celebration of a

.

definite ritual and the Eleusinian Hall o f Initiation

,

was therefore the only k n own ch u r ch of anti quity ,

if by that term we mean the meeting place o f the -

congregation .

Mr James Christie i n his work o n Gr eek V a

.
, s es ,

contends that the phantasmal scenes in the

Mysteries were shown by transparencies such as ,

a r e yet used by t he Chinese Javanese a n d Hindus

, , .
 T H EI R MY S T I C A L S I G N IFI C A N C E

IFE as we know it was looked upo n by the

, ,

ancient philosophers as death Plato considered.

the body as the sepulchre of the soul and in the ,

Cr a
ty l u s acquiesces in the doctrine of Orpheus that
the soul is punished through its union with the body
Empedocles lamenting his co n nection with this
,

corporeal world pathetically exclaimed

,
'

F orthis I we e p for this indulge my w o e

t e e r my s o ul such n o v e l re a
Th a
, ,
’
l m s should kn ow .

He also calls this material abode , o r the realms

o f generation ,

a joyl e ss re gi o n ,

Whe re slaught e r rage and countl e ss ills re s ide

, , .

Philolaus the celebrated Pythagorean wrote

,
The ,

ancient theologists and priests testify that the soul

is united with the body for the sake o f su ffering
p u nishme n t an d that it is bu r ied in the body as in
,

a sep u lchre while Pythagoras hi m self said °

Whatever we s e e when awak e is de t h n d whe n aa ,

a s leep a dr ea
m ,
 THEI R MY S TI C A L S I GNIFI C A N C E 95
‘

This is the truth intended to be expressed in the

Mysteries S a llu s t iu s the n e o Platonic philosopher
.
,
-
,

in his treatise P e r i Theo n ka i K os m ou Concerning ,

the gods and the existi n g state o f thi n gs explains ,

the rape of P ersephone as signifying the descent of

the soul O ther writers have explained the real
.

element of the Mysteries as consisting in the relations

of the universe to the soul more especially after ,

death or as i n timating obscurely by splendid visions

,

the felicity o f the soul here and hereafter when

purified from the d e fi le m e n t s of a material nature .

The intention of all mystic ceremonies according ,

to S a llu s t ius was to conj oin the world and the gods
, .

P lotinus says that to be plunged into matter is to

descend and then fall asleep The initiate had to .

withstand the d a emons and spectres which in later , ,

times illustrated the di fficulties besetting the soul

,

in its approach to the gods so also the U a , sa r ia

n

had to repel or satisfy the mystic crocodiles vipers , ,

avenging assessors d a e mons of the gate

,
and other ,

dread beings whom he e n countered in his tryi n g

passage through the valley of the shadow o f death .

Pi n dar speaking of the Eleusi n ian Mysteries says :

, ,

Blessed is he who o n s e eing those common concerns

,

under the earth knows both the end of life and the
,

give n end of Jupiter .

Psyche is said to have fallen asleep i n H ades th ro u gh

r ashly atte m pti n g to behold corp ore a l beauty and ,

t h e t ru th inte n de d t o be t a ugh t in the E leu s inian

96 E LEU S INI A N MY S TE R IE S A ND RITE S

Mysteries was that prudent men who earnestly

employed themselves in divine co n cerns were above ,

all others in a vigilant state and that imprudent

, ,

me n who pursued obj ects of a n inferior nature

were asleep and engaged only in the delusion o f
'

dreams ; and that if they happened to die in this

sleep before they were aroused they would be
a fflicted with similar but still sharper visions in
, ,

a future state .

Matter was regarded by the Egyptians as a ce r tain

mire o r mud They called matter the dregs or
.

sediment o f the first life Before the first pur ifi c a

.

tion the ca n di d ate for initiation into the Eleusinian

Mysteries was besmeared with clay o r mud which
it was the obj ect of the purification to wash away .

It also intimated that while the soul is in a state

o f servitude to the body it lives confined , as it were ,

l n b onds through the domi n ion of this Titanic life .

Thus the Greeks laid great stress upon the advantages

to be derived from initiation No t only were the
.

initiates placed u n der the protectio n of the S tate ,

but the very act of initiation was s a id t o assist in

the spreading o f goodwill among men keep the soul ,

from sin a n d crime place the initiates under the

,

special protection of the gods and provide them

,

with the means o f attaining perfect virtue the power ,

o f living a spotless life and assure them of a peace

,

f ul death and o f everlasting bliss hereafter The .

hie r ophants as s ur e d all w h o par t icipa t e d i n the

98 ELEU S INI A N M YS TERIE S A ND RITE S

Ou r whole life is but a succession of errors of ,

painful wanderings and o f lo n g j ourneys by tortuo u s

,
-

ways without outlet A t the moment of quitting

,
.

it fears terrors qu i ve rings mortal sweats a

, , , nd , ,

a lethargic stupor come and overwhelm us ; but ,

as soon as we are o u t o f it we pass into delightful ,

meadows where t h e purest air is breathed where

, ,

sacred concerts and discourses are heard ; where ,

in short one is impressed with celestial V isions

, .

It is there that man having become perfect through

,

his n e w initiation restored to liberty really m aster

, ,

o f himself celebrates crowned with myrtle the most

, , ,

a ugust mysteries holds converse with j ust and pure

,

s ouls
,
and sees with conte m pt the impure multitude
o f the profane or uninitiated ever plunged and ,

s inki n g itself into the mire and in profound darkness .

D ogmatic instructio n was no t included in the

Mysteries ; the doctrine of the immortality of the
s oul traces its origin to sources a n terior to the r ise

o f the Mysteries A t Eleusis the way was show n

.

how to secure for the soul after death the best

possible fate The miracle of regeneration rather
.
,

than the eternity of being was taught , .

P lato introduces S ocrates as saying : In my

O pinion those who established the Mysteries whoever ,

they were were well skilled in human nature F o r

, .

in these rites it was of old signified to the aspirants

t hat those who died without being initiated stuck
fast in mire and filth ; but that he who was
 THEIR MYS TI C A L S I GNIFI C ANC E 99

purified and initiated should at his death have ,

his habitation with the gods .

Plato again in the seventh book of the Repu blic

, ,

says : He who is not able by the exercise of his .

reason to define the id e a of the good separati n g it ,

fro m all other obj ects and piercing as in a b a ttle

thro u gh every kind of argu m ent ; endeavourin g
to confute not according to opinion but accordin g
,

to evidence and proceeding with all these dialectical

,

—
exercises with an unshake n reaso n h e who can n o t
accomplish this would you not say that he neithe r
,

knows the good itself nor anything which is properl y

,

demonstrated good " A nd would you not assert

that such a o n e whe n he apprehended it rathe r
through the medium of opinion tha n of scie n ce th a t ,

in the present life he is sunk in sleep and co n versa n t

with delusions a n d drea m s ; and that before he is
roused to a vigilant state he will descend to Hades ,

and be overwhelm e d wi th sleep perfectly profound

Olym pio d o r u s in his MS Com m entary on t h
, .

Georgias of P lato says of the E lysian fields :

,
It
is necessary to k n o w that the fortun a te islands a re

said to be raised above the sea Hercules is.

reported to have acco m plished his last labour in

the Hesperian regions sig nifying by this that havi n g
, ,

van quished a n obscure and terrestrial life he after ,

wards lived in open day — that is in truth a n d r e s ple n

,

a
de n t light S o that he who in the present stat e
.

va n quishes s m uch as possible a corpore a l life ,

1 00 ELEU S INIAN MY S TE RIE S AND RITE S

t hrough the exercise o f the cathartic virtues passes ,

in reality into the fortunate islands o f the soul ,

a n d lives surrounded with the bright sple n dours o f

t ruth a n d wisdom proceeding from the sun o f good .

The esoteric teachi n g was n ot o f course grasped , ,

by all the initiates the m aj ority m erely recogniz ed o r

g ra s ped the exoteric doctrine o f a future state o f

r ewards and punishments V irgil in his description .
, ,

in the E n e id of the Mysteries confines himself t o

, ,

t h e exoteric teaching E neas having passed over the

.
,

S tygian lake m eets with the three headed Cerberus

,
-
.

By Cerberus must be understood the discrimi n ative

p art o f the soul o f which a dog
, by reason o f its ,

s agacity ,
is an e m blem The three heads sig nify .

the intellective dian oe tic and d ox a

,

, t ic p o w ers , .

He d r a h
’
d d
’

gg the three m o u t dog to upper -

day
—i e by temperance co n tine n ce and othe r virtues
. .
, ,

h e drew upwards the various powers o f the soul .

Th e teaching of the Mysteries was n ot i n opposition

t o the ordinary creed it deepened it rather revived ,

it in a spiritual manner and gave to religion a force

a n d a power it had not hitherto possessed .

The fable o f Persepho n e as belongi n g to the ,

Mysteries was properly of a mixed nature composed

, ,

o f all four species o f fable — theological physical , ,

a nimistic and material A ccording t o the arcana

, .

of ancient theology the Coric order i e that ,

-
. .

—
belonging to Persephone is twofold one part ,

s upermundane and the other mundane .

1 02 E LEU S INI A N MY S TERIE S A ND RITE S

it starts forth : what was dead is now alive ; the

e arth all decked with fresh green rej oices at the
, ,

r ecovery o f her long lost da u ghter and everythin g

-
,

"
s h ares in the j oy .

Demeter was worshipped in a twofold sense

by t h e Greeks as the foundress o f agriculture a n d as
,

goddess o f law and order They used to celebrate .

yearly in her honour the Th e s m or ph o r iao r Festival ,

o f Laws A ccording to some a n cient writers the

.

Gr e eks p r ior to the time o f Demeter and Triptolemus

, ,

fed upo n the acorns of the ilex o r the evergreen ,

oa k . A cor n s according to V irgil were the food

, ,

in E pir o s a n d in S pain according t o S trabo

, , The .

S cythians made bread with acorns A ccording t o .

a n other tradition before Demeter s time men neither

,
’

c u ltivated corn nor tilled the ground but roame d ,

t h e mou n tains a n d woods in search for the wild

f ruits which the earth produced Isocrates wrote .

C e res h a t h made t h e A the nians two presents o f

the grea t est conseque n ce corn which brought ,

u s out o f a state of brutality ; and the Mysteries ,

w hich tea c h t h e initiated to e n tertain the most

a greeable expec t ations touching death and eternity .

The c oins o f Eleusis represented Demeter in a car

dr aw n by dr a go n s o r serpents w hich were sometimes
wing e d The goddess had two ears of cor n in her
.

right hand or as Some imagined torches indicatin g

, , ,

that she was searching for her dau ghter George .

Wheler in his j our n ey in to Gr eec e published in

, ,
 TH EIR MY S TI C AL S I GNIFI CAN CE 1 03

1 68 2says
, We observed many large stones covere d
with wheat ears and bundles of poppy bou n d together
-

these bei n g the characters o f Ceres A t Cope nhage n

.

t here is a statue representing D emeter holdi n g poppies

and ears of corn in her left hand On a coin of .

Lampsacus of the fourth ce n tury B C Persephone . .

,

is describe d in the act of rising from the earth .

A ccording to Taylor the Platonist D emeter in

, ,

the lege n d represents the evolution of that self

inspective pa rt o f ou r nature which we properly
determi n e intellect and Persephone that vital
, ,

self movi n g and a n imate part which we call soul

-
, .

Pluto signifies the whole of our material n ature ,

and according to P ythagoras the empire o f this god

, ,

commences downwar ds from t h e Galaxy or Milky

Way .

S allust says that amo n g the mundane divinities

Ceres is t h e deity of the pla n et S aturn The caver n .

signifies the entrance into mundane life accomplished

by the union o f the soul with the terrestrial body .

D emeter who was afraid lest some violence be o ff ered

,

to Persepho n e o n accou n t of her inimitable beauty ,

conveyed h e r privately to S icily and concealed her
in a house built on purpose by the Cyclops while ,

she herself directed her course to the temple of

C ybele the mother o f the gods
,
Here we see the
.

first cause of the soul s descent viz her desertion

’

, .

of a life wholly according to intellect occultly s ign i ,

fi e d by the separati o n of Demeter and Persephone .

1 04 E LE US INIAN MY S TERIE S AN D RITE S

A fterwards Jupiter instructed V e n us to go and betray

Persephone fro m her retire m e n t that Pluto might ,

be enabled to carry her away and to prevent a ny , ,

in t h e V irgin s mind he co mm anded

’
s uspicion ,

Diana and Pallas to bear her co m pany The .

three goddesses o n arrival fo un d P ersephone at

work o n a scarf for her mother on which she had ,

e m broidered the pri m itive chaos and the formation

o f the world V enus says Taylor is significant

.
, ,

o f desire which even in the celestial regions "

, , for
such is the residence o f P ersephone until she is
r avished by P l u to " begins sile n tly and fraudulently
,

i n the recesses of the soul Minerva is symbolical .

of the rational power o f the soul and D ia n a r e pr e ~

s e n ts natu r e ,or the merely natural and vegetable

part o f our composition both e n snared through ,

the allurements of desire .

In Ovi d we have Narcissus the meta m orphosis ,

of a youth who fell a victim to love of his o w n cor

p o r e a
l form
. The rape of P ersephone according ,

to the Homeric Hymn to D emeter was the imm ediate ,

consequence of her gathering this wonderful flower .

By Narcissus falli n g in love with his shadow in th e

limpi d strea m we behold the represe n tation of a
beautiful soul which by prolonged gaze upo n the
, ,

material form becomes enamoured of a corporeal

,

li f e a nd cha n ged into a being co n sisting wholly

o f the mere e n ergies of n ature P lato forci n g his .
,

p assage th r ough the earth seizes o n Persepho n e ,

10 6 E L E U S I N I A N MY S T E R I E S A ND RITE S

n ature is capable o f recei v ing Without t h e .

possibility o f the participation of i n tellect in the

l ower material sphere nothing but an irrational an d
a brutal life would subsist .

But according t o s om e writers the initiates into

‘

, ,

the third degree were taught that the gods an d

goddesses were o n ly dead mortals subj ect whil e ,

a live to the sa m e passions a n d in fi r m it ie s as them

s elves ; and they were taught to look upon the
S upreme Cause the Creator of the Universe as
, ,

pervading all things by His virtue and gover ni n g

a ll thi n gs by His power Thus the meaning o f
.

My s tes is given as one who sees thi n gs in disguise ,

a n d that of Epopt as o n e who sees thi n gs as the y

are without disguise
,
The Epopt after passin g
.
,

through the ceremonial o f ex altation was said t o ,

h ave received A utopsia or complete vision , V irgil .

d eclared that the secret o f the Myste ries was the

‘

Unity o f the Godhead and Plato owned it t o be

,

di fficult t o find the Creator o f the Universe and , ,

w hen fou n d impossible t o discover Him t o all t h e

,

world V arro in his work Of R e ligion s says that

, ,

there were many truths which it was In convenient

for the S tate t o be generally know n ; a n d many
thi ngs which though false it was expedient the
, ,

people should believe and that therefore the Greeks

, , ,

shut up their Mysteries in the silence of their sacred

e nclosures .The Mysteries declared that the future
life was n o t the sh adowy weary existence which ,
 THEIR MY S TI C A L S I GNIFI C A N C E 1 07

it had hitherto been supposed to be but t hat through

,

the rites o f pu rificatio n and sacrifices of a sacramental"

character man could secure a better hope for t h e
future Thus the Eleusi nian Mysteries became the
.

chief age n t in the conversio n o f the Greek world

from the Homeric view of Hades to a more hopeful :

’
belief as to man s state after death Tully pro .

m ulg a t e d a law forbiddi n g n octurnal sacrifices irr

which women were permitted to take part bu t ,

made an express exceptio n in favour o f the Eleu

sinian Mysteries giving as his reason
,
A then s
hath produced many excelle n t even divine inventions
,

an d applied them to the use of life but she has give n

,

nothing better than those Mysteries by which w e

are drawn from an irrational and savage life a nd

tamed as it were and broken to huma n ity They

, , .

are truly called I n itia for they are i n deed t h e

,

beginni n gs o f a life o f reason and virtue .

S ecrecy was enj oined because it was regarde d a s

essential that the profane should n o t be permitted

to share the knowledge of the true nature o f D emete r
and P ersephone as if it were known that thes e
,

goddesses wer e only mortal women their worship

would become contemptible Cicero says that it
.

was the huma n ity of Demeter and P ersephone ,

their places of interme n t a n d several facts o f a lik e

,
.

nature that were concealed with so much care

D ia g o r a
,s the Melia n,
was accou n ted a n atheist
because he revealed the real secret o f the Eleusinia n
 1 08 E LEUS INI A N MY S TERIE S A ND RITE S

M ys t eries Th e ch a rge of atheis m was the lot o f

.

a n y who co mm u n icated a knowle d ge of the on e ,

on ly Go d Pi n dar says referring to the Mysteries

.
,

Happy is he who has seen these things before

leaving this world : he realizes the begi n ning and
the end of life as o rdained by Zeus
, and S ophocles
wrote Oh thrice blesse d the mortals who havin g
, , ,

c ontemplated these Mysteries have desce n ded t o

,

H ades ; for th o se o nly will there be a future life

o f happi n ess — the others there will fi n d n othing b u t
s u ffe r in g
s
.
1 10
L ELE US INIAN MY S TERIE S A ND RITE S
F arn e ll Cu lt s f
o the Gr ee k S t t es a
Ma na
p r ofa ra
. .

F irm icus t e r n us . De er r or e m r eligion um .

'
F o ucart Le s my s ter es d E leu s is
. .

F raz e r Golden B ough

. .

Gardn e r N e w Ch p t er s in Gr ee k H is tory a
a aa
. .

'
G rdn e r and J e v o ns M n u l of Gr ee k A n tiq
uit ies . .

Gibbon
aa
.

Gre go ry of N z i n z us .

G rot e H is tory of Gr eece

a
. .

G u e r be r H A Myths of Gr eece n d Rom e

, . . .

Harrison J E , . . P r oleg om en a
.

Hatch E dwin H ibber t Lectu r es

au
. .
,

H e r o di n s .

H e rod o tus .

Hipp o lytus
a
.

Il or ce .

Int e rnational F olk Lo re Co n gre ss , 1 8 91 P a

p
er s ad n

a ati
.

Tr ns c on s .

Isocrat e s .

L at at ius
c n

An d re w Myth Ritua l a
.

L an g n d R e lig ion

Tr a n s la
. .
, , ,

D itto t ion of H om er ic Hy m n s
a
. .

L en or m n t F Eleu s is .

a
.
,

Lib n iu s .

Livy
a a
.

Lo be c k Agl oph m u s
a
.

a
.

Lucian D i logu es of the D e d

a a
. .

Lysi s Con tr A n d ocid e m

. .

Ma
haffy J P a a
R m bles n d S tu die s in Gr eece
Ma
.

n nh a
. .
,

rdt W , . Myth ologis che F or s chungen .

Me u r s iu s
aG e
.

Maury A , . Les Religions d e l r ce .

 B I B LI O GR A PHY 111

M o m m s e n F es te der . a
S t dt A then in A lt er tu rru
D itt o H eor tologie
. .

No s s e lt and Ha
ll . Mythology Gr eek , ad n Rom a n .

O lym pio d o r us .

Pa
t r e Wa
lt e r Gr ee k S tu dies
Pa a a
. .
,

t on , W R . . The H oly N m es f
o the E leu s in i n
P r ies t s
a
u aiu
.

P s n s . D es cr ip tion of Gr e e c e .

P hi li o s ,
D e m e t r ius . Ele u s is s e s mys ter es
, , s es r uin es ,

m us e e
’

et s on

a
.

P h l eg o n d e Tral le s Fr g his t gr
a
. . . .

P in d r .

a
P l to .

P le t h o s .

P l o ti n u s
a
.

P lut rch .

P o ll ux
a aa
.

P hilo s t r t u s Appollon iu s ,
f
o Ty n .

P o rphyry .

P re ll e r D e m et er u n d P e r s ep hon e
. .

P re ll e r R o b e rt
-
Gr iec his che Mythologie
a
. .

P r in g s h e im . A r ch . B e itr ge .

P r o clus .

R e in ac h Cu lt es myth es e t R eligion s
.
, , .

R e v u e d e l his t oir e d es R eligion s

’
.

R e v u e d e P hilologie 1 8 93 , .

R ev u e d es e tu d es gr ecq 1 90 6
‘

u es ,
.

R o hd e E P sy che
,
. .

a
S glio P o tti e r
-
D ict ionn ir e d e s A n tiq uite s a ’

a
.

S llu s t iu s
a
.

c h om n n Gr ie chis che A n ther t hu m er

j
. .

S o ph o c l e s .
1 12 E LE U S I NIAN MY S TE RIE S A ND RI TES
S tr bo a .

S u e tonius
a
.

S uid s .

Taylor T aa
The E leus in i n n d B cchic Rites a
a
. .
,

Dit t o . The My s tic l Hymn s of Orp heus .

Te rtul lian .

Th e m is t iu s .

Th e o d o r e t u s .

V arro . Of R eligion s .

V ol t aire .

W a e chte r R ein heits v or s chr ift en

. .

W e lck e r F G Gr iechis che Gotter lehr e

, . . .

W h e l e r j our n ey in to Gr eece
. .

X e n op h o n .

a a
P r in ted in Gr e t B r it in b
y
U NWI N B ROTH E R S , LI MI TE D , TH E G R ES H A M P RE SS , W OKI NG AND LONDON