{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_35087/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_35087","id":"gutenberg_35087","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/35087","summary":null,"tags":["Category: History - Ancient","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Eleusinian mysteries"],"text":"</pre>\nTHE ELEUSINIAN MYSTERIES AND RITES\n\nBy\n\nDUDLEY WRIGHT\n\nINTRODUCTION BY THE REV. J. FORT NEWTON, D.Litt., D.D.\n\n_Past Grand Chaplain of the Grand Lodge of Iowa, U.S.A._\n\n\nTHE THEOSOPHICAL PUBLISHING HOUSE\n\n\nLONDON--DENVER\n\n1919\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n_Reproduced by permission of the Encyclop\u00e6dia Britannica._\n\nPLAN OF THE SACRED BUILDINGS OF ELEUSIS.\n\n     1. Temple of Artemis Propyl\u00e6a.\n     2. Outer Propyl\u00e6on.\n     3. Inner Propyl\u00e6on.\n     4. Temple of Demeter.\n     5. Outer Enclosure of the Sacred Buildings.\n     6. Inner Enclosure.\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE\n\n\nAt one time the Mysteries of the various nations were the only vehicle\nof religion throughout the world, and it is not impossible that the very\nname of religion might have become obsolete but for the support of the\nperiodical celebrations which preserved all the forms and ceremonials,\nrites and practices of sacred worship.\n\nWith regard to the connection, supposed or real, between Freemasonry and\nthe Mysteries, it is a remarkable coincidence that there is scarcely a\nsingle ceremony in the former that has not its corresponding rite in one\nor other of the Ancient Mysteries. The question as to which is the\noriginal is an important one to the student. The Masonic antiquarian\nmaintains that Freemasonry is not a scion snatched with a violent hand\nfrom the Mysteries--whether Pythagorean, Hermetic, Samothracian,\nEleusinian, Drusian, Druidical, or the like--but is the original\ninstitution, from which all the Mysteries were derived. In the opinion\nof the renowned Dr. George Oliver: \"There is ample testimony to\nestablish the fact that the Mysteries of all nations were originally the\nsame, and diversified only by the accidental circumstances of local\nsituation and political economy.\" The original foundation of the\nMysteries has, however, never been established. Herodotus ascribed the\ninstitution of the Eleusinian Mysteries to Egyptian influences, while\nPococke declares them to have been of Tartar origin, and to have\ncombined Brahmanical and Buddhistic ideas. Others are equally of opinion\nthat their origin must be sought for in Persia, while at least one\nwriter--and who, in these days, will declare the theory to be\nfanciful?--ventures the opinion that it is not improbable that they were\npractised among the Atlanteans.\n\nThe Eleusinian Mysteries--those rites of ancient Greece, and later of\nRome, of which there is historical evidence dating back to the seventh\ncentury before the Christian era--bear a very striking resemblance in\nmany points to the rituals of both Operative and Speculative\nFreemasonry. As to their origin, beyond the legendary account put forth,\nthere is no trace. In the opinion of some writers of repute an Egyptian\nsource is attributed to them, but of this there is no positive evidence.\nThere is a legend that St. John the Evangelist--a character honoured and\nrevered by Freemasons--was an initiate of these Mysteries. Certainly,\nmore than one of the early Fathers of the Christian Church boasted of\nhis initiation into these Rites. The fact that this is the first time\nthat an attempt has been made to give a detailed exposition of the\nceremonial and its meaning in the English language will, it is hoped,\nrender the articles of interest and utility to students of Masonic lore.\n\nAs to the influence of the Mysteries upon Christianity, it will be seen\nthat in more than one instance the Christian ritual bears a very close\nresemblance to the solemn rites of the Latin and Greek Mysteries.\n\nThe Bibliography at the end does not claim to be exhaustive, but it will\nbe found to contain the principal sources of our knowledge of the\nEleusinian Mysteries.\n\n\nDUDLEY WRIGHT.\n\nOXFORD.\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\nPREFACE\n\nINTRODUCTION\n\nI. THE ELEUSINIAN LEGEND.\n\nII. THE RITUAL OF THE MYSTERIES\n\nIII. PROGRAMME OF THE GREATER MYSTERIES\n\nIV. THE INITIATORY RITES\n\nV. THEIR MYSTICAL SIGNIFICANCE\n\nBIBLIOGRAPHY.\n\n\n\n\nINTRODUCTION BY THE REV. J. FORT NEWTON, D.LITT., D.D.,\n\n_Past Grand Chaplain of the Grand Lodge of Iowa._\n\n\nFew aspects of the history of the human spirit are more fascinating than\nthe story of the Mysteries of antiquity, one chapter of which is told in\nthe following pages with accuracy, insight, and charm. Like all human\ninstitutions, they had their foundation in a real need, to which they\nministered by dramatizing the faiths and hopes and longings of humanity,\nand evoking that eternal mysticism which is at once the joy and solace\nof man as he marches or creeps or crowds through the welter of doubts,\ndangers, disease, and death, which we call our life.\n\nOnce the sway of the Mysteries was well-nigh universal, but towards the\nend of their power they fell into the mire and became corrupt, as all\nthings human are apt to do, the Church itself being no exception. Yet at\ntheir best and highest they were not only lofty and noble, but elevating\nand refining, and that they served a high purpose is equally clear, else\nthey had not won the eulogiums of the most enlightened men of antiquity.\nFrom Pythagoras to Plutarch the teachers of old bear witness to the\nservice of the Mysteries, and Cicero testified that what a man learned\nin the house of the Hidden Place made him want to live nobly, and gave\nhim happy thoughts for the hour of death.\n\nThe Mysteries, said Plato, were established by men of great genius, who,\nin the early ages, strove to teach purity, to ameliorate the cruelty of\nthe race, to exalt its morals and refine its manners, and to restrain\nsociety by stronger bonds than those which human laws impose. Such being\ntheir purpose, he who gives a thought to the life of man at large will\nenter their vanished sanctuaries with sympathy; and if no mystery any\nlonger attaches to what they taught--least of all to their ancient\nallegory of immortality--there is the abiding interest in the rites,\ndrama, and symbols employed in the teaching of wise and good and\nbeautiful truth.\n\nWhat influence the Mysteries had on the new, uprising Christianity is\nhard to know, and the issue is still in debate. That they did influence\nthe early Church is evident from the writings of the Fathers--more than\none of whom boasted of initiation--and some go so far as to say that the\nMysteries died at last, only to live again in the ritual of the Church.\nSt. Paul in his missionary journeys came in contact with the Mysteries,\nand even makes use of some of their technical terms in his Epistles, the\nbetter to show that what they sought to teach by drama can be known only\nby spiritual experience. No doubt his insight is sound, but surely drama\nmay assist to that realization, else public worship might also come\nunder ban.\n\nOf the Eleusinian Mysteries in particular, we have long needed such a\nstudy as is here offered, in which the author not only sums up in an\nattractive manner what is known, but adds to our knowledge some\nimportant details. An Egyptian source has been attributed to the\nMysteries of Greece, but there is little evidence of it, save as we may\nconjecture it to have been so, remembering the influence of Egypt upon\nGreece. Such influences are difficult to trace, and it is safer to say\nthat the idea and use of Initiation--as old as the Men's House of\nprimitive society--was universal, and took different forms in different\nlands.\n\nSuch a study has more than an antiquarian interest, not only to students\nin general, but especially to the men of the gentle Craft of\nFreemasonry. If we may not say that Freemasonry is historically\ndescended from the instituted Mysteries of antiquity, it does\nperpetuate, to some extent, their ministry among us. At least, the\nresemblance between those ancient rites arid the ceremonials of both\nOperative and Speculative Freemasonry are very striking; and the present\nstudy must be reckoned as not the least of the services of its author to\nthat gracious Craft.\n\nTHE CITY TEMPLE, LONDON, E.C.\n\n\n\n\nThe Eleusinian Mysteries and Rites\n\n\n\nI\n\nTHE ELEUSINIAN LEGEND\n\n\nThe legend which formed the basis of the Mysteries of Eleusis, presence\nat and participation in which demanded an elaborate form or ceremony of\ninitiation, was as follows:--\n\nPersephone (sometimes described as Proserpine and as Cora or Kore), when\ngathering flowers, was abducted by Pluto, the god of Hades, and carried\noff by him to his gloomy abode; Zeus, the brother of Pluto and the\nfather of Persephone, giving his consent. Demeter (or Ceres), her\nmother, arrived too late to assist her child, or even catch a glimpse of\nher seducer, and neither god nor man was able, or willing, to enlighten\nher as to the whereabouts of Persephone or who had carried her away. For\nnine nights and days she wandered, torch in hand, in quest of her child.\nEventually, however, she heard from Helios (the sun) the name of the\nseducer and his accomplice. Incensed at Zeus, she left Olympos and the\ngods, and came down to scour the earth disguised as an old woman.\n\nIn the course of her wanderings she arrived at Eleusis, where she was\nhonourably entertained by Keleos, the ruler of the country, with whom,\nand his wife Metanira, she consented to remain in order to watch over\nthe education of Demophon, who had just been born to the aged king and\nwhom she undertook to make immortal.\n\n     Long was thy anxious search\n     For lovely Proserpine, nor didst thou break\n     Thy mournful fast, till the far-fam'd Eleusis\n     Received thee wandering.\n\n                                _Orphic Hymn._\n\nThe city of Eleusis is said to derive its name from the hero Eleusis, a\nfabulous personage deemed by some to have been the offspring of Mercury\nand Daira, daughter of Oceanus, while by others he was claimed as the\nson of Oxyges.\n\nUnknown to the parents Demeter used to anoint Demophon by day with\nambrosia, and hide him by night in the fire like a firebrand. Detected\none night by Metanira, she was compelled to reveal herself as Demeter,\nthe goddess. Whereupon she directed the Eleusinians to erect a temple as\na peace-offering, and, this being done, she promised to initiate them\ninto the form of worship which would obtain for them her goodwill and\nfavour. \"It is I, Demeter, full of glory, who lightens and gladdens the\nhearts of gods and men. Hasten ye, my people, to raise, hard by the\ncitadel, below the ramparts, a fane, and on the eminence of the hill, an\naltar, above the wall of Callichorum. I will instruct you in the rites\nwhich shall be observed and which are pleasing to me.\"\n\nThe temple was erected, but Demeter was still vowing vengeance against\ngods and men, and because of the continued loss of her daughter she\nrendered the earth sterile during a whole year.\n\n     What ails her that she comes not home?\n       Demeter seeks her far and wide;\n     And gloomy-browed doth ceaseless roam\n       From many a morn till eventide.\n     \"My life, immortal though it be,\n     Is naught!\" she cries, \"for want of thee,\n       Persephone--Persephone!\"\n\nThe oxen drew the plough, but in vain was the seed sown in the prepared\nground. Mankind was threatened with utter annihilation, and all the gods\nwere deprived of sacrifices and offerings. Zeus endeavoured to appease\nthe anger of the gods, but in vain. Finally he summoned Hermes to go to\nPluto and order him to restore Persephone to her mother. Pluto yielded,\nbut before Persephone left she took from the hand of Pluto four\npomegranate pips which he offered her as sustenance on her journey.\nPersephone, returning from the land of shadows, found her mother in the\ntemple at Eleusis which had recently been erected. Her first question\nwas whether her daughter had eaten anything in the land of her\nimprisonment, because her unconditional return to earth and Olympos\ndepended upon that. Persephone informed her mother that all she had\neaten was the pomegranate pips, in consequence of which Pluto demanded\nthat Persephone should sojourn with him for four months during each\nyear, or one month for each pip taken. Demeter had no option but to\nconsent to this arrangement, which meant that she would enjoy the\ncompany of Persephone for eight months in every year, and that the\nremaining four would be spent by Persephone with Pluto. Demeter caused\nto awaken anew \"the fruits of the fertile plains,\" and the whole earth\nwas re-clothed with leaves and flowers. Demeter called together the\nprinces of Eleusis--Triptolemus, Diocles, Eumolpus, Polyxenos, and\nKeleos--and initiated them \"into the sacred rites--most venerable--into\nwhich no one is allowed to make enquiries or to divulge; a solemn\nwarning from the gods seals our mouths.\"\n\nAlthough secrecy on the subject of the nature of the stately Mysteries\nis strictly enjoined, the writer of the Homeric Hymn to Demeter makes no\nsecret of the happiness which belonged to all who became initiates:\n\"Happy is he who has been received unfortunate he who has never received\nthe initiation nor taken part in the sacred ordinances, and who cannot,\nalas! be destined to the same lot reserved for the faithful in the\ndarkling abode.\"\n\nThe earliest mention of the Temple of Demeter at Eleusis occurs in the\nHomeric Hymn to Demeter, which has already been mentioned. This was not\nwritten by Homer, but by some poet versed in Homeric lore, and its\nprobable date is about 600 B.C. It was discovered a little over a\nhundred years ago in an old monastery library at Moscow, and now reposes\nin a museum at Leyden.\n\nIn this Homeric Hymn to Demeter, Persephone gives her own version of the\nincident as follows: \"We were all playing in the lovely\nmeadows--Leucippe, and Phaino, and Electra, and Ianthe, and Melit\u00ea, and\nIach\u00ea and Rhodeia, and Callinhoe, and Melobosis, and Ianeira, and\nAcast\u00ea, and Admet\u00ea, and Rhodope, and Plouto, and winsome Calypso, and\nStyx, and Urania, and beautiful Galaxam\u00ea. We were playing there and\nplucking beautiful blossoms with our hands; crocuses mingled, and iris,\nand hyacinth, and roses, and lilies, a marvel to behold, and narcissus,\nthat the wide earth bare, a wile for my undoing. Gladly was I gathering\nthem when the earth gaped beneath, and therefrom leaped the mighty\nprince, the host of many guests, and he bare me against my will, despite\nmy grief, beneath the earth, in his golden chariot; and shrilly did I\ncry.\"\n\nThe version of the legend given by Minucius Felix is as follows:\n\"Proserpine, the daughter of Ceres by Jupiter, as she was gathering\ntender flowers in the new spring, was ravished from her delightful abode\nby Pluto; and, being carried from thence through thick woods and over a\nlength of sea, was brought by Pluto into a cavern, the residence of\ndeparted spirits, over whom she afterwards ruled with absolute sway. But\nCeres, upon discovering the loss of her daughter, with lighted torches\nand begirt with a serpent, wandered over the whole earth for the purpose\nof finding her, till she came to Eleusis; there she found her daughter,\nand discovered to the Eleusinians the plantation of corn.\"\n\nAccording to another version of the legend, Neptune met Ceres when she\nwas in quest of her daughter, and fell in love with her. The goddess, in\norder to escape from his attentions, concealed herself under the form of\na mare, when the god of the sea transformed himself into a horse to\nseduce her, with which act she was so highly offended that after having\nwashed herself in a river and reassumed human form, she took refuge in a\ncave, where she lay concealed. When famine and pestilence began to\nravage the earth, the gods made search for her everywhere, but could not\nfind her until Pan discovered her and apprised Jupiter of her\nwhereabouts. This cave was in Sicily, in which country Ceres was known\nas the black Ceres, or the Erinnys, because the outrages offered her by\nNeptune turned her frantic and furious. Demeter was depicted in Sicily\nas clad in black, with a horse's head, holding a pigeon in one hand and\na dolphin in the other.\n\nOn the submission of Eleusis to Athens, the Mysteries became an integral\npart of the Athenian religion, so that the Eleusinian Mysteries became a\nPanhellenic institution, and later, under the Romans, a universal\nworship, but the secret rites of initiation were well kept throughout\ntheir history.\n\nEleusis was one of the twelve originally independent cities of Attica,\nwhich Theseus is said to have united into a simple state. Leusina now\noccupies the site, and has thus preserved the name of the ancient city.\n\nTheseus is portrayed by Virgil as suffering eternal punishment in Hades,\nbut Proclus writes concerning him as follows: \"Theseus, and Pirithous\nare fabled to have ravished Helen, and to have descended to the infernal\nregions--i.e. they were lovers of intelligible and visible beauty.\nAfterwards Theseus was liberated by Pericles from Hades, but Pirithous\nremained there because he could not sustain the arduous attitude of\ndivine contemplation.\"\n\nDr. Warburton, in his _Divine Legation of Moses,_ gives it as his\nopinion that Theseus was a living character who once forced his way into\nthe Eleusinian Mysteries, for which crime he was imprisoned on earth and\nafterwards damned in the infernal regions.\n\nThe Eleusinian Mysteries seem to have constituted the most vital portion\nof the Attic religion, and always to have retained something of awe and\nsolemnity. They were not known outside Attica until the time of the\nMedian wars, when they spread to the Greek colonies in Asia as part of\nthe constitution of the daughter states, where the cult seems to have\nexercised a considerable influence both on the populace and on the\nphilosophers. Outside Eleusis the Mysteries were not celebrated so\nfrequently nor on so magnificent a scale. At Celeas, where they were\ncelebrated every fourth year, a hierophant, who was not bound by the law\nof celibacy, as at Eleusis, was elected by the people for each\ncelebration. Pausanias is the authority for a statement by the\nPhliasians that they imitated the Eleusinian Mysteries. They maintained,\nhowever, that their rendering was instituted by Dysaules, brother of\nCeleus, who went to their country after he had been expelled from\nEleusis by Ion, the son of Xuthus, at the time when Ion was chosen\ncommander-in-chief of the Athenians in the war against Eleusis.\nPausanias disputed that any Eleusinian was defeated in battle and forced\ninto exile, maintaining that peace was concluded between the Athenians\nand the Eleusinians before the war was fought out, even Eumolpus himself\nbeing permitted to remain in Eleusis. Pausanias, also, while admitting\nthat Dysaules might have gone to Phlias for some cause other than that\nadmitted by the Phliasians, questioned whether Dysaules was related to\nCeleus, or, indeed, to any illustrious Eleusinian family. The name of\nDysaules does not occur in the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, where are\nenumerated all who were taught the ritual of the Mysteries by the\ngoddess, though that of Celeus is mentioned:--\n\n     She showed to Triptolemus and Diocles, smiter of horses\n     And mighty Eumolpus and Celeus, leader of people,\n     The way of performing the sacred rites and explained\n         to all of them the orgies.\n\nNevertheless, according to the Phliasians, it was Dysaules who\ninstituted the Mysteries among them.\n\nThe Pheneatians also had a sanctuary dedicated to Demeter, which they\ncalled Eleusinian, and in which they celebrated the Mysteries in honour\nof the goddess. They had a legend that Demeter went thither in her\nwanderings, and that, out of gratitude to the Pheneatians for the\nhospitality they showed her, she gave them all the different kinds of\npulse, except beans. Two Pheneatians--Trisaules and Damithales--built a\ntemple to Demeter Thesuria, the goddess of laws, under Mount Cyllene,\nwhere were instituted the Mysteries in her honour which were celebrated\nuntil a late period, and which were said to be introduced there by Naus,\na grandson of Eumolpus.\n\n\"Much that is excellent and divine,\" wrote Cicero, \"does Athens seem to\nme to have produced and added to our life, but nothing better than those\nMysteries by which we are formed and moulded from a rude and savage\nstate of humanity; and, indeed, in the Mysteries we perceive the real\nprinciples of life, and learn not only to live happily, but to die with\na fairer hope.\" Every manner of writer--religious poet, worldly poet,\nsceptical philosopher, orator--all are of one mind about this, that the\nMysteries were far and away the greatest of all the religious festivals\nof Greece.\n\n\n\n\nII\n\nTHE RITUAL OF THE MYSTERIES\n\n\nThe Eleusinian Mysteries, observed by nearly all Greeks, but\nparticularly by the Athenians, were celebrated yearly at Eleusis, though\nin the earlier annals of their history they were celebrated once in\nevery three years only, and once in every four years by the Celeans,\nCretans, Parrhasians, Pheneteans, Phliasians, and Spartans. It was the\nmost celebrated of all the religious ceremonies of Greece at any period\nof the country's history, and was regarded as of such importance that\nthe Festival is referred to frequently simply as \"The Mysteries.\" The\nrites were guarded most jealously and carefully concealed from the\nuninitiated. If any person divulged any part of them he was regarded as\nhaving offended against the divine law, and by the act he rendered\nhimself liable to divine vengeance. It was accounted unsafe to abide in\nthe same house with him, and as soon as his offence was made public he\nwas apprehended. Similarly, drastic punishment was meted out to any\nperson not initiated into the Mysteries who chanced to be present at\ntheir celebration, even through ignorance or genuine error.\n\nThe Mysteries were divided into two parts--the Lesser Mysteries and the\nGreater Mysteries. The Lesser Mysteries were said to have been\ninstituted when Hercules, Castor, and Pollux expressed a desire to be\ninitiated, they happening to be in Athens at the time of the celebration\nof the Mysteries by the Athenians in accordance with the ordinance of\nDemeter. Not being Athenians, they were ineligible for the honour of\ninitiation, but the difficulty was overcome by Eumolpus, who was\ndesirous of including in the ranks of the initiated a man of such power\nand eminence as Hercules, foreigner though he might be. The three were\nfirst made citizens, and then as a preliminary to the initiation\nceremony as prescribed by the goddess, Eumolpus instituted the Lesser\nMysteries, which then and afterwards became a ceremony preliminary to\nthe Greater Mysteries, as they then became known, for candidates of\nalien birth. In later times this Lesser Festival, celebrated in the\nmonth of Anthesterion at the beginning of spring, at Agra, became a\ngeneral preparation for the Greater Festival, and no persons were\ninitiated into the Greater Mysteries until they had first been initiated\ninto the Lesser.\n\nWith regard to Hercules, there is a legend that on a certain time\nHercules wished to become a member of one of the secret societies of\nantiquity. He accordingly presented himself and applied in due form for\ninitiation. His case was referred to a council of wise and virtuous men,\nwho objected to his admission on account of some crimes which he had\ncommitted. Consequently he was rejected. Their words to him were: \"You\nare forbidden to enter here; your heart is cruel, your hands are stained\nwith crime. Go! repair the wrong you have done; repent of your evil\ndoings, and then come with pure heart and clean hands, and the doors of\nour Mysteries shall be opened to you.\" The legend goes on to say that\nafter his regeneration he returned and became a worthy member of the\nOrder.\n\nThe ceremonies of the Lesser Mysteries were entirely different from\nthose of the Greater Mysteries. The Lesser Mysteries represented the\nreturn of Persephone to earth--which, of course, took place at Eleusis;\nand the Greater Mysteries represented her descent to the infernal\nregions. The Lesser Mysteries honoured the daughter more than the\nmother, who was the principal figure in the greater Mysteries. In the\nLesser Mysteries, Persephone was known as Pherrephatta, and in the\nGreater Mysteries she was given the name of Kore. Everything was, in\nfact, a mystery, and nothing was called by its right name. Lenormant\nsays that it is certain that the initiated of the Lesser Mysteries\ncarried away from Agra a certain store of religious knowledge which\nenabled them to understand the symbols and representations which were\ndisplayed afterwards before their eyes at the Greater Mysteries at\nEleusis.\n\nThe object of the Lesser Mysteries was to signify occultly the condition\nof the impure soul invested with a terrene body and merged in a material\nnature. The Greater Mysteries taught that he who, in the present life,\nis in subjection to his irrational part, is truly in Hades. If Hades,\nthen, is the region of punishment and misery, the purified soul must\nreside in the region of bliss, theoretically, in the present life, and\naccording to a deific energy in the next. They intimated by gorgeous\nmystic visions the felicity of the soul, both here and hereafter, when\npurified from the defilements of a material nature and consequently\nelevated to the realities of intellectual vision.\n\nThe Mysteries were supposed to represent in a kind of moral drama the\nrise and establishment of civil society, the doctrine of a state of\nfuture rewards and punishments, the errors of polytheism, and the Unity\nof the Godhead, which last article was afterwards demonstrated to be\ntheir famous secret. The ritual was produced from the sanctuary. It was\nenveloped in symbolical figures of animals which suggested a\ncorrespondence which was utterly inexplicable to the uninitiated.\n\nK.O. M\u00fcller, in his _History of the Literature of Ancient Greece_,\nsays:--\n\n\"All the Greek religious poetry treating of death and the world beyond\nthe grave refers to the deities whose influence was supposed to be\nexercised in this dark region at the centre of the earth, and were\nthought to have little connection with the political and social\nrelations of human life. These deities formed a class apart from the\ngods of Olympus and were comprehended under the name of the Chthenian\ngods (gods of the underworld). The mysteries of the Greeks were\nconnected with the worship of those gods alone. That a love of\nimmortality first found a support in a belief in these deities appears\nfrom the fable of Persephone, the daughter of Demeter. Every year at the\ntime of harvest, Persephone was supposed to be carried from the world\nabove to the dark dominions of the invisible King of Shadows, and to\nreturn every spring in youthful beauty to the arms of her mother. It was\nthus that the ancient Greeks described the disappearance and return of\nvegetable life in the alternations of the seasons. The changes of\nNature, however, must have been considerable in typifying the changes in\nthe lot of man; otherwise Persephone would have been merely a symbol of\nthe seed committed to the ground and would not have become queen of the\ndead. But when the goddess of inanimate nature had become queen of the\ndead, it was a natural analogy, which must have early suggested itself,\nthat the return of Persephone to the world of light also denoted a\nrenovation of life and a new birth in man. Hence the Mysteries of\nDemeter, and especially those celebrated at Eleusis, inspired the most\nelevated and animating hopes with regard to the condition of the soul\nafter death.\"\n\nNo one was permitted to attend the Mysteries who had incurred the\nsentence of capital punishment for treason or conspiracy, but all other\nexiles were permitted to be present and were not molested in any way\nduring the whole period of the Festival. No one could be arrested for\ndebt during the holding of the Festival.\n\nScarcely anything is known of the programme observed during the course\nof the Lesser Mysteries. They were celebrated on the 19th to 21st of the\nmonth Anthesterion, and, like the Greater Mysteries, were preceded and\nfollowed by a truce on the part of all engaged in warfare. The same\nofficials presided at both celebrations. The Lesser Mysteries opened\nwith a sacrifice to Demeter and Persephone, a portion of the victims\noffered being reserved for the members of the sacred families of\nEumolpus and Keryce. The main object of the Lesser Mysteries was to put\nthe candidates for initiation in a condition of ritual purification,\nand, according to Clement of Alexandria, they included certain\ninstructions and preparations for the Greater Mysteries. Like the\nEleusinian Mysteries, properly so called, they included dramatic\nrepresentations of the rape of Persephone and the wanderings of Demeter;\nin addition, according to Stephen Byzantium, to certain Dionysian\nrepresentations.\n\nTwo months before the full moon of the month of Boedromion,\nsphondophoroi or heralds, selected from the priestly families of the\nEumolpides and Keryces, went forth to announce the forthcoming\ncelebration of the Greater Mysteries, and to claim an armistice on the\npart of all who might be waging war. The truce commenced on the 15th of\nthe month preceding the celebration of the Mysteries and lasted until\nthe 10th day of the month following the celebration. In order to be\nvalid the truce had to be proclaimed in and accepted by each Hellenic\ncity.\n\nAll arrangements for the proper celebration of the Mysteries, both\nLesser and Greater, were in the hands of the families of Eumolpides and\nKeryces. These were ancient Eleusinian families, whose origin was traced\nback to the time when Eleusis was independent of Athens, and the former\nfamily survived as a priestly caste down to the latest period of\nAthenian history. Its member possessed the hereditary and the sole right\nto the secrets of the Mysteries. Hence the recognition by the State of\nthe exclusive right and privilege of these families to direct the\ninitiations and to provide each a half of the religious staff of the\ntemple. The Eumolpides held so eminent a place in the Mysteries that\nCicero mentions them alone, to the exclusion of the Keryces.\n\nPausanias relates that, following a war between the Eleusinians and the\nAthenians, when Erectheus, King of Athens, conquered Immaradus, son of\nEumolpus, the subdued Eleusinians, in making their submission,\nstipulated that they should remain custodians of the Mysteries, but in\nall other respects were to be subject to the Athenians. This tradition\nis disputed by more modern writers, but it was accepted by the Athenians\nand acted upon generally, and the right of the two families solely to\nprepare candidates for initiation was recognized by a decree of the\nfifth century B.C., the privilege being confirmed afterwards at a\nconvention between the representatives of Eleusis and Athens. The\nEumolpides were the descendants of a mythical ancestor, Eumolpus, son of\nNeptune, who is first mentioned in the time of Pisastrus. On the death\nof Eumolpus according to one legend, Ceryx, the younger of the sons, was\nleft. But the Keryces claimed that Ceryx was a son of Hermes by Aglamus,\ndaughter of Cecrops, and that he was not a son of Eumolpus.\n\nThe members of the family of Eumolpides had the first claim upon the\nflesh of the sacrificed animals, but they were permitted to give a\nportion to any one else as a reward or recompense for services rendered.\nBut when a sacrifice was offered to any of the infernal divinities, the\nwhole of it had to be consumed by the fire. Nothing must be left. All\nreligious problems relating to the Mysteries which could not be solved\nby the known laws were addressed to the Eumolpides, whose decision was\nfinal.\n\nThe meaning of the name \"Eumolpus\" is \"a good singer,\" and great\nimportance was attached to the quality of the voice in the selection of\nthe hierophant, the chief officiant at the celebration of the Mysteries\nand at the ceremony of initiation, and who was selected from the family\nof the Eumolpides. It was essential that the formul\u00e6 disclosed to the\ninitiates at Eleusis should be pronounced with the proper intonation,\nfor otherwise the words would have no efficacy. Correct intonation was\nof far greater importance than syllabic pronunciation.\n\nAn explanation of this is given by Maspero, who says: \"The human voice\nis pre-eminently a magical instrument, without which none of the highest\noperations of art can be successful: each of its utterances is carried\ninto the region of the invisible and there releases forces of which the\ngeneral run of people have no idea, either as to their existence or\ntheir manifold action. Without doubt, the real value of an evocation\nlies in its text, or the sequence of the words of which it is composed,\nand the tone in which it is enunciated. In order to be efficacious, the\nconjuration should be accompanied by chanting, either an incantation or\na song. In order to produce the desired effect the sacramental melody\nmust be chanted without the variation of a single modulation: one false\nnote, one mistake in the measure, the introversion of any two of the\nsounds of which it is composed, and the intended effect is annulled.\nThis is the reason why all who recite a prayer or formula intended to\nforce the gods to perform certain acts must be of true voice. The result\nof their effort, whether successful or unsuccessful, will depend upon\nthe exactness of their voice. It was the voice, therefore, which played\nthe most important part in the oblation, in the prayer of definite\nrequest, and in the evocation--in a word, in every instance where man\nsought to seize hold of the god.\"\n\nApart from a \"true voice\" the words were merely dead sounds. The\ncharacter of the voice plays an important part in many religions. The\nVedas contain in them many invocations and hymns which no uninitiated\nBrahman can recite: it is only the initiate who knows their true\nproperties and how to put them into use. Some of the hymns of the\n_Rig-Veda_, when anagrammatically arranged, will yield all the secret\ninvocations which were used for magical purposes in the Brahmanical\nceremonies. Some Parsees pay much attention to what is called _dz\u00e1d dw\u00e1_\nor \"free voice.\" It is recorded in Moslem tradition that a revelation\ncame to the venerated Arabian prophet resembling \"the tone of a bell.\"\nThe effects which low, monotonous chanting produce on nervous people and\nchildren are well known. Even animals and serpents are amenable to the\ninfluence of sound.\n\nThe hierophant was a revealer of holy things. He was a citizen of\nAthens, a man of mature age, and held his office for life, devoting\nhimself wholly to the service of the temple and living a chaste life, to\nwhich end it was usual for him to anoint himself with the juice of\nhemlock, which, by its extreme coldness, was said to extinguish in a\ngreat measure the natural heat. In the opinion of some writers celibacy\nwas an indispensable condition of the highest branch of the priesthood;\nbut, according to inscriptions which have been discovered, some at any\nrate of the hierophants were married, so that, in all probability, the\nrule was that during the celebration of the Mysteries and, probably, for\na certain time before and after, it was incumbent on the hierophant to\nabstain from all sexual intercourse. Foucart is of opinion that celibacy\nwas demanded only during the celebration of the Mysteries, although\nPausanias states definitely otherwise. In support of Foucart it may be\nstated that among the inscriptions discovered at Eleusis there is one\ndedicating a statue to a hierophant by his wife. It was essential that\nthe hierophant should be a man of commanding presence and lead a simple\nlife. On being raised to the dignity he received a kind of consecration\nat a special ceremony, at which only those of his own rank were\npermitted to be present, when he was entrusted with certain secrets\npertaining to his high office. Prior to this ceremony he went through a\nspecial purificatory rite, immersing himself in the sea, an act to which\nthe Greeks attributed great virtue. He had to be exemplary in his moral\nconduct, and was regarded by the people as being particularly holy. The\nqualifications of a hierophant were so high that the office could not be\nregarded as hereditary, for it would have been an exception to find both\nfather and son in possession of the many various and high qualifications\nregarded as essential to the holding of the office. The robe of the\nhierophant was a long purple garment; his hair, crowned with a wreath of\nmyrtle, flowed in long locks over his shoulders, and a diadem ornamented\nhis forehead. At the celebration of the Mysteries he was held to\nrepresent the Creator of the world. He alone was permitted to penetrate\ninto the innermost shrine in the Hall of the Mysteries--the holy of\nholies, as it were--and then only once during the celebration of the\nMysteries, when, at the most solemn moment of the whole mystic\ncelebration, his form appeared suddenly to be transfigured with light\nbefore the rapt gaze of the initiated. He alone was permitted to reveal\nto the fully initiated the mystic objects, the sight of which marked the\ncompletion of their admission into the community. He had the power of\nrefusing admission to those applicants whom he deemed unfit to be\nentrusted with the secrets. He was not inactive during the intervals\nbetween the celebrations of the Mysteries. It was his duty to\nsuperintend the instruction of the candidates for initiation, who for\nthat purpose were divided into groups and instructed by officials known\nas mystagogues. The personal name of the hierophant was never mentioned.\nIt was supposed to be unknown, \"wafted away into the sea by the mystic\nlaw,\" and he was known only by the title of the office which he bore.\n\nAn interesting inscription was found some years ago at Eleusis, engraved\non the base of a statue erected to a hierophant: \"Ask not my name; the\nmystic rule (or packet) has carried it away into the blue sea. But when\nI reach the fated day, and go to the abode of the blest, then all who\ncare for me will pronounce it.\" One of his sons had written below this\ninscription, after the death of the hierophant: \"Now we, his children,\nreveal the name of the best of fathers, which, when alive, he hid in the\ndepths of the sea. This is the famous Apollonius.\" There is extant an\nepigram by a female hierophant, which runs: \"Let my name remain\nunspoken: on being shut off from the world when the sons of Cecrops made\nme hierophantide to Demeter, I myself hid it in the vasty depths.\"\nEunapius, in _Vita Maxim_, says: \"I may not tell the name of him who was\nthen hierophant, for it was he who initiated me.\" The manner in which\nthe name was committed to the sea was either by the immersion of the\nbearer or by writing the name on a leaden tablet, which was cast into\nthe sea. The holy name, by which the hierophant was afterwards known,\nwas derived from the name of some god or bore some ritualistic meaning.\nSometimes the hierophant was known simply by the title of his office\nwith the addition of his father's name. The rule as to the public\nmention of the former name of the hierophant was occasionally\ntransgressed, and there is the instance of the atheistic philosopher\nTheodorus addressing a hierophant by his discarded name of Lacrateides,\nand also of Deinias, who was put into prison for the offence of\naddressing a hierophant by his discarded family name.\n\nLucian refers to this in one passage in _Lexiphanes_: \"The first I met\nwere a torch-bearer, a hierophant, and others of the initiated, haling\nDeinias before the judge, and protesting that he had called them by\ntheir names, though he well knew that, from the time of their\nsanctification, they were nameless, and no more to be named but by\nhallowed names.\"\n\nIn the Imperial Inscriptions we find the titles substituted for the\nproper names.[1] The hierophant was compelled to avoid contact with the\ndead in the same manner as the Cohanim of the Jewish faith, and with\ncertain animals reputed to be unclean. Contact with any person from whom\nblood was issuing also caused impurity. He was assisted by a female\nhierophant, or hierophantide--an attendant upon the goddess Demeter and\nher daughter Persephone. She also was selected from the family of the\nEumolpides and was chosen for life. She was permitted to marry, and\nseveral inscriptions mention the names of children of hierophantides. On\nher initiation into this high degree she was brought forward naked to\nthe side of a sacred font, in which her right hand was placed, the\npriest declaring her to be true and holy and dedicated to the service of\nthe temple. The special duty of the female hierophant was to superintend\nthe initiation of female aspirants, but she was present throughout the\nceremony and played some part in the initiation of the male candidates.\nAn inscription on the tomb of one hierophantide mentions to her glory\nthat she had set the myrtle crown, the seal of mystic communion, on the\nheads of the illustrious initiates, Marcus Aurelius and his son,\nCommodus. Another gloried in the fact that she had initiated the Emperor\nHadrian.\n\nNext in rank to the hierophant and hierophantide came the male and\nfemale dadouchos, who were taken from the family of the Keryces. They\nwere the torch-bearers, and their duty consisted mainly in carrying the\ntorches at the Sacred Festival. They also wore purple robes, myrtle\ncrowns, and diadems. They were appointed for life, and were permitted to\nmarry. The male dadouchos particularly was associated with the\nhierophant in certain solemn and public functions, such as the opening\naddress to the candidates for initiation and in the public prayers for\nthe welfare of the State. The office was frequently handed down from\nfather to son. Until the first century B.C. the dadouchos was never\naddressed by his own personal name, but always by the title of his\noffice.\n\nThe hierocceryx, or messenger of holy tidings, was the representative of\nHermes, or Mercury, who, as the messenger of the gods, was indispensable\nas mediator whenever men wished to approach the Immortals. He also wore\na purple-coloured robe and a myrtle crown. He was chosen for life from\nthe family of the Keryces. He made the necessary proclamations to the\ncandidates for initiation into the various degrees, and in particular\nenjoined them to preserve silence. It was necessary for him to have\npassed through all the various degrees, as his duties necessitated his\npresence throughout the ceremonial.\n\nThe phaidantes had the custody of the sacred statues and the sacred\nvessels, which they had to maintain in good repair. They were selected\nfrom one or other of the two sacerdotal families.\n\nAmong the other officials were: The liknophori, who carried the mystic\nfan; the hydranoi, who purified the candidates for initiation by\nsprinkling them with holy water at the commencement of the Festival; the\nspondophoroi, who proclaimed the sacred truce, which was to permit of\nthe peaceful celebration of the Mysteries; the pyrphoroi, who brought\nand maintained the fire for the sacrifices; the hieraules, who played\nthe flute during the time the sacrifices were being offered--they were\nthe leaders of the sacred music, who had under their charge the\nhymnodoi, the hymnetriai; the neokoroi, who maintained the temples and\nthe altars; the panageis, who formed a class between the ministers and\nthe initiated. Then there were the \"initiates of the altar,\" who\nperformed expiatory rites in the name and in the place of all the\ninitiated. There were also many other minor officials, by the general\nname of meliss\u00e6--i.e. bees, perhaps so-called because bees, being makers\nof honey, were sacred to Demeter. The diluvian priestesses and\nregenerated souls were called \"bees.\" All these officials had to be of\nunblemished reputation, and wore myrtle crowns while engaged in the\nservice of the temple.\n\nThe officials; whose duty it was to take care that the ritual was\npunctiliously followed in every detail, included nine archons, who were\nchosen every year to manage the affairs of Greece. The first of these\nwas always the King, or Archon Basileus, whose duty at the celebration\nof the Mysteries it was to offer prayers and sacrifices, to see that no\nindecency or irregularity was committed during the Festival, and at the\nconclusion to pass judgment on all offenders. There were also four\nepimelet\u00e6, or curators, elected by the people, one being appointed from\nthe Eumolpides, another from the Keryces, and the remaining two from the\nrank and file of the citizens; and ten hieropoioi, whose duty it was to\noffer sacrifices. It may be worthy of remark here that Epimenides of\nCrete, who flourished about the year 600 B.C., is said by Diogenes\nLaertius, in his life of that philosopher, to have been the first to\nperform expiatory sacrifices and lustrations in fields and houses and to\nhave been the first to erect temples for the purpose of sacrifice.\n\nThe sacred symbols used in the ceremonies were enclosed in a special\nchamber in the Telestrion, or Hall of Initiation, known as the\nAnactoron, into which the hierophant alone had the right to penetrate.\nDuring the celebration of the Mysteries they were carried to Athens\nveiled and hidden from the gaze of the profane, whence they were taken\nback to Eleusis. It was permitted only to the initiated to look upon\nthese \"hiera,\" as they were called. These sacred objects were in the\ncharge of the Eumolpides family.\n\nWritten descriptions, however graphic or eloquent, convey but a faint\nimpression of the wonderful scenes that were enacted; Aristides says\nthat what was seen rivalled anything that was heard. Another writer has\ndeclared: \"Many a wondrous sight may be seen and not a few tales of\nwonder may be heard in Greece; but there is nothing on which the\nblessing of God rests in so full a measure as the rites of Eleusis and\nthe Olympic games.\" For nine centuries--that period of time being\ndivided almost equally between the pre-Christian and Christian\neras--they were the Palladium of Greek Paganism. In the latter part of\ntheir history, when the restrictions as to admission began to be\nrelaxed, and in proportion to that relaxation, their essential religious\ncharacter disappeared, they became but a ceremony, their splendour being\ntheir principal attraction, until finally they degenerated into a mere\nsuperstition. Julian strived in vain to infuse new life into the\nvanishing cult, but it was too late--the Eleusinian Mysteries were dead.\n\nThe Athenians were pious in the extreme, and throughout the period that\ninitiation was limited to that race the reputation of Eleusis was\nmaintained, although pilgrims from various and remote parts of the world\nvisited it at the season of the Mysteries. When the Eleusinian Mysteries\nwere taken to Rome, as they were in the reign of Hadrian, they\ncontracted impurities and degenerated into riot and vice; the\nspirituality of their teachings did not accompany the transference or it\nfailed to be comprehended. Although the forms of initiation were still\nsymbolical of the original and noble objects of the institution, the\nlicentious Romans mistook the shadow for the substance, and while they\npassed through all the ceremonies they were strangers to the objects for\nwhich they were framed.\n\nIn A.D. 364, a law prohibiting nocturnal rites was published by\nValentinian, but Praetextatus, whom Julian had constituted governor of\nAchaia, prevailed on him to revoke it, urging that the lives of the\nGreeks would be rendered utterly unsupportable if he deprived them of\nthis, their most holy and comprehensive festival. Much has been made by\nsome writers of the fact that the ceremonies were held at night, but in\nthe early days of Christianity also it was the custom for Christians to\nforgather either at night or before daybreak, a circumstance which led\nto their assemblies being known as _antelucani_ and themselves as\n_lucifug\u00e6_ or \"light-haters,\" by way of reproach. About the beginning of\nthe fifth century Theodosius the Great prohibited and almost totally\nextinguished the pagan theology in the Roman Empire, and the Eleusinian\nMysteries suffered in the general destruction. It is probable, however,\nthat the Mysteries were celebrated secretly in spite of the severe\nedicts of Theodosius and that they were partly continued through the\ndark ages, though stripped of their splendour. It is certain that many\nrites of the pagan religion were performed under the dissembled name of\nconvivial meetings, long after the publication of the Emperor's edicts,\nand Psellius informs us that the Mysteries of Ceres existed in Athens\nuntil the eighth century of the Christian era and were never totally\nsuppressed.\n\nThe Festival of the Greater Mysteries--and this was, of course, by far\nthe more important--began on the 15th of the month of Boedromion,\ncorresponding roughly with the month of September, and lasted until the\n23rd of the same month. During that time it was unlawful to arrest any\nman present, or present any petition except for offences committed at\nthe Festival, heavy penalties being inflicted for breaches of this law,\nthe penalties fixed being a fine of not less than a thousand drachmas,\nand some assert that transgressors were even put to death.\n\n\n[Footnote 1: From two inscriptions found at Eleusis it would appear that\nit was customary to make the name public after the death of the\nhierophant. It seems also to have been the practice to make the name\nknown to the initiate under the pledge of secrecy. Sir James Frazer\nthinks that the names were, in all probability, engraved on tablets of\nbronze or lead and then thrown into deep water in the Gulf of Salamis.]\n\n\n\n\nIII\n\nPROGRAMME OF THE GREATER MYSTERIES\n\n\nThe following is the programme of the \"Greater Mysteries,\" which\nextended over a period of ten days. The various functions were\ncharacterized by the greatest possible solemnity and decorum, and the\nceremonies were regarded as \"religious\" in the highest interpretation of\nthat term.\n\nFIRST DAY.--The first day was known as the \"Gathering,\" or the\n\"Assembly,\" when all who had passed through the Lesser Mysteries\nassembled to assist in the celebration of the Greater Mysteries. On this\nday the Archon Basileus presided over all the cults of the city, and\nassembled the people at a place known as the Poikile Stoa. After the\nArchon Basileus, with four assistants, had offered up sacrifices and\nprayers for the welfare of Greece, the following proclamation was made\nby the Archon Basileus, wearing his robe of office:--\n\n\"Come, whoever is clean of all pollution and whose soul has not\nconsciousness of sin. Come, whosoever hath lived a life of righteousness\nand justice. Come all ye who are pure of heart and of hand, and whose\nspeech can be understood. Whosoever hath not clean hands, a pure soul,\nand an intelligible voice must not assist at the Mysteries.\"\n\nThe people were then commanded by the hierophant to wash their hands in\nconsecrated water, and the impious were threatened with the punishment\nset forth in the law if they were discovered, but especially, and this\nin any case, with the implacable anger of the gods. The hierocceryx then\nimpressed upon all the duty of observing the most rigid secrecy with\nrespect to what they might witness, and bade them to be silent\nthroughout the ceremonies, and not utter even an exclamation. The\ncandidates for initiation assembled outside the temple, each under the\nguidance and direction of the mystagogue, who repeated these\ninstructions to the candidates. Once within the sacred enclosure all the\ninitiates were subject to a purification by fire ceremonial. All wore\nregalia special to the occasion. This is evident from the wording of\ninscriptions which have been discovered, but particulars of the regalia\nare wanting. We know that extravagant and costly dresses were regarded\nby Demeter with disfavour, and that it was forbidden to wear such in the\ntemple. Jewellery, gold ornaments, purple-coloured belts, and\nembroideries were also barred, as were robes and cloths of mixed\ncolours. The hair of women had to fall down loose upon the shoulders,\nand must not be in plaits or coiled upon the head. No woman was\npermitted to use cosmetics.\n\nSECOND DAY.--The second day was known as _Halade Myst\u00e6_, or \"To the sea,\nye myst\u00e6,\" from the command which greeted all the initiates to go and\npurify themselves by washing in the sea, or in the salt water of the two\nconsecrated lakes, called Rheiti, on what was known as \"The Sacred Way.\"\nThe priests had the exclusive right of fishing in these lakes. A\nprocession was formed, in which all joined and made their way to the sea\nor the lakes, where they bathed and purified themselves. This general\npurification was akin to that practised to this day by the Jews at the\nbeginning of the Jewish year. The day was consecrated to Saturn, into\nwhose province the soul is said to fall in the course of its descent\nfrom the tropic of Cancer. Capella compares Saturn to a river,\nvoluminous, sluggish, and cold. The planet signifies pure intellect, and\nPythagoras symbolically called the sea a tear of Saturn. The bathing was\npreceded by a confession, and the manner in which the bathing was\ncarried out and the number of immersions varied with the degree of guilt\nwhich each confessed. According to Suidas, those who had to purify\nthemselves from murder plunged into salt water on two separate\noccasions, immersing themselves seven times on each occasion. On\nreturning from the bath all were regarded as \"new creatures,\" the bath\nbeing regarded as a laver of regeneration, and the initiates were\nclothed in a plain fawn-skin or a sheep-skin. The purification, however,\nwas not regarded as complete until the following day, when there was\nadded the sprinkling of the blood of a pig sacrificed. Each had carried\nto the river or lake a little pig, which was also purified by bathing,\nand on the next day this pig was sacrificed. The pig was offered because\nit was very pernicious to cornfields. On the Eleusinian coinage the pig,\nstanding on a torch placed horizontally, appears as the sign and symbol\nof the Mysteries. On this day also some of the initiated submitted to a\nspecial purification near the altar of Zeus Mellichios on the Sacred\nWay. For each person whom it was desired to purify an ox was sacrificed\nto Zeus Mellichios, the infernal Zeus, the skin of the animal was laid\non the ground by the dadouchos, and the one who was the object of the\nlustration remained there squatting on the left foot.\n\nTHIRD DAY.--On the third day pleasures of every description, even the\nmost innocent, were strictly forbidden, and every one fasted till\nnightfall, when they partook of seed cakes, parched corn, salt,\npomegranates, and sacred wine mixed with milk and honey. The Archon\nBasileus, assisted again by the four epimelet\u00e6, celebrated, in the\npresence of representatives from the allied cities, the great sacrifice\nof the Soteria for the well-being of the State, the Athenian citizens,\nand their wives and children. This ceremony took place in the Eleusinion\nat the foot of the Acropolis. The day was known as the Day of Mourning,\nand was supposed to commemorate Demeter's grief at the loss of\nPersephone. The sacrifices offered consisted chiefly of a mullet and of\nbarley out of Rharium, a field of Eleusis. The oblations were accounted\nso sacred that the priests themselves were not permitted, as was usual\nin other offerings, to partake of them. At the conclusion of the general\nceremony each one individually sacrificed the little pig purified in the\nsea the night before.\n\nThe hog of propitiation offered to Frey was a solemn sacrifice in the\nNorth of Europe and in Sweden, down to modern times, the custom has been\npreserved by baking, on Christmas Eve, a loaf or cake in the form of a\nhog.\n\nFOURTH DAY.--The principal event of the fourth day was a solemn\nprocession, when the holy basket of Ceres (Demeter) was carried in a\nconsecrated cart, the crowds of people shouting as it went along, \"Hail,\nCeres!\" The rear end of the procession was composed of women carrying\nbaskets containing sesamin, carded wool, grains of salt, corn,\npomegranates, reeds, ivy boughs, cakes known as poppies, and sometimes\nserpents. One kind of these cakes was known as \"ox-cakes\"; they were\nmade with little horns and dedicated to the moon. Another kind contained\npoppy seeds. Poppy was used in the ceremonies because it was said that\nsome grains of poppy were given to Demeter upon her arrival in Greece to\ninduce sleep, which she had not enjoyed from the time of the abduction\nof Persephone. Demeter is invariably represented in her statues as being\nvery rotund, crowned with ears of corn, and holding in her hand a branch\nof poppy.\n\nFIFTH DAY.--The fifth day was known as the Day of Torches, from the fact\nthat at nightfall all the initiates walked in pairs round the temple of\nDemeter at Eleusis, the dadouchos himself leading the procession. The\ntorches were waved about and changed from hand to hand, to represent the\nwanderings of the goddess in search of her daughter when she was\nconducted by the light of a torch kindled in the flames of Etna.\n\nSIXTH DAY.--Iacchos was the name given to the sixth day of the Festival.\nThe \"fair young god,\" Iacchos, or Dionysos, or Bacchus, was the son of\nJupiter and Ceres, and accompanied the goddess in her search for\nPersephone. He also carried a torch, hence his statue has always a torch\nin the hand. This statue, together with other sacred objects, were taken\nfrom the Iacchion, the sanctuary of Iacchos in Athens, mounted on a\nheavy rustic four-wheeled chariot drawn by bulls, and, accompanied by\nthe Iacchogogue and other magistrates nominated for the occasion,\nconveyed from the Kerameikos, or Potter's Quarter, to Eleusis by the\nSacred Way in solemn procession. It was on this day that the solemnity\nof the ceremonial reached its height. The statue, as well as the people\naccompanying it, were crowned with myrtle, the people dancing all the\nway along the route, beating brass kettles and playing instruments of\nvarious kinds and singing sacred songs. Halts were made during the\nprocession at various shrines, at the site of the house of Phytalus,\nwho, it was said, received the goddess into his house, and, according to\nan inscription on his tomb, she requited him by revealing to him the\nculture of the fig; particularly at a fig-tree which was regarded as\nsacred, because it had the renown of being planted by Phytalus; also\nupon a bridge built over the river Cephissus, by the side of which Pluto\ndescended into Hades with Persephone, where the bystanders made\nthemselves merry at the expense of the pilgrims. At each of the shrines\nsacrifices and libations were offered, hymns sung, and sacred dances\nperformed. Having passed the bridge, the people entered Eleusis by what\nwas known as the Mystical Entrance. Midnight had set in before Eleusis\nwas reached, so that a great part of the journey had to be accomplished\nby the light of the torches carried by each of the pilgrims, and the\nnocturnal journey was spoken of as the \"Night of Torches\" by many\nancient authors. The pitch and resin of which the torches were composed\nwere substances supposed to have the virtue of warding off evil spirits.\nThe barren mountains of the Pass of Daphni and the surface of the sea\nresounded with the chant, \"Iacchos, O Iacchos!\" At one of the halts the\nCroconians, descendants of the hero Crocon, who had formerly reigned\nover the Thriasian Plain, fastened a saffron band on the right arm and\nleft foot of each one in the procession. Iacchos was always regarded as\na child of Demeter, inasmuch as the vine grows out of the earth. Various\nsymbols were carried by the people, who numbered sometimes as many as\nfrom thirty to forty thousand. These symbols consisted of winnowing\nfans--the \"Mystic Fan of Iacchos,\" plaited reeds and baskets, both\nrelating to the worship of the goddess and her son. The fan, or van, as\nit was sometimes called, was the instrument that separates the wheat\nfrom the chaff, and was regarded also as an emblem of the power which\nseparates the virtuous from the wicked. In the ancient paintings by\nBellori two persons are represented as standing by the side of the\ninitiate. One is the priest who is performing the ceremony, who is\nrepresented as in a devout posture, and wearing a veil, the old mark of\ndevotion, while another is holding a fan over the head of the candidate.\nIn some of the editions of Southey's translation of the _\u00c6neid_ the\nfollowing lines appear:--\n\n     Now learn what arms industrious peasants wield\n     To sow the furrow's glebe, and clothe the field:\n     The share, the crooked plough's strong beam, the wain\n     That slowly rolls on Ceres to her fane:\n     Hails, sleds, light osiers, and the harrow's load,\n     The hurdle, and _the mystic van of God._\n\nThe distance covered by the procession was twenty-two kilometres, but\nLycurgus ordered that if any woman should ride in a chariot to Eleusis\nshe should be mulcted in a fine of 8,000 drachmas. This was to prevent\nthe richer women from distinguishing themselves from their poorer\nsisters. Strange to relate, the wife of Lycurgus was the first to break\nthis law, and Lycurgus himself had to pay the fine which he had\nordained. He not only paid the penalty, but gave a talent to the\ninformer. Immediately upon the deposit of the sacred objects in the\nEleusinion, at the foot of the Acropolis, one of the Eleusinian priests\nsolemnly announced their arrival to the priestess of the tutelary\ngoddess of Athens--Pallas Athene. Plutarch, in commenting upon lucky and\nunlucky days, says that he is aware that unlucky things happen sometimes\non lucky days, for the Athenians had to receive a Macedonian garrison\n\"even on the 20th of Boedromion, the day on which they led forth the\nmystic Iacchos.\"\n\nSEVENTH DAY.--On the seventh day the statue was carried back to Athens.\nThe return journey was also a solemn procession, and attended with\nnumerous ceremonies. Halts were again made at several places, like the\n\"stations\" of Roman Catholic pilgrimages, when the inhabitants also fell\ntemporarily into line with the procession. For those who remained behind\nat Eleusis the time was devoted to sports, the combatants appearing\nnaked, and the victors were rewarded with a measure of barley, it being\na tradition that that grain was first sown in Eleusis. It was also\nregarded as a day of solemn preparation by those who were to be\ninitiated on the following night. The return journey was conducted with\nthe same splendour as the outward journey. It comprised comic incidents,\nthe same as on the previous day. Those who awaited the procession at the\nbridge over the Athenian river Cephisson exchanged all kinds of chaff\nand buffoonery with those who were in the procession, indulging in what\nwas termed \"bridge fooling.\" These jests, it is said, were to recall the\ntactful measures employed by a maidservant named Iambe to rouse Demeter\nfrom her prolonged sorrowing. There is a strange contradiction in the\nvarious statements made by the ancient writers as to what was\npermissible and what was forbidden during the ceremonies. Demeter, when\nin search of her daughter, broke down with fatigue at Eleusis, where she\nsat down on a well, overwhelmed with grief. It was strictly forbidden to\nany of the initiated to sit down on this well lest it should appear that\nthey were mimicking the weeping goddess. Yet the mimicking of the jests\nof Iambe were part of the ceremonial of the Mysteries. According to the\nancient writers the \"jests,\" so-called, would be regarded to-day as in\nbad taste.\n\n     Having thus spoken, she drew aside her garments\n     And showed all that shape of the body which it is\n        improper to name--the growth of puberty.\n     And with her own hand Iambe stripped herself under\n        the breasts.\n     Blandly then the goddess laughed and laughed in her\n        mind,\n     And received the glancing cup in which was the\n        draught.\n\nDuring the Peloponnesian war the Athenians were unable to obtain an\narmistice from the Laced\u00e6monians who held Decelea, and it became\nnecessary to send the statue of Iacchos and the processionists to\nEleusis by sea. Plutarch says: \"Under these conditions it was necessary\nto omit the sacrifices usually offered all along the road during the\npassing of Iacchos.\"\n\nEIGHTH DAY.--The eighth day was called Epidaurion, because it happened\nonce that \u00c6sculapius, coming from Epidaurius to Athens, desired to be\ninitiated, and had the Lesser Mysteries repeated for that purpose. It\ntherefore became customary to celebrate the Lesser Mysteries a second\ntime upon this day, and to admit to initiation any such approved\ncandidates who had not already enjoyed the privilege. There was also\nanother reason for the repetition of the initiatory rites then. The\neighth day was regarded as symbolical of the soul falling into the lunar\norbi, and the repeated initiation, the second celebration of that sacred\nrite, was symbolical of the soul bidding adieu to everything of a\ncelestial nature, sinking into a perfect oblivion of her divine origin\nand pristine felicity, and rushing profoundly into the region of\ndissimilitude, ignorance, and error. The day opened with a solemn\nsacrifice offered to Demeter and Persephone, which took place within the\nperibolus. The utmost precision had to be observed in offering this\nsacrifice as regarding the age, colour, and sex of the victim, the\nchants, perfumes, and libations. The acceptance or rejection of a\nsacrifice was indicated by the movements of the animal as it approached\nthe altar, the vivacity of the flame, the direction of the smoke, etc.\nIf these signs were not favourable in the case of the first victim\noffered, other animals must be slain until one presented itself in which\nall the signs were favourable. The flesh of the animal offered was not\nallowed to be taken outside the sacred precincts, but had to be consumed\nwithin the building. The following is said to have been an Invocation\nused during the celebration of the Mysteries:--\n\n     Daughter of Jove, Persephone divine,\n     Come, blessed queen, and to these rites incline;\n     Only-begotten, Pluto's honoured wife,\n     O venerable goddess, source of life:\n     'Tis thine in earth's profoundities to dwell,\n     Fast by the wide and dismal gates of hell.\n     Jove's holy offering, of a beauteous mien,\n     Avenging goddess, subterranean queen.\n     The Furies' source, fair-hair'd, whose frame proceeds\n     From Jove's ineffable and secret seeds.\n     Mother of Bacchus, sonorous, divine,\n     And many form'd, the parent of the vine.\n     Associate of the Seasons, essence bright,\n     All-ruling virgin, bearing heav'nly light.\n     With fruits abounding, of a bounteous mind,\n     Horn'd, and alone desir'd by those of mortal kind.\n     O vernal queen, whom grassy plains delight,\n     Sweet to the smell, and pleasing to the sight:\n     Whose holy forms in budding fruits we view,\n     Earth's vig'rous offspring of a various hue:\n     Espous'd in autumn, life and death alone\n     To wretched mortals from thy pow'r is known:\n     For thine the task, according to thy will,\n     Life to produce, and all that lives to kill.\n     Hear, blessed Goddess, send a rich increase\n     Of various fruits from earth, with lovely Peace;\n     Send Health with gentle hand, and crown my life\n     With blest abundance, free from noisy strife;\n     Last in extreme old age the prey of death,\n     Dismiss me willing to the realms beneath,\n     To thy fair palace and the blissful plains\n     Where happy spirits dwell, and Pluto reigns.\n\nNINTH DAY.--The ninth day was known as the Day of Earthen Vessels,\nbecause it was the custom on that day to fill two jugs with wine. One\nwas placed towards the East and the other towards the West, and after\nthe repetition of certain mystical formul\u00e6 both were overthrown, the\nwine being spilt upon the ground as a libation. The first of these\nformul\u00e6 was directed towards the sky as a prayer for rain, and the\nsecond to the earth as a prayer for fertility.\n\nThe words used by the hierophant to denote the termination of the\ncelebration of the Mysteries-_Conx Om Pax_: \"Watch and do no evil\"--are\nsaid to have been Egyptian, and were the same as those used at the\nconclusion of the Mysteries of Isis. This fact is sometimes used as an\nargument in favour of the Egyptian origin of the Eleusinian Mysteries.\n\nTENTH DAY.--On the tenth day the majority of the people returned to\ntheir homes, with the exception of every third and fifth year, when they\nremained behind for the Mystery Plays and Sports, which lasted from two\nto three days.\n\nThe Eleusinian Games are described by the rhetorician Aristides as the\noldest of all Greek games. They are supposed to have been instituted as\na thank-offering to Demeter and Persephone at the conclusion of the corn\nharvest. From an inscription dating from the latter part of the third\ncentury B.C. sacrifices were offered to Demeter and Persephone at these\ngames. They included athletic and musical contests, a horse race, and a\ncompetition which bore the name of the Ancestral or the Hereditary\nContest, the nature of which is not known, but which it is thought may\nhave had its origin in a contest between the reapers on the sacred\nRharian plain to see which should first complete his allotted task.\n\nThe ancient sanctuary in which the Mysteries were celebrated was burnt\nby the Persians in 480 or 479 B.C., and a new sanctuary was built--or,\nat least, begun--under the administration of Pericles. Plutarch says\nthat Corcebus began the Temple of Initiation at Eleusis, but only lived\nto finish the lower rank of columns with their architraves; Metagenes,\nof the ward of Xypete, added the rest of the entablature and the upper\nrow of columns, and that Xenocles of Cholargus built the dome on the\ntop. The long wall, the building of which Socrates says he heard\nPericles propose to the people, was undertaken by Callicrates. Cratinus\nsatirized the work as proceeding very slowly:--\n\n     Stone upon stone the orator has pil'd\n     With swelling words, but words will build no walls.\n\nAccording to some writers the Temple was planned by Tetinus, the\narchitect of the Parthenon, and Pericles was merely the overseer of the\nbuilding. We are told by Vitruvius that the Temple at Eleusis consisted\nat first of one cell of vast magnitude, without columns, though it was\nprobable that it was meant to be surrounded in the customary manner; a\nprostyle, however, only was added, and that not until the time of\nDemetrius Phalereus, some ages after the original structure was erected.\nIt is probable that the uncommon magnitude of the cell, added to the\nvarious and complicated rites of initiation to the Eleusinian Mysteries,\nof which it was the scene, prevented its being a peristyle, the expense\nof which would have been enormous. The Temple was one of the largest of\nthe sacred edifices of Greece. Its length was 68 metres, its breadth\n54,66 metres and its superficial area 3716,88 square metres. The\nmonumental altar of sacrifice was placed in front of the facade, close\nby the eastern angle of the enclosure. According to Virgil the words\n\"Far hence, O be ye far hence, ye profane ones,\" were inscribed over the\nmain portal.\n\nIn the fourth century of the Christian era the Temple of Eleusis was\ndestroyed by the Goths, at the instigation of the monks, who followed\nthe hosts of Alaric.\n\nThe revenues from the celebrations must have been considerable. At both\nthe Lesser Mysteries and the Greater Mysteries a charge of one obole a\nday was demanded from each one attending, which was given to the\nhierophant. The hierocceryx received a half-obole a day, and other\nassistants a similar sum. In current coinage an obole was of the value\nof a fraction over 1 1/4d.\n\n\n\n\nIV\n\nTHE INITIATORY RITES\n\n\nTwo important facts must be set down with regard to the Mysteries:\nfirst, the general custom of all Athenian citizens, and afterwards of\nall Greeks generally, and eventually of many foreigners, to seek\nadmission into the Eleusinian Mysteries in the only possible\nmanner--viz. by initiation; and, second, the scrupulous care exercised\nby the Eumolpides to ensure that only persons duly qualified, of\nirreproachable--or, at any rate, of circumspect, character passed the\nportals. In the earlier days of the Mysteries it was a necessary\ncondition that the candidates for initiation should be free-born\nAthenians, but in course of time this rule was relaxed, until eventually\nstrangers (as residents outside Athens were called), aliens, slaves, and\neven courtesans, were admitted, on condition that they were introduced\nby a mystagogue, who was, of course, an Athenian. An interesting\ninscription was discovered a few years ago demonstrating the fact that\nthe public slaves of the city were initiated at the public expense. From\nhistorical records we learn that Lysias was enabled without difficulty\nto secure the initiation of his mistress, Metanira, who was then in the\nservice of the courtesan Nicareta. There always prevailed, however, the\nstrict rule that no one could be admitted who had been guilty of murder\nor homicide, wilful or accidental, or who had been convicted of\nwitchcraft, and all who had incurred the capital penalty for conspiracy\nor treason were also excluded. Nero sought admission into the Eleusinian\nMysteries, but was rejected because of the many slaughters connected\nwith his name. Antoninus, when he would purge himself before the world\nof the death of Avidius Cassius, elected to be initiated into the\nEleusinian Mysteries, it being recognized at that time that none was\nadmitted into them who was justly guilty of heinous immorality or crime.\n\nApollonius of Tyana was desirous of being admitted into the Eleusinian\nMysteries, but the hierophant refused to admit him on the ground that he\nwas a magician, and had intercourse with divinities other than those of\nthe Mysteries, declaring that he would never initiate a wizard or throw\nopen the Mysteries to a man addicted to impure rites. Apollonius\nretorted: \"You have not yet mentioned the chief of my offences, which is\nthat, knowing, as I do, more about the initiatory rites than you do\nyourself, I have nevertheless come to you as if you were wiser than I\nam.\" The hierophant, when he saw that the exclusion of Apollonius was\nnot by any means popular with the crowd, changed his tone and said: \"Be\nthou initiated, for thou seemest to be some wise man that has come\nhere.\" But Apollonius replied: \"I will be initiated at another time, and\nit is (mentioning a name) who will initiate me.\" Hereon, says\nPhilostratus, he showed his gift of prevision, for he glanced at the one\nwho succeeded the hierophant he addressed, and presided over the temple\nfour years later when Apollonius was initiated.\n\nPersons of both sexes and of all ages were initiated, and neglect of the\nceremony came to be regarded almost in the light of a crime. Socrates\nand Demonax were reproached and looked upon with suspicion because they\ndid not apply for initiation. Persians were always pointedly excluded\nfrom the ceremony. Athenians of both sexes were granted the privilege of\ninitiation during childhood on the presentation of their father, but\nonly the first degree of initiation was permitted. For the second and\nthird degrees it was necessary to have arrived at full age. The Greeks\nlooked upon initiation in much the same light as the majority of\nChristians look upon baptism. So great was the rush of candidates for\ninitiation when the restrictions were relaxed that Cicero was able to\nwrite that the inhabitants of the most distant regions flocked to\nEleusis in order to be initiated. Thus it became the custom with all\nRomans, who journeyed to Athens to take advantage of the opportunity to\nbecome initiates. Even the Emperors of Rome, the official heads of the\nRoman religion, the masters of the world, came to the Eumolpides to\nproffer the request that they might receive the honour of initiation and\nbecome participants in the Sacred Mysteries revealed by the goddess.\n\nWhile Augustus, who was initiated in the year 21 B.C., did not hesitate\nto show his antipathy towards the religion of the Egyptians, towards\nJudaism and Druidism, he was always scrupulous in observing the pledge\nof secrecy demanded of initiates into the Eleusinian Mysteries, and on\none occasion, when it became necessary for some of the priests of the\nEleusinian temple to proceed to Rome to plead before his tribunal on the\nquestion of privilege, and in the course of the evidence to speak of\ncertain ceremonial in connection with the Mysteries of which it was not\nlawful to speak in the presence of the uninitiated, he ordered every one\nwho had not received the privilege of initiation to leave the tribunal\nso that he and the witnesses alone remained. The Eleusinian Mysteries\nwere not deemed inimical to the welfare of the Roman Empire as were the\nreligions of the Egyptians, Jews, and ancient Britons.\n\nClaudius, another imperial initiate, conceived the idea of transferring\nthe scene of the Mysteries to Rome, and, according to Suetonius, was\nabout to put the project into execution, when it was ruled that it was\nobligatory that the principal scenic presentation of the Mysteries must\nbe celebrated on the ground trodden by the feet of Demeter and where the\ngoddess herself had ordered her temple to be erected.\n\nThe initiation of the Emperor Hadrian (who succeeded where Claudius had\nfailed, in introducing the celebration of the Mysteries into Rome) took\nplace in A.D. 125, when he was present at the Lesser Mysteries in the\nspring and at the Greater Mysteries in the following autumn. In\nSeptember, A.D. 129, he was again at Athens, when he presented himself\nfor the third degree, as is known from Dion Cassius, confirmed by a\nletter written by the Emperor himself, in which he mentions a journey\nfrom Eleusis to Ephesus made by him at that time. Hadrian is the only\nimperial initiate, so far as is known, who persevered and passed through\nall three degrees. Since he remained at Eleusis as long as it was\npossible for him to do so after the completion of his initiation, it is\nnot rash to assume that he was inspired by something more than curiosity\nor even by a desire to show respect.\n\nIt is uncertain whether the Emperor Antonin was initiated, although from\nan inscription it seems probable that he was and that he should be\nincluded in the list of imperial initiates. Both Marcus Aurelius and\nCommodus, father and son, were initiated at the same time, at the Lesser\nMysteries in March, A.D. 176, and at the Greater Mysteries in the\nfollowing September. Septimius Severus was initiated before he ascended\nthe throne.\n\nThere was, as stated, three degrees, and the ordinary procedure with\nregard to initiation was as follows:--\n\nIn the month of Anthesterion, the flower month of spring, corresponding\nwith February-March, an applicant could, if approved, become an initiate\ninto the first degree at the celebration of the Lesser Mysteries and\ntake part in their celebration at the Eleusinion at Agra, near to\nAthens. The ceremony of initiation into this first degree was on a far\nless imposing scale than the ceremony of initiation into the second and\nthird degrees at the Greater Mysteries. The candidate, however, had to\nkeep chaste and unpolluted for nine days prior to the ceremony, which\neach one attended wearing crowns and garlands of flowers and observed by\noffering prayers and sacrifices. Immediately previous to the celebration\nthe candidates for initiation were prepared by the Mystagogues, the\nspecial teachers selected for the purpose from the families of the\nEumolpides and Keryces. They were instructed in the story of Demeter and\nPersephone, the character of the purification necessary and other\npreliminary rites, the fast days, with particulars of the food\npermissible and forbidden to be eaten, and the various sacrifices to be\noffered by and for them under the direction of the mystagogues.\n\nWithout this preparation no one could be admitted to the Mysteries.\nThere was, however, neither secret doctrine nor dogmatic teaching in\nthis preliminary instruction. Revelation came through contemplation of\nthe sacred objects displayed during the ceremonies by the hierophant,\nthe meaning of which was communicated by means of the mystic formul\u00e6;\nbut the preparation demanded of the initiates, the secrecy imposed, the\nceremonies at which the initiates assisted, all of which were performed\nin the dead of night, created a strong impression and lively hope in\nregard to the future life. No other cult in Greece, still less the cold\nRoman religion, had anything of the kind, or approaching to it, to\noffer. Fasting from food and drink for a certain period before and after\ninitiation was essential, but the candidates did not attach to this act\nany idea of maceration or expiation of faults: it was simply the\nreproduction of an event in the life of the goddess, and undergone in\norder that the body might become more pure. Bowls or vases of\nconsecrated or holy water were placed at the entrance of the temple for\nthe purposes of aspersion. In cases of special or particular impurity an\nextra preparation extending over two or three days longer became\nnecessary, and unctions of oil or repeated immersions in water were\nadministered. The outward physical purity, the result of immersion prior\nto initiation, was but the symbol of the inward purity which was\nsupposed to result from initiation. One of the duties of the mystagogues\nwas to see that the candidates were in a state of physical cleanliness\nboth before and throughout the ceremony. According to inscriptions which\nhave been discovered there appear to have been temples or buildings set\napart for the cleansing of candidates from special impurities.\nInitiation into the Lesser Mysteries only permitted the neophyte to go\nas far as the outer vestibule of the temple.\n\nIn the following autumn, if of full age and approved by the hierophant,\nthe neophyte could be initiated into the Greater Mysteries, into the\nsecond degree, that of Mysta. This, however, did not secure admission to\nall the ceremonies performed during the celebration of the Greater\nMysteries. A further year, at least, had to elapse before the third\ndegree, that of Epopta, was taken, before he could see with his own eyes\nand hear with his own ears, all that took place in the temple during the\ncelebration of the Mysteries. Even then, there was one part of the\ntemple and one portion of the ceremony which could be entered and\nwitnessed only by the hierophant and hierophantide.\n\nAccording to Plutarch, Demetrius, when he was returning to Athens, wrote\nto the republic that on his arrival he intended to be initiated and to\nbe admitted immediately, not only to the Lesser Mysteries, but to the\nGreater as well. This was unlawful and unprecedented, though when the\nletter was read, Pythodorus, a torch-bearer, was the only person who\nventured to oppose the demand, and his opposition was entirely\nineffectual. Stratocles procured a decree that the month of Munychion\nshould be reputed to be and called the month of Anthesterion, to give\nDemetrius the opportunity for the initiation into the first degree. This\nwas done, whereupon a second decree was issued by which Munychion was\nagain changed into Boedromion, and Demetrius was admitted to the\nMysteries of the next degree. Philippides, the poet, satirized\nStratocles in the words: \"The man who can contract the whole year into\none month,\" and Demetrius, with reference to his lodging in the\nParthenon, in the words: \"The man who turns the temples into inns and\nbrings prostitutes into the company of the virgin goddess.\"\n\nThe design of initiation, according to Plato, was to restore the soul to\nthat state from which it fell, and Proclus states that initiation into\nthe Mysteries drew the souls of men from a material, sensual, and merely\nhuman life and joined them in communion with the gods. \"Happy is the\nman,\" wrote Euripides, \"who hath been initiated into the Greater\nMysteries and leads a life of piety and religion,\" and Aristophanes\ntruly represented public opinion when he wrote in _The Frogs_: \"On us\nonly does the sun dispense his blessings; we only receive pleasure from\nhis beams; we, who are initiated, and perform towards citizens and\nstrangers all acts of piety and justice.\" The initiates sought to\nimitate the allegorical birth of the god. The epopt\u00e6 were supposed to\nhave experienced a certain regeneration and to enter upon a new state of\nexistence, and they were fantastically deemed to have acquired a great\nincrease of light and knowledge. Hitherto they had been exoteric and\nprofane; now they had become esoteric and holy.\n\nJevons, in his _Introduction to the Study of Religion,_ says that no\noath was demanded of the initiate, but that silence was observed\ngenerally as an act of reverence rather than as an act of purposed\nconcealment. There seems, however, to be conclusive evidence that an\noath of secrecy was demanded of and taken by the candidates for\ninitiation, at any rate, into the second and third degrees, if not into\nthe first degree. Moreover, there are on record several prosecutions of\ncitizens for having broken the pledge of secrecy they had given.\n\u00c6schylus was indicted for having disclosed in the theatre certain\ndetails of the Mysteries, and he only escaped punishment by proving that\nhe had never been initiated and, therefore, could not have violated any\nobligation. A Greek scholiast says that in five of his tragedies\n\u00c6schylus spoke of Demeter and therefore may be supposed in these cases\nto have touched upon subjects connected with the Mysteries, and\nHeraclides of Pontus says that on this account he was in danger of being\nkilled by the populace if he had not fled for refuge to the altar of\nDionysos and been begged off by the Areopagites and acquitted on the\nground of his exploits at Marathon. An accusation was brought against\nAristotle of having performed a funeral sacrifice in honour of his wife\nin imitation of the Eleusinian ceremonies. Alcibiades was charged with\nmimicking the sacred Mysteries in one of his drunken revels, when he\nrepresented the hierophant; Theodorus, one of his friends, represented\nthe herald; and another, Polytion, represented the dadouchos; other\ncompanions attending as initiates and being addressed as myst\u00e6. The\ninformation against him ran:--\n\n\"Thessalus, the son of Cimon, of the ward of Lacais, accuseth\nAlcibiades, the son of Clinian, of the ward of Scambonis, of\nsacrilegiously offending the goddess Ceres and her daughter, Persephone,\nby counterfeiting their Mysteries and showing them to his companions in\nhis own house, wearing such a robe as the high priest does when he shows\nthe holy things; he called himself high priest; as did Polytion\ntorch-bearer; and Theodorus, of the ward of Thyges, herald; and the rest\nof his companions he called persons initiated and Brethren of the\nSecret; therein acting contrary to the rules and ceremonies established\nby the Eumolpides, the Heralds and Priests at Eleusis.\"\n\nAlcibiades did not appear in answer to the charge, and he was condemned\nin his absence, an order being made that his goods were to be\nconfiscated. This occurred in 415 B.C. and the incident created quite a\npanic, as many prominent citizens, Andocides included, were implicated.\n\"This man,\" said the accuser of Andocides, \"vested in the same costume\nas a hierophant, has shown the sacred objects to men who were not\ninitiated and has uttered words which it is not permissible to repeat.\"\nAndocides admitted the charge, but turned king's evidence, and named\ncertain others as culprits with him. He was rewarded with a free pardon\nunder a decree which Isotmides had issued, but those whom he named were\neither put to death or outlawed and their goods were confiscated.\nAndocides afterwards entered the temple while the Mysteries were in\nprogress and was charged with breaking the law in so doing. He defended\nhimself before a court of heliasts, all of whom had been initiated into\nthe Mysteries, the president of the court being the Archon Basileus. The\nindictment was lodged by Cephisius, the chief prosecutor, with the\nArchon Basileus, during the celebration of the Greater Mysteries and\nwhile Andocides was still at Eleusis. Andocides was acquitted, and it is\nstated that Cephisius having failed to obtain one-fifth of the votes of\nthe court, the result, according to the law, was that he had to pay a\nfine of a thousand drachmas and to suffer permanent exclusion from the\nEleusinian shrine. Diagoras was accused of railing at the sanctity of\nthe Mysteries of Eleusis in such a manner as to deter persons from\nseeking initiation, and a reward of one talent was offered to any one\nwho should kill him or two talents to any one who should bring him\nalive. The Greek talent was of the value of about \u00a3200.\n\nAn ancient theme of oratorical composition and one set even in the sixth\ncentury of the Christian era ran:--\n\n\"The law punishes with death whoever has disclosed the Mysteries: some\none to whom the initiation has been revealed in a dream asks one of the\ninitiated if what he has seen is in conformity with reality: the\ninitiate acquiesces by a movement of the head; and for that he is\naccused of impiety.\"\n\nEvery care, therefore, was taken to prevent the secrecy of the Mysteries\nfrom being broken and the ceremonial becoming known to any not\ninitiated. Details have, nevertheless, come to light in various ways,\nbut chiefly through the ancient writings and inscriptions. Step by step\nand piece by piece the diligent researcher has been rewarded by the\ndiscovery of disconnected and isolated fragments which, by themselves,\nsupply no precise information, but, taken in the aggregate, form a\nperfect mosaic. Though it was strictly forbidden to reveal what took\nplace within the sacred enclosure and in the Hall of Initiation, it was\npermissible to state clearly the main object of initiation and the\nadvantages to be derived from the act. Not only was the breaking of the\nobligation of secrecy given by an initiate visited with severe,\nsometimes even with capital, punishment, but the forcing of the temple\nenclosure by the uninitiated, as sometimes happened, was an offence of\nan equally impious and heinous character. By virtue of the unwritten\nlaws and customs dating back to the most remote periods the penalty of\ndeath was frequently pronounced for faults not grave in themselves,\nalthough the forcing of the temple enclosure was, of course, a grave\ncrime, but because they concerned religion. It was probably by virtue of\nthose unwritten laws that the priests ordered the death of two young\nArcananians who had penetrated, through ignorance, into the sacred\nprecincts. They happened inadvertently to mix with the crowd at the\nseason of the Mysteries and to enter the temple, but the questions asked\nby them, in consequence of their ignorance of the proceedings, betrayed\nthem, and their intrusion was punished with death. This was in 200 B.C.,\nand Rome made war upon Philip V of Macedonia on the complaint of the\ngovernment of Athens against that king who wished to punish them for\nhaving rigorously applied the ancient laws to those two offenders, who\nwere found guilty merely of entering the sanctuary at Eleusis without\nhaving previously been initiated. No judicial penalty, however, was\nmeted out to the fanatical Epicurean eunuch who, with the object of\nproving that the gods had no existence, forced himself blaspheming into\nthat part of the sanctuary into which the hierophant and the\nhierophantide alone had the right of entry. \u00c6lianus states that a divine\npunishment in the form of a disease alone overtook him. Horace declared\nthat he would not risk his life by going on to the water with a\ncompanion who had revealed the secret of the Mysteries.\n\nThe two days prior to initiation into the second and third degrees were\nspent by the candidates in solitary retirement and in strict fasting. It\nwas a \"retreat\" in the strictest sense of the word. Fasting was\npractised, not only in imitation of the sufferings of Demeter when\nsearching for Persephone, but because of the danger of the contact of\nholy things with unholy, the clean with the unclean. This also is one of\nthe reasons why it was held to be impious even to speak of the Mysteries\nto one who had not been initiated and especially dangerous to allow such\nunclean and profane persons to take any part, even that of a viewer, in\nthe ceremonies. Hence the punishment meted out by the State was in lieu\nof, or to avert, the divine wrath which such pollution might bring on\nthe community at large.\n\nAt the entrance to the temple tablets were placed containing a list of\nforbidden foods. The list included several kinds of fish--the\nwhistle-fish, gurnet, crab, and mullet. In all probability the\nwhistle-fish is that known as _Sci\u00e6na aquila_, a Mediterranean fish that\nmakes a noise under the water which has been compared to bellowing,\nbuzzing, purring, or whistling, the air bladder being the\nsound-producing organ. The fish was greatly esteemed by the Romans.\nThere is a large _Sci\u00e6na_, not _aquila_, though very like it, in the\nFish Gallery of the British Museum (Natural History) opposite the\nentrance from the Zoological Library. The whistle-fish and crab were\nheld to be impure, the first because it laid its eggs through the mouth,\nand the second because it ate filth which other fish rejected. The\ngurnet was rejected because of its fecundity as witnessed in its annual\ntriple laying of eggs, but, according to some writers, it was rejected\nbecause it ate a fish which was poisonous to mankind. It may well be\nthat other fish were interdicted, but Porphyry was probably exaggerating\nwhen he said that all fish were forbidden. Birds bred at home, such as\nchickens and pigeons, were also on the banned list, as were beans and\ncertain vegetables which were forbidden for a mystical reason which\nPausanias said he dare not reveal save to the initiated. The probable\nreason was that they were connected in some way with the wanderings of\nDemeter. Pomegranates were, of course, forbidden, from the incident of\nthe eating of the pomegranate seeds by Persephone.\n\nThe candidates were carefully instructed in these rules before the\nbeginning of the celebration. Originally the instruction of the\ncandidates was in the hands of the hierophant, who, following the\nexample of his ancestor, Eumolpus, claimed the privilege of preparing\nthe candidates as well as that of communicating to them the knowledge of\nthe divine Mysteries. But the continually increasing number of\ncandidates made it necessary to employ auxiliary instructors, and this\nparticular work was handed over to the charge of the mystagogues, who\nprepared the candidates either singly or in groups, the hierophant\nreserving to himself the general direction of the instruction. In the\ncourse of the initiation ceremony certain words had to be spoken by the\ncandidates, and these were made known to them in advance, although, of\ncourse, apart from their context.\n\nAdmission to the second degree took place during the night between the\nsixth and seventh days of the celebration of the Mysteries, the\ncandidates being led blindfolded into the temple and the ceremony opened\nwith prayers and sacrifices by the second Archon. The candidates were\ncrowned with myrtle wreaths, and, on entering the building, they\npurified themselves in a formal manner by immersing their hands in the\nconsecrated water. Salt, laurel-leaves, barley, and crowns of flowers\nwere also employed in the purification. The priests, vested in their\nsacerdotal garments, then came forward to receive the candidates. This\ninitial ceremony took place in the outer hall of the temple, the temple\nitself being closed. A herald then came forward and uttered the\nproclamation: \"Begone ye profane. Away from here, all ye that are not\npurified, and whose souls have not been freed from sin.\" In later years\nthis formulary was changed, and in its stead the herald proclaimed: \"If\nany atheist, or Christian, or Epicurean, is come to spy on the orgies,\nlet him instantly retire, but let those who believe remain and be\ninitiated, with good future.\" It was the final opportunity for the\nretirement of any who were not votaries who had by chance entered the\nprecincts: if discovered afterwards the punishment was death. In order\nto make certain that no intruders remained behind all who were present\nhad to answer certain specified questions. Then all again immersed their\nhands into the consecrated water and renewed their pledge of secrecy.\nThe candidates for initiation then took off their ordinary garments and\nput on the skins of young does. This done, the priests wished them joy\nof all the happiness their initiation would bring them, and then left\nthe candidates alone. Within a few minutes the apartment in which they\nwere was plunged in total darkness. Lamentations and strange noises were\nheard; terrific peals of thunder resounded, seemingly shaking the very\nfoundations of the temple; vivid flashes of lightning lit up the\ndarkness, rendering it more terrible, while a more persistent light from\na fire displayed fearful forms. Sighs, groans, and cries of pain\nresounded on all sides, like the shrieks of the condemned in Tartarus.\nThe novitiates were taken hold of by invisible hands, their hair was\ntorn, and they were beaten and thrown to the ground. Then a faint light\nbecame visible in the distance and a fearful scene appeared before their\neyes. The gates of Tartarus were opened and the abode of the condemned\nlay before them. They could hear the cries of anguish and the vain\nregrets of those to whom Paradise was lost for ever. They could,\nmoreover, witness their hopeless remorse: they saw, as well as heard,\nall the tortures of the condemned. The Furies, armed with relentless\nscourges and flaming torches, drove the unhappy victims incessantly to\nand fro, never letting them rest for a moment. Meanwhile the loud voice\nof the hierophant, who represented the judge of the earth, could be\nheard expounding the meaning of what was passing before them, and\nwarning and threatening the initiates. It may well be imagined that all\nthese fearful scenes were so terrifying that very frequently beads of\nanguish appeared on the brows of the novices. Howling dogs and even\nmaterial demons are said actually to have appeared to the initiates\nbefore the scene was changed. Proclus, in his _Commentary on\nAlcibiades_, says: \"In the most holy of the Mysteries, before the\npresence of the god, certain terrestrial demons are hurled forth, which\ncall the attention from undefiled advantages to matter.\" At length the\ngates of Tartarus were closed, the scene was suddenly changed, and the\ninnermost sanctuary of the temple lay open before the initiates in\ndazzling light. In the midst stood the statue of the goddess Demeter\nbrilliantly decked and gleaming with precious stones; heavenly music\nentranced their souls; a cloudless sky overshadowed them; fragrant\nperfumes arose; and in the distance the privileged spectators beheld\nflowering meads, where the blessed danced and amused themselves with\ninnocent games and pastimes. Among other writers the scene has been\ndescribed by Aristophanes in _The Frogs_:--\n\n     _Heracles_. The voyage is a long one. For you will come directly to\n     a very big lake of abysmal depth.\n\n     _Dionysos_. Then how shall I get taken across it?\n\n     _Heracles_. In a little boat just so high: an old man who plies\n     that boat will take you across for a fee of two oboles.\n\n     _Dionysos_. Oh dear! How very powerful those two oboles are all\n     over the world. How did they manage to get here?\n\n     _Heracles_. Theseus brought them. After this you will see serpents\n     and wild beasts in countless numbers and very terrible. Then a\n     great slough and overflowing dung; and in this you'll see lying any\n     one who ever yet at any place wronged his guest or beat his mother,\n     or smote his father's jaw, or swore an oath and foreswore\n     himself.... And next a breathing of flutes shall be wafted around\n     you, and you shall see a very beautiful light, even as in this\n     world, and myrtle groves, and happy choirs of men and women, and a\n     loud clapping of hands.\n\n     _Dionysos_. And who are these people, pray?\n\n     _Heracles_. The initiated.\n\nIt was regarded as permissible to describe certain scenes of the\ninitiation, and this has been done by many writers, but a complete\nsilence was demanded as to the means employed to realize the end, the\nrites and ceremonies in which the initiate took part, the emblems which\nwere displayed, and the actual words uttered, and the slightest\ncontravention of this rule rendered the offender liable to the strongest\npossible condemnation and chastisement.\n\nIn the course of the ceremony the hierophant asked the candidates a\nseries of questions, to which written answers had been prepared and\ncommitted to memory by the candidates. The holy Mysteries were revealed\nto them from a book called _Petroma,_ a word derived from _petra_, a\nstone, and so called because the writings were kept between two cemented\nstones which fitted in to each other. The Pheneatians used to swear by\nand on the Petroma. The domed top held within it a mask of Demeter which\nthe hierophant wore at the celebration of the Mysteries, or during part\nof the ceremonial. The garments worn by the initiates during the\nceremony were accounted sacred and equal to incantations and charms in\ntheir power to avert evils. Consequently they were never cast off until\ntorn and tattered. Nor was it usual, even then, to throw them away, but\nit was customary to make them into swaddling clothes for children or to\nconsecrate them to Demeter and Persephone.\n\nAdmission to the third degree took place during the night between the\nseventh and eighth days of the celebration of the Greater Mysteries.\nThis, the final degree, with the exception of those called to be\nhierophants, was known as the degree of Epopta. Exactly in what the\nceremonial consisted, save in one particular presently to be described,\nis unknown. Hippolytus is practically the only authority for the main\nincident of the degree. Certain words and signs were, however,\ncommunicated to the initiated which, it was stated, would, when\npronounced at the hour of death, ensure the eternal happiness of the\nsoul.\n\nThe most solemn part of the ceremony was that which has been described\nby some writers as the hierogamy, or sacred marriage of Zeus and\nDemeter, although some have erroneously referred to it as the marriage\nof Pluto and Persephone. During the celebration of the Mysteries the\nhierophant and hierophantide descended into a cave or deep recess and,\nafter remaining there for a time, they returned to the assembly,\nsurrounded seemingly by flames, and the hierophant, displaying to the\ngaze of the initiated an ear of corn, exclaimed with a loud voice: \"The\ndivine Brimo has given birth to the holy child Brimos: The strong has\nbrought forth strength.\" The scene was dramatic and symbolical, and\nthere could have been nothing material in the incident. The torches of\nthe multitude were extinguished while the throng above awaited with\nanxious suspense the return of the priest and priestess from the murky\nplace into which they had descended, for they believed their own\nsalvation to depend upon the result of the mystic congress. The charges\nbrought against the Eleusinian Mysteries of rioting and debauchery\nduring their Grecian history are brought by those who were not permitted\nto share their honours, or who were prejudiced in favour of some other\nform of religion. In the opinion of the majority of contemporary writers\nthese charges were wholly gratuitous, and they maintain that the\nEleusinian Mysteries produced a sanctity of manners and a cultivation of\nvirtue. They could not, of course, make a man virtuous against his will\nand Diogenes, when asked to submit to initiation, replied that\nPataecion, a notorious robber, had obtained initiation.\n\n\"The Athenians,\" says Hippolytus, \"in the initiation of Eleusis, show to\nthe epopt\u00e6 the great, admirable, and most perfect mystery of the epopt\u00e6:\nan ear of corn gathered in silence.\" The statement is so clear as to\nleave no doubt whatever on the subject; indeed, it has never been called\ninto question. The presentation of the ear of corn was regarded as a\nspecial, indeed the most important, feature of the Mysteries of Eleusis,\nand it was reserved for the final degree. Much has been made of this\nincident by many who can see no beauty in pre-Christian or non-Christian\nsystems of religion, their comments being based mainly on a statement of\nGregory Nazianus, who stands almost alone in discerning lewdness in the\nEleusinian ceremonial. He says: \"It is not in our religion that you will\nfind a seduced Cora, a wandering Demeter, a Keleos, and a Triptolemus\nappearing with serpents; that Demeter is capable of certain acts and\nthat she permits others. I am really ashamed to throw light on the\nnocturnal orgies of the initiations. Eleusis knows as well as the\nwitnesses the secret of the spectacle, which is with reason kept so\nprofound.\"\n\nApart from this isolated statement the Eleusinian Mysteries have not\nbeen charged, as many other ancient rites were, with promoting and\nencouraging immorality. In his account of the doings of the false\nprophet Alexander of Abountichos, Lucian describes how the impostor\ninstituted rites which were a close parody of those celebrated at\nEleusis, and he narrates the details of the travesty. Among the mimetic\nperformances were not only the epiphany and birth of a god but the\nenactment of a sacred marriage. All preliminaries were gone through, and\nLucian says that but for the abundance of lighted torches the marriage\nwould actually have been consummated. The part of the hierophant was\ntaken by the false prophet himself. From the travesty it is evident that\nin the genuine Mysteries, in silence, in darkness, and in perfect\nchastity the sacred marriage was symbolized and that immediately\nafterwards the hierophant came forward and standing in a blaze of\ntorchlight made the announcement to the initiates.\n\nThe name _Brimo_, expressed at full length _Obrimo,_ seems to be a\nvariation of the compound term _Ob-Rimon_, \"the lofty serpent goddess.\"\n\n     The birth of Brimo; and the mighty deeds\n     Of the Titanic hosts; the servitude\n     Of Jove; and the mysterious mountain rites\n     Of Cybel\u00e8, when with distracted pace she sought\n     Through the wide world the beauteous Proserpine;\n     The far-fam'd labours of the Machian Hercules;\n     Th' Id\u00e8an orgies; and the giant force\n     Of the dread Corybantes; and the wanderings\n     Of Ceres, and the woes of Prosperpine:\n     With these I sung the gifts of the Cabiri;\n     The Mysteries of Bacchus; and the praise\n     Of Lemnos, Samothrace, and lofty Cyprus,\n     Fair Adonean Venus; and the rites\n     Of dread Ogygian Praxidic\u00e8;\n     Arinian Minerva's nightly festival;\n     And Egypt's sorrow for the lost Osiris.\n\n                                   _Orphic Hymn._\n\nDr. Jevons maintains that this ear of corn was the totem of Eleusis, and\nthis view has been adopted by M. Reinach, who says: \"We find in the\ntexts a certain trace not only of the cult but of the adoration and the\nexaltation (in the Christian meaning of the word) of the ear of corn.\"\nBut he has omitted to quote the texts on which he relies for this\nassertion. It would be interesting to know why, among all the plants\nwhich die and revive in the course of a year, wheat was chosen for\npreference, why the ear more than the grain, why it should be emphasized\nthat it was gathered, for what reason the spectacle was reserved for the\nepopt\u00e6, and in what manner it secured or ensured for the individual a\nblissful existence after death. The demonstration presupposes that the\npreceding rites were leading up to this supreme display.\n\nAfter this demonstration the epopt\u00e6 partook of barley meal flavoured\nwith pennyroyal, as a solemn form of communion with Demeter. According\nto Eustathius, the compound was a kind of thick gruel, half-solid,\nhalf-liquid. This done, each of the initiated repeated after the\nhierophant the following words: \"I have fasted, I have drank 'cyceon.' I\nhave taken from the cystos, and after having tasted of it I placed it in\nthe calathos. I again took it from the calathos and put it back in the\ncystos.\" This formula, notwithstanding its length, is said to have been\nthe password leading to the third degree.\n\nJustin Martyr gives the oath of initiation as follows: \"So help me\nheaven, the work of God who is great and wise: so help me the word of\nthe Father which he spake when he established the whole universe in his\nwisdom.\"\n\nWith this ceremony the third degree ended, save that the epopt\u00e6 were\nplaced upon exalted seats, around which the priests circled in mystic\ndances. The day succeeding admission into the final degree was regarded\nas a rigorous fast, at the conclusion of which the epopt\u00e6 drank of the\nmystic cyceon and ate of the sacred cakes.\n\nAccording to Theo of Smyrna, the full or complete initiation consisted\nof five steps or degrees, which he sets out as follows:--\n\n\"Again, philosophy may be called the initiation into true sacred\nceremonies, and the tradition of genuine mysteries; for there are five\nparts of initiation; the first of which is previous purgation, for\nneither are the Mysteries communicated to all who are willing to receive\nthem, but there are certain characters who are prevented by the voice of\nthe crier, such as those who possess impure hands and an inarticulate\nvoice, since it is necessary that such as are not expelled from the\nMysteries should first be refined by certain purgations, but after\npurgation the tradition of the sacred rite succeeds. The third part is\ndenominated inspection. And the fourth, which is the end and design of\ninspection, is the binding of the head and fixing the crown, so that the\ninitiated may, by this means, be enabled to communicate to others the\nsacred rites in which he has been instructed. Whether after this he\nbecomes a torch-bearer, or an interpreter of the Mysteries, or sustains\nsome other part of the sacerdotal office. But the fifth, which is\nproduced from all these, is friendship with divinity, and the enjoyment\nof that felicity which arises from intimate converse with the gods.\nAccording to Plato, purification is to be derived from the five\nmathematical disciplines, viz. arithmetic, geometry, stereometry, music,\nand astronomy.\"\n\nApuleius is represented as saying to himself:--\n\n\"I approached the confines of death; and, having crossed the threshold\nof Proserpine, I at length returned, borne along through all the\nelements. I beheld the sun shining in the dead of night with luminous\nsplendour: I saw both the infernal and the celestial gods. I approached\nand adored them.\"\n\nThemistius represents initiation in the following words:--\n\n\"Entering now the mystic dome, he is filled with horror and amazement.\nHe is seized with solicitude and a total perplexity. He is unable to\nmove a step forward; and he is at a loss to find the entrance to that\nroad which is to lead him to the place he aspires to. But now, in the\nmidst of his perplexity, the prophet (hierophant) suddenly lays open to\nhim the space before the portals of the temple. Having thoroughly\npurified him, the hierophant now discloses to the initiated a region all\nover illuminated and shining with a divine splendour. The cloud and\nthick darkness are dispersed; and the mind, which before was full of\ndisconsolate obscurity, now emerges, as it were, into day, replete with\nlight and cheerfulness, out of the profound depth into which it had been\nplunged.\"\n\nThe fee for initiation was a minimum sum of fifteen drachmas (a drachma\nbeing of the value of 7 3/4d.), in addition to which there were the\nusual honoraria to be bestowed upon the various officials, to which\nreference has already been made. Presumably, also, gifts in kind were\nmade to the principal officials, for an inscription of the fifth century\nB.C., found at Eleusis, reads:--\n\n\"Let the Hierophant and the Torch-bearer command that at the Mysteries\nthe Hellenes shall offer first-fruits of their crops in accordance with\nancestral usage.... To those who do these things there shall be many\ngood things, both good and abundant crops, whoever of them do not injure\nthe Athenians, nor the city of Athens, nor the two goddesses.\"\n\nThe Telestrion or Hall of Initiation, sometimes called \"The Mystic\nTemple,\" was surrounded on all sides by steps, which presumably served\nas seats for the initiated while the sacred dramas and processions took\nplace on the floor of the hall. These steps were partly built in and\npartly cut in the solid rock; in later times they appear to have been\ncovered with marble. There were two doors on each side of the hall with\nthe exception of the north-west, where the entrance was cut out of the\nsolid rock, a rock terrace at a higher level adjoining it. This was\nprobably the station of those not yet admitted to full initiation. The\nroof of the hall was carried by rows of columns which were more than\nonce renewed. The Hall itself did not accommodate more than four\nthousand people. The building was perhaps more accurately described by\nAristophanes, who called it: \"The House that welcomed the Myst\u00e6,\" and he\ncarefully distinguished it from the Temple of Demeter. It was not the\ndwelling-place of any god, and it, therefore, did not contain any holy\nimage. It was built for the celebration of a definite ritual, and the\nEleusinian Hall of Initiation was therefore the only known _church_ of\nantiquity, if by that term we mean the meeting-place of the\ncongregation.\n\nMr. James Christie, in his work on _Greek Vases,_ contends that the\nphantasmal scenes in the Mysteries were shown by transparencies, such as\nare yet used by the Chinese, Javanese, and Hindus.\n\n\n\n\nV\n\nTHEIR MYSTICAL SIGNIFICANCE\n\n\nLife, as we know it, was looked upon by the ancient philosophers as\ndeath. Plato considered the body as the sepulchre of the soul, and in\nthe _Cratylus_ acquiesces in the doctrine of Orpheus that the soul is\npunished through its union with the body. Empedocles, lamenting his\nconnection with this corporeal world, pathetically exclaimed:--\n\n     For this I weep, for this indulge my woe,\n     That e'er my soul such novel realms should know.\n\nHe also calls this material abode, or the realms of generation,\n\n               a joyless region,\n     Where slaughter, rage, and countless ills reside.\n\nPhilolaus, the celebrated Pythagorean, wrote: \"The ancient theologists\nand priests testify that the soul is united with the body for the sake\nof suffering punishment, and that it is buried in the body as in a\nsepulchre\"; while Pythagoras himself said: \"Whatever we see when awake\nis death, and when asleep a dream.\"\n\nThis is the truth intended to be expressed in the Mysteries. Sallustius,\nthe neo-Platonic philosopher, in his treatise _Peri Theon kai Kosmou_,\n\"Concerning the gods and the existing state of things,\" explains the\nrape of Persephone as signifying the descent of the soul. Other writers\nhave explained the real element of the Mysteries as consisting in the\nrelations of the universe to the soul, more especially after death, or\nas intimating obscurely by splendid visions the felicity of the soul\nhere and hereafter when purified from the defilements of a material\nnature. The intention of all mystic ceremonies, according to Sallustius,\nwas to conjoin the world and the gods. Plotinus says that to be plunged\ninto matter is to descend and then fall asleep. The initiate had to\nwithstand the d\u00e6mons and spectres, which, in later times, illustrated\nthe difficulties besetting the soul in its approach to the gods, so also\nthe Uasarian had to repel or satisfy the mystic crocodiles, vipers,\navenging assessors, d\u00e6mons of the gate, and other dread beings whom he\nencountered in his trying passage through the valley of the shadow of\ndeath. Pindar, speaking of the Eleusinian Mysteries, says: \"Blessed is\nhe who, on seeing those common concerns under the earth, knows both the\nend of life and the given end of Jupiter.\"\n\nPsyche is said to have fallen asleep in Hades through rashly attempting\nto behold corporeal beauty, and the truth intended to be taught in the\nEleusinian Mysteries was that prudent men who earnestly employed\nthemselves in divine concerns were, above all others, in a vigilant\nstate, and that imprudent men who pursued objects of an inferior nature\nwere asleep, and engaged only in the delusion of dreams; and that if\nthey happened to die in this sleep before they were aroused they would\nbe afflicted with similar, but still sharper, visions in a future state.\n\nMatter was regarded by the Egyptians as a certain mire or mud. They\ncalled matter the dregs or sediment of the first life. Before the first\npurification the candidate for initiation into the Eleusinian Mysteries\nwas besmeared with clay or mud which it was the object of the\npurification to wash away. It also intimated that while the soul is in a\nstate of servitude to the body it lives confined, as it were, in bonds\nthrough the dominion of this Titanic life. Thus the Greeks laid great\nstress upon the advantages to be derived from initiation. Not only were\nthe initiates placed under the protection of the State, but the very act\nof initiation was said to assist in the spreading of goodwill among men,\nkeep the soul from sin and crime, place the initiates under the special\nprotection of the gods, and provide them with the means of attaining\nperfect virtue, the power of living a spotless life, and assure them of\na peaceful death and of everlasting bliss hereafter. The hierophants\nassured all who participated in the Mysteries that they would have a\nhigh place in Elysium, a clearer understanding, and a more intimate\nintercourse with the gods, whereas the uninitiated would for ever remain\nin outer darkness. Indeed, in the third degree the epopt\u00e6 were said to\nbe admitted to the presence of and converse with the goddesses Demeter\nand Persephone, under whose immediate care and protection they were said\nto be placed. Initiation was referred to frequently as a guarantee of\nsalvation conferred by outward and visible signs and by sacred formul\u00e6.\n\nThe Lesser Mysteries were intended to symbolize the condition of the\nsoul while subservient to the body, and the liberation from this\nservitude, through purgative virtues, was what the wisdom of the\nAncients intended to signify by the descent into Hades and the speedy\nreturn from those dark abodes. They were held to contain perfective\nrites and appearances and the tradition of the sacred doctrines\nnecessary to the perfection or accomplishment of the most splendid\nvisions. The perfective part, said Proclus, precedes initiation, as\ninitiation precedes inspection.\n\n\"Hercules,\" said Proclus also in _Plat. Polit_., \"being purified by\nsacred initiations and enjoying undefiled fruits, obtained at length a\nperfect establishment among the gods\"; that is, freed from the bondage\nof matter ascending beyond the reach of its hands.\n\nPlutarch wrote:--\n\n\"To die is to be initiated into the great mysteries,... Our whole life\nis but a succession of errors, of painful wanderings, and of\nlong-journeys by tortuous ways, without outlet. At the moment of\nquitting it, fears, terrors, quiverings, mortal sweats, and a lethargic\nstupor come and overwhelm us; but, as soon as we are out of it, we pass\ninto delightful meadows, where the purest air is breathed, where sacred\nconcerts and discourses are heard; where, in short, one is impressed\nwith celestial visions. It is there that man, having become perfect\nthrough his new initiation, restored to liberty, really master of\nhimself, celebrates, crowned with myrtle, the most august mysteries,\nholds converse with just and pure souls, and sees with contempt the\nimpure multitude of the profane or uninitiated, ever plunged and sinking\nitself into the mire and in profound darkness.\"\n\nDogmatic instruction was not included in the Mysteries; the doctrine of\nthe immortality of the soul traces its origin to sources anterior to the\nrise of the Mysteries. At Eleusis the way was shown how to secure for\nthe soul after death the best possible fate. The miracle of\nregeneration, rather than the eternity of being, was taught.\n\nPlato introduces Socrates as saying: \"In my opinion those who\nestablished the Mysteries, whoever they were, were well skilled in human\nnature. For in these rites it was of old signified to the aspirants that\nthose who died without being initiated stuck fast in mire and filth; but\nthat he who was purified and initiated should, at his death, have his\nhabitation with the gods.\"\n\nPlato, again, in the seventh book of the _Republic_ says: \"He who is not\nable by the exercise of his reason to define the idea of the good,\nseparating it from all other objects and piercing as in a battle through\nevery kind of argument; endeavouring to confute, not according to\nopinion but according to evidence, and proceeding with all these\ndialectical exercises with an unshaken reason--he who cannot accomplish\nthis, would you not say that he neither knows the good itself, nor\nanything which is properly demonstrated good? And would you not assert\nthat such a one when he apprehended it rather through the medium of\nopinion than of science, that in the present life he is sunk in sleep\nand conversant with delusions and dreams; and that before he is roused\nto a vigilant state he will descend to Hades, and be overwhelmed with\nsleep perfectly profound?\"\n\nOlympiodorus, in his MS. Commentary on the Georgias of Plato, says of\nthe Elysian fields: \"It is necessary to know that the fortunate islands\nare said to be raised above the sea.... Hercules is reported to have\naccomplished his last labour in the Hesperian regions, signifying by\nthis that, having vanquished an obscure and terrestrial life, he\nafterwards lived in open day--that is, in truth and resplendent light.\nSo that he who in the present state vanquishes as much as possible a\ncorporeal life, through the exercise of the cathartic virtues, passes in\nreality into the fortunate islands of the soul, and lives surrounded\nwith the bright splendours of truth and wisdom proceeding from the sun\nof good.\"\n\nThe esoteric teaching was not, of course, grasped by all the initiates;\nthe majority merely recognized or grasped the exoteric doctrine of a\nfuture state of rewards and punishments. Virgil, in his description, in\nthe _\u00c6neid_, of the Mysteries, confines himself to the exoteric\nteaching. \u00c6neas, having passed over the Stygian lake, meets with the\nthree-headed Cerberus. By Cerberus must be understood the discriminative\npart of the soul, of which a dog, by reason of its sagacity, is an\nemblem. The three heads signify the intellective, dianoetic, and doxatic\npowers. \"He dragg'd the three-mouth'd dog to upper day\"--i.e. by\ntemperance, continence, and other virtues he drew upwards the various\npowers of the soul. The teaching of the Mysteries was not in opposition\nto the ordinary creed: it deepened it rather, revived it in a spiritual\nmanner and gave to religion a force and a power it had not hitherto\npossessed.\n\nThe fable of Persephone, as belonging to the Mysteries, was properly of\na mixed nature, composed of all four species of fable--theological,\nphysical, animistic, and material. According to the arcana of ancient\ntheology, the Coric order--i.e. that belonging to Persephone--is\ntwofold, one part supermundane and the other mundane.\n\nProclus says: \"According to the rumour of theologists, who delivered to\nus the most holy Eleusinian Mysteries, Persephone abides on high, in\nthose dwellings of her mother which she prepared for her in inaccessible\nplaces, exempt from the sensible world. But she likewise dwells with\nPluto, administering terrestrial concerns, governing the recesses of the\nearth and imparting soul to beings which are of themselves inanimate and\ndead.\"\n\nThe Orphic poet describes Persephone as \"the life and the death of\nmortals,\" and as being the mother of Eubuleus or Bacchus by an ineffable\nintercourse with Jupiter. Porphyry asserts that the wood pigeon was\nsacred to her and that she was the same as Maia, or the great mother,\nwho is usually claimed as the parent of the Arkite god Mercury.\n\nAccording to N\u00f6sselt the following may be taken as the meaning of the\nmyth of Demeter and her lost daughter: \"Persephone, the daughter of the\nall-productive earth (Demeter), is the seed. The earth rejoices at the\nsight of the plants and flowers, but they fade and wither, and the seed\ndisappears quickly from the face of the earth when it is strewn on the\nground. The dreaded monarch of the underworld has taken possession of\nit. In vain the mother searches for her child, the whole face of nature\nmourns her loss, and everything sorrows and grieves with her. But,\nsecretly and unseen, the seed develops itself in the lap of the earth,\nand at length it starts forth: what was dead is now alive; the earth,\nall decked with fresh green, rejoices at the recovery of her long-lost\ndaughter, and everything shares in the joy.\"\n\nDemeter was worshipped in a twofold sense by the Greeks, as the\nfoundress of agriculture and as goddess of law and order. They used to\ncelebrate yearly in her honour the Thesmorphoria, or Festival of Laws.\nAccording to some ancient writers the Greeks, prior to the time of\nDemeter and Triptolemus, fed upon the acorns of the ilex, or the\nevergreen oak. Acorns, according to Virgil, were the food in Epiros, and\nin Spain, according to Strabo. The Scythians made bread with acorns.\nAccording to another tradition, before Demeter's time, men neither\ncultivated corn nor tilled the ground, but roamed the mountains and\nwoods in search for the wild fruits which the earth produced. Isocrates\nwrote: \"Ceres hath made the Athenians two presents of the greatest\nconsequence: corn, which brought us out of a state of brutality; and the\nMysteries, which teach the initiated to entertain the most agreeable\nexpectations touching death and eternity.\" The coins of Eleusis\nrepresented Demeter in a car drawn by dragons or serpents which were\nsometimes winged. The goddess had two ears of corn in her right hand or,\nas some imagined, torches, indicating that she was searching for her\ndaughter. George Wheler, in his _Journey into Greece_, published in\n1682, says: \"We observed many large stones covered with wheat-ears and\nbundles of poppy bound together; these being the characters of Ceres.\"\nAt Copenhagen there is a statue representing Demeter holding poppies and\nears of corn in her left hand. On a coin of Lampsacus of the fourth\ncentury B.C., Persephone is described in the act of rising from the\nearth.\n\nAccording to Taylor, the Platonist, Demeter in the legend represents the\nevolution of that self-inspective part of our nature which we properly\ndetermine intellect, and Persephone that vital, self-moving, and animate\npart which we call soul. Pluto signifies the whole of our material\nnature, and, according to Pythagoras, the empire of this god commences\ndownwards from the Galaxy or Milky Way.\n\nSallust says that among the mundane divinities Ceres is the deity of the\nplanet Saturn. The cavern signifies the entrance into mundane life\naccomplished by the union of the soul with the terrestrial body.\nDemeter, who was afraid lest some violence be offered to Persephone on\naccount of her inimitable beauty, conveyed her privately to Sicily and\nconcealed her in a house built on purpose by the Cyclops, while she\nherself directed her course to the temple of Cybele, the mother of the\ngods. Here we see the first cause of the soul's descent, viz. her\ndesertion of a life wholly according to intellect, occultly signified by\nthe separation of Demeter and Persephone. Afterwards Jupiter instructed\nVenus to go and betray Persephone from her retirement, that Pluto might\nbe enabled to carry her away, and, to prevent any suspicion in the\nvirgin's mind, he commanded Diana and Pallas to bear her company. The\nthree goddesses on arrival found Persephone at work on a scarf for her\nmother, on which she had embroidered the primitive chaos and the\nformation of the world. Venus, says Taylor, is significant of desire,\nwhich, even in the celestial regions (for such is the residence of\nPersephone until she is ravished by Pluto), begins silently and\nfraudulently in the recesses of the soul. Minerva is symbolical of the\nrational power of the soul; and Diana represents nature, or the merely\nnatural and vegetable part of our composition, both ensnared through the\nallurements of desire.\n\nIn Ovid we have Narcissus, the metamorphosis of a youth who fell a\nvictim to love of his own corporeal form. The rape of Persephone,\naccording to the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, was the immediate consequence\nof her gathering this wonderful flower. By Narcissus falling in love\nwith his shadow in the limpid stream we behold the representation of a\nbeautiful soul, which, by prolonged gaze upon the material form, becomes\nenamoured of a corporeal life and changed into a being consisting wholly\nof the mere energies of nature. Plato, forcing his passage through the\nearth, seizes on Persephone and carries her away, despite the resistance\nof Minerva and Diana, who were forbidden by Jupiter to attempt her\ndeliverance after her abduction. This signifies that the lapse of the\nsoul into a material nature is contrary to the genuine wish and proper\ncondition. Pluto having hurried Persephone into the infernal regions,\nmarriage succeeds. That is to say, the soul having sunk into the\nprofoundities of a material nature, unites with the dark tenement of the\nmaterial body. Night is with great beauty and propriety introduced,\nstanding by the nuptial couch and confirming the oblivious league. That\nis to say, the soul, by union with a material body, becomes familiar\nwith darkness and subject to the empire of night, in consequence of\nwhich she dwells wholly with delusive phantoms and till she breaks her\nfetters is deprived of the perception of that which is real and true.\n\nThe nine days of the Festival are said to be significant of the descent\nof the soul. The soul, in falling from her original, divine abode in the\nheavens, passes through eight spheres, viz. the inerratic sphere and the\nseven planets, assuming a different body and employing different\nenergies in each, finally becoming connected with the sublunary world\nand a terrene body on the ninth. Demeter and the foundation of the art\nof tillage are said to signify the descent of intellect into the realms\nof generation, the greatest benefit and ornament which a material nature\nis capable of receiving. Without the possibility of the participation of\nintellect in the lower material sphere nothing but an irrational and a\nbrutal life would subsist.\n\nBut, according to some writers, the initiates into the third degree were\ntaught that the gods and goddesses were only dead mortals, subject while\nalive to the same passions and infirmities as themselves; and they were\ntaught to look upon the Supreme Cause, the Creator of the Universe, as\npervading all things by His virtue and governing all things by His\npower. Thus the meaning of _Mystes_ is given as \"one who sees things in\ndisguise,\" and that of _Epopt_ as \"one who sees things as they are,\nwithout disguise.\" The Epopt, after passing through the ceremonial of\nexaltation, was said to have received Autopsia, or complete vision.\nVirgil declared that the secret of the Mysteries was the Unity of the\nGodhead, and Plato owned it to be \"difficult to find the Creator of the\nUniverse, and, when found, impossible to discover Him to all the world.\"\nVarro, in his work _Of Religions_, says that \"there were many truths\nwhich it was inconvenient for the State to be generally known; and many\nthings which, though false, it was expedient the people should believe,\nand that, therefore, the Greeks shut up their Mysteries in the silence\nof their sacred enclosures.\" The Mysteries declared that the future life\nwas not the shadowy, weary existence which it had hitherto been supposed\nto be, but that through the rites of purification and sacrifices of a\nsacramental character man could secure a better hope for the future.\nThus the Eleusinian Mysteries became the chief agent in the conversion\nof the Greek world from the Homeric view of Hades to a more hopeful\nbelief as to man's state after death. Tully promulgated a law forbidding\nnocturnal sacrifices in which women were permitted to take part, but\nmade an express exception in favour of the Eleusinian Mysteries, giving\nas his reason: \"Athens hath produced many excellent, even divine\ninventions and applied them to the use of life, but she has given\nnothing better than those Mysteries by which we are drawn from an\nirrational and savage life and tamed, as it were, and broken to\nhumanity. They are truly called _Initia_, for they are indeed the\nbeginnings of a life of reason and virtue.\"\n\nSecrecy was enjoined because it was regarded as essential that the\nprofane should not be permitted to share the knowledge of the true\nnature of Demeter and Persephone, as if it were known that these\ngoddesses were only mortal women their worship would become\ncontemptible. Cicero says that it was the humanity of Demeter and\nPersephone, their places of interment, and several facts of a like\nnature that were concealed with so much care. Diagoras, the Melian, was\naccounted an atheist because he revealed the real secret of the\nEleusinian. Mysteries. The charge of atheism was the lot of any who\ncommunicated a knowledge of the one, only God. Pindar says, referring to\nthe Mysteries: \"Happy is he who has seen these things before leaving\nthis world: he realizes the beginning and the end of life, as ordained\nby Zeus\"; and Sophocles wrote: \"Oh, thrice blessed the mortals, who,\nhaving contemplated these Mysteries, have descended to Hades; for those\nonly will there be a future life of happiness--the others there will\nfind nothing but suffering.\"\n\n\n\n\nBIBLIOGRAPHY\n\n  Andocides. _De Mysteriis._\n  _Antiquities of Ionia._\n  Apollodorus.\n  Aristides.\n  Aristophanes.\n  Aristotle. _Nico. Ethics._\n  Arnobius. _Disputationes adversus Gentes._\n\n  Barthelemy. _Voyage du Jeune Anacharsis en Gr\u00e8ce._\n  _Blackwood's Magazine_, 1853.\n\n  Chandler. _Travels in Greece._\n  Cheetham, S. _Mysteries, Pagan and Christian._\n  Cicero.\n  Clement of Alexandria.\n  _Contemporary Review_,1880.\n  Cornutus. _Theologies Gr\u00e6ca Compendium._\n  _Corpus inscript. Attic._\n  _Corpus inscript. Gr._\n\n  d'Aliviella. _Eleusinia._\n  Decharme. _Mythologie de la Gr\u00e8ce antique._\n  Diodorus Siculus.\n  Dion Cassius.\n  Dodwell. _Tour._\n  Duncan. _Religions of Profane Antiquity._\n  Dyer. _The Gods in Greece._\n\n  _Encyclop\u00e6dia Britannica._\n  Eunapius. _Vita Maxim._\n  Eusebius. _Preparatio Evangelii._\n\n  Farnell. _Cults of the Greek States._\n  Firmicus Maternus. _De errore profanarum religionum._\n  Foucart. _Les myst\u00e8res d'Eleusis._\n  Frazer. _Golden Bough._\n\n  Gardner. _New Chapters in Greek History._\n  Gardner and Jevons. _Manual of Greek Antiquities._\n  Gibbon.\n  Gregory of Nazianzus.\n  Grote. _History of Greece._\n  Guerber, H.A. _Myths of Greece and Rome._\n\n  Harrison, J.E. _Prolegomena._\n  Hatch, Edwin. _Hibbert Lectures._\n  Herodianus.\n  Herodotus.\n  Hippolytus.\n  Horace.\n\n  International Folk Lore Congress, 1891. _Papers and Transactions._\n  Isocrates.\n\n  Lactantius.\n  Lang, Andrew. _Myth, Ritual, and Religion._\n    Ditto. _Translation of Homeric Hymns._\n  Lenormant, F. _Eleusis._\n  Libanius.\n  Livy.\n  Lobeck. _Aglaophamus._\n  Lucian. _Dialogues of the Dead._\n  Lysias. _Contra Andocidem._\n\n  Mahaffy, J.P. _Rambles and Studies in Greece._\n  Mannhardt, W. _Mythologische Forschungen._\n  Meursius.\n  Maury, A. _Les Religions de la Gr\u00e8ce._\n  Mommsen. _Feste der Stadt Athen in Altertum._\n    Ditto. _Heortologie._\n\n  N\u00f6sselt and Hall. _Mythology, Greek and Roman._\n\n  Olympiodorus.\n\n  Pater, Walter. _Greek Studies._\n  Paton, W.R. _The Holy Names of the Eleusinian Priests._\n  Pausanius. _Description of Greece._\n  Philios, Demetrius. _Eleusis, ses myst\u00e8res, ses ruines, et son mus\u00e9e._\n  Phlegon de Tralles. _Frag. hist. gr._\n  Pindar.\n  Plato.\n  Plethos.\n  Plotinus.\n  Plutarch.\n  Pollux.\n  Philostratus. _Appollonius of Tyana._\n  Porphyry.\n  Preller. _Demeter und Persephone._\n  Preller-Robert. _Griechische Mythologie._\n  Pringsheim. _Arch. Beitrage._\n  Proclus.\n\n  Reinach. _Cultes, mythes, et Religions._\n  _Revue de l'histoire des Religions._\n  _Revue de Philologie_, 1893.\n  _Revue des  \u00e9tudes grecques_,1906.\n  Rohde, E. _Psyche._\n\n  Saglio-Pottier. _Dictionnaire des Antiquit\u00e9s._\n  Sallustius.\n  Schomann. _Griechische Antherth\u00fcmer._\n  Sophocles.\n  Strabo.\n  Suetonius.\n  Suidas.\n\n  Taylor, T. _The Eleusinian and Bacchic Rites._\n    Ditto. _The Mystical Hymns of Orpheus._\n  Tertullian.\n  Themistius.\n  Theodoretus.\n\n  Varro. _Of Religions._\n  Virgil.\n  Voltaire.\n\n  Waechter. _Reinheitsvorschriften._\n  Welcker, F.G. _Griechische G\u00f6tterlehre._\n  Wheler. _Journey into Greece._\n\n  Xenophon.\n\n<pre id=\"pg-footer\">","title":"The Eleusinian Mysteries and Rites","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":22722}