TRIPTOLEMOS, THE HERO OF ELEUSIS, AND DEMETER, THE EARTH-MOTHER
Twelve miles to the west of Athens is a beautiful hill which ends
abruptly close to the sea. It is the acropolis or highest point of
Eleusis and is covered with splendid blocks of marble, the ruins of
wonderful temples which stood there in ancient times. The greatest of
these temples was called The Temple of the Mysteries. Demeter, the
Earth-Mother, was worshipped there.
The principal road leading to the acropolis of Eleusis begins at the
acropolis at Athens and is called The Sacred Way. Over this road,
thousands of years ago, went the stately processions of loose-robed
Greeks, their beautiful garments fluttering in the winds. Their heavy
chariot-wheels left deep prints in the rocks, and there they are at
the present time. There are ruins of temples to the gods along The
Sacred Way, and the little lambs and kids skip playfully about among
them.
A narrow pass between the hills admits you into a flowery meadow. It
was here that Persephone played when a child. There are two salt
lakes in the plain in which only priests were allowed to fish in the
olden times. There, too, is a well where you stop for a cup of water
as people have done through the long ages.
The plain of Eleusis is separated from Attica by a range of low hills
clad with fields of wheat and barley. At the foot of the acropolis is
the sickly little village of Eleusis, but the Island of Salamis rises
across the blue waters of the bay like a fairyland shining through a
delicate atmosphere of violet tint. This was the kingdom of Keleos and
his son Triptolemos, the Hero of Agriculture, and it was the scene of
the story of Demeter and Persephone, the story which brings us to the
Hero of Eleusis.
It is said that Kronos and Rhea were the father and mother of the
greatest of the gods, Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades or (Pluto) and their
sister Demeter, the mother of fertility. Though men might plough the
fields and the rain moisten the swelling seed-grains, it was Demeter
who gave the vital touch which caused the new life to spring up.
Demeter had one beloved daughter, Persephone, on whom she bestowed all
the tenderness of her divine mother-heart. One day Persephone went out
into the blooming meadows to play with her companions. The fields
were gay with roses, violets, and lilies. The yellow crocus, the
asphodel, and the purple and pink narcissus made bank and by-path seem
like a soft carpet and filled the air with sweet fragrance.
Persephone stooped to pluck a flower of unusual beauty, when the earth
suddenly opened and Hades appeared with a splendid chariot drawn by
fiery black horses. He seized Persephone, and placing her on his
chariot, drove away to his kingdom under the earth. Persephone uttered
piercing cries, praying to the gods and imploring men to come to her
rescue. But all in vain. Zeus looked on with approval, for he knew
that his good brother ought not to be condemned to reign alone in the
dread realms of darkness.
Now there was a goddess of the night, a torch-bearer who lived in a
dark cave. Her name was Hekate and she knew the secrets of lonely
forests and cross-roads and the gloomy underground world. She heard
the shrieks of the maiden when Hades seized her; and Helios, too, the
sun-god who sees everything, saw him bear her away.
The mother, Demeter, also, heard the cries of her daughter, and an
unspeakable grief took possession of her. She wandered from place to
place, taking neither food nor sleep, beseeching everyone to tell her
where she could find her child. But no one could give her any
information. She yoked her winged snakes to her car and drove with
lighted torch through every country. Wherever she went she was
received gladly by the people, for she stopped to teach them something
of agriculture and left her blessing with them when she departed.