 |
||
The Eleusinian Mysteries of Ancient Greece Just outside of Athens was a town called Eleusis. It is best known for the secret rituals that took place there. In ancient times these rituals were simply called “The Mysteries” but today we commonly refer to them as the Eleusinian Mysteries, to distinguish them from other mystery rites.(1) The festival itself, which honored the goddess Demeter and her daughter Persephone, took place for a week in the fall. Anyone who spoke Greek, had participated in the initial purification rituals, and could afford to bring their own sacrificial piglet, was allowed to participate. They began in prehistoric times, and lasted until the 4th century AD.
The word “mystery” comes from the Greek word mustes meaning “an initiate.” Those who were initiated were not allowed to divulge the information that had been revealed to them. It is quite impressive to think that, for the most part, this information was kept secret. Unfortunately for us, however, it also means that we do not truly know what the secret of Eleusis was. Those who did reveal the secret were severely punished by the Athenian authorities.
The structure of the week’s rituals, so far as we are able to reconstruct it from historical information, is as follows: The first day of the festival was the 16th of Boedromion. Candidates gathered at Athens for purifications, which included washing in the sea water, and sacrificing a piglet. Plutarch says that the initiates even bathed with the piglets.(2) On the 17th a sow was sacrificed to Demeter and Persephone. (3) The 18th there was a public festival going on in Athens in honor of Asklepios, and it also was the day a wine libation was offered to Dionysos.(4) Initiates did not participate in these, as they shunned wine just as, in the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, Demeter refuses to drink wine. Instead she asks for a drink of barley and pennyroyal called kykeon. This was the day initiates probably prepared the kykeon.
Then, on the 19th, which was called agyrmos or “gathering,” the sacred objects were taken out of the Eleusinion, a temple near the Acropolis. The priestesses carried these sacred objects in baskets (kistai) on their heads.(5) The entire group of officiants and initiates processed some 12 miles from Athens to Eleusis along the hiera hodos, the Sacred Way. They carried boughs of myrtle and torches once it became dark. Cries of “Iakkh’ o Iakkhe” Along the way they crossed over a bridge, and were taunted and had obscenities shouted at them by a person meant to represent Iambe.(6) After they all enjoyed the joking and laughter, they kykeon was drunk. They were on their way again, and had to cross over another bridge, although this one was much smaller. The participants could only cross in single file, and carts were too large to cross. After coming off the bridge the candidates were received by a priest. They were expected to give him a “password” phrase: “I have fasted, drunk the kykeon, taken things out of the big basket and, after performing a rite, put them in the little basket, whence I put them back in the big basket.”(7) Once they had done that, the priest would tie a thread to the right hand and the left foot of the participant.(8) By the time the initiates reached the sanctuary it was nighttime.
What exactly happened at the sanctuary we are not entirely sure. We do have some indications, however. As they approach the building they throw piglets into the megara.(9) Plutarch speaks of “wandering to and fro,” probably in imitation of Demeter searching for Persephone.(10) They would conduct their mock search in the dark just outside the building. It is possible that those who had been initiated previously did not participate in this. Clinton suggests that the epoptai, those already initiated, went into the Telesterion first, and, holding torches, awaited the candidates to enter.(11) After the search they entered the Telesterion, which was the main building of the sanctuary, holding up to 3,000 people.(12) We may wonder why one who was already initiated would go back again. There is a wonderful quote that addresses this: “There are holy things that are not communicated all at once: Eleusis always keeps something back to show those who come again.”(13)
Later writers, mostly Christian, felt no need to keep the secret of the Mysteries, and they have provided some information on what was done and what was revealed to the participants. Clement of Alexandria, a convert to Christianity, writes that there are “sesame-sweets, cakes shaped like pyramids and balls, or covered with navels, lumps of salt, and a serpent” and “pomegranates in addition, and sprigs of fig, fennel and ivy, and also cheese-cakes and poppies.”(14) Concerning what was shown to the initiates we hear different accounts. Tertullian, another convert to Christianity, says, “the entire secret token of their tongues, is revealed to be an image of the male organ.”(15) However, Hippolytus, a Gnostic, tells us that it is an ear of grain that is revealed to the initiates. It seems quite possible that the food was used as offerings to The Two Goddesses. As for the showing of a phallus or an ear of grain, both seem possible; however, grain seems the most likely in this context. There is a very interesting line from Euripides that might refer to this. “One buries children, one gains new children, one dies oneself; and this men take heavily, carrying earth to earth. But it is necessary to harvest life like a fruit-bearing ear of corn, and that the one be, the other not.”(16)
The hierophant would then beat the echeion, a kind of gong used in the theater to imitate the sound of thunder.(17) It is at this point that a vision of Persephone herself, surrounded by a blinding light, is thought to appear from inside a small room in the building, known as the Anaktoron. Plutarch says that an initiate, when he as “beheld a great light, as when the Anaktoron opens, changes his behavior and falls silent and wonders.”(18) The hierophant then proclaims, “The Lady Brimo has brought forth a holy son, Brimos.”(19)
The next day there are dances, and sacrifices of piglets and a large bull, which were then served at a grand feast. Following that, two large vessels, called plemokhoi were filled with liquid. One faced East and the other West. They were overturned, as a libation, while the priest called out “Hye kye!” which means, “Rain conceive!”(20) This, the 23rd of Boedromion, was the final day of the Mysteries, and thus the initiates returned to their homes.
The Eleusinian Mysteries were one of the most popular cults in ancient Greece. The meaning of the rites comes from participation in them, however, and not knowledge of them. Aristotle wrote, “Initiates do not need to understand anything; rather, they undergo an experience and a disposition – become, that is, deserving.”(21) What it is that they deserve can be explained by some other quotes found in ancient literature. Sophocles has said, “Thrice blessed of mortals are those who go to Hades after beholding these rites. To them alone it is given to live there; to others everything there is evil.”(22) Pindar also wrote on this: “Blessed is he who goes under the earth after seeing these things. He knows the consummation of life; he knows its Zeus-given beginnings.”(23) Another writer says, “Even if your life is sedentary and you never sailed the sea or walked the highways of the land, go nevertheless to Attica to see those nights of the great Mysteries of Demeter: your heart shall become free of care while you live and lighter when you go to the realm of the majority.”(24)
The initiates of the Mysteries, through their participation, became the blessed of the Goddesses. They gained the understanding that death was not the final end, that they would live on in the Underworld. Furthermore, they learned that they would receive special treatment after death by the goddess of the Underworld, Persephone. This brought great joy to an ancient Greek, whose life was difficult and witnessed death often.
You may also be interested to read about the ritual we held locally celebrating this ancient festival.