THE ELEUSINIAN MYSTERIES AND RITES
By
DUDLEY WRIGHT
INTRODUCTION BY THE REV. J. FORT NEWTON, D.Litt., D.D.
_Past Grand Chaplain of the Grand Lodge of Iowa, U.S.A._
THE THEOSOPHICAL PUBLISHING HOUSE
LONDON--DENVER
1919
[Illustration]
_Reproduced by permission of the Encyclopædia Britannica._
PLAN OF THE SACRED BUILDINGS OF ELEUSIS.
1. Temple of Artemis Propylæa.
2. Outer Propylæon.
3. Inner Propylæon.
4. Temple of Demeter.
5. Outer Enclosure of the Sacred Buildings.
6. Inner Enclosure.
PREFACE
At one time the Mysteries of the various nations were the only vehicle
of religion throughout the world, and it is not impossible that the very
name of religion might have become obsolete but for the support of the
periodical celebrations which preserved all the forms and ceremonials,
rites and practices of sacred worship.
With regard to the connection, supposed or real, between Freemasonry and
the Mysteries, it is a remarkable coincidence that there is scarcely a
single ceremony in the former that has not its corresponding rite in one
or other of the Ancient Mysteries. The question as to which is the
original is an important one to the student. The Masonic antiquarian
maintains that Freemasonry is not a scion snatched with a violent hand
from the Mysteries--whether Pythagorean, Hermetic, Samothracian,
Eleusinian, Drusian, Druidical, or the like--but is the original
institution, from which all the Mysteries were derived. In the opinion
of the renowned Dr. George Oliver: "There is ample testimony to
establish the fact that the Mysteries of all nations were originally the
same, and diversified only by the accidental circumstances of local
situation and political economy." The original foundation of the
Mysteries has, however, never been established. Herodotus ascribed the
institution of the Eleusinian Mysteries to Egyptian influences, while
Pococke declares them to have been of Tartar origin, and to have
combined Brahmanical and Buddhistic ideas. Others are equally of opinion
that their origin must be sought for in Persia, while at least one
writer--and who, in these days, will declare the theory to be
fanciful?--ventures the opinion that it is not improbable that they were
practised among the Atlanteans.
The Eleusinian Mysteries--those rites of ancient Greece, and later of
Rome, of which there is historical evidence dating back to the seventh
century before the Christian era--bear a very striking resemblance in
many points to the rituals of both Operative and Speculative
Freemasonry. As to their origin, beyond the legendary account put forth,
there is no trace. In the opinion of some writers of repute an Egyptian
source is attributed to them, but of this there is no positive evidence.
There is a legend that St. John the Evangelist--a character honoured and
revered by Freemasons--was an initiate of these Mysteries. Certainly,
more than one of the early Fathers of the Christian Church boasted of
his initiation into these Rites. The fact that this is the first time
that an attempt has been made to give a detailed exposition of the
ceremonial and its meaning in the English language will, it is hoped,
render the articles of interest and utility to students of Masonic lore.
As to the influence of the Mysteries upon Christianity, it will be seen
that in more than one instance the Christian ritual bears a very close
resemblance to the solemn rites of the Latin and Greek Mysteries.
The Bibliography at the end does not claim to be exhaustive, but it will
be found to contain the principal sources of our knowledge of the
Eleusinian Mysteries.
DUDLEY WRIGHT.
OXFORD.
CONTENTS
PREFACE
INTRODUCTION
I. THE ELEUSINIAN LEGEND.
II. THE RITUAL OF THE MYSTERIES
III. PROGRAMME OF THE GREATER MYSTERIES
IV. THE INITIATORY RITES
V. THEIR MYSTICAL SIGNIFICANCE
BIBLIOGRAPHY.
INTRODUCTION BY THE REV. J. FORT NEWTON, D.LITT., D.D.,
_Past Grand Chaplain of the Grand Lodge of Iowa._
Few aspects of the history of the human spirit are more fascinating than
the story of the Mysteries of antiquity, one chapter of which is told in
the following pages with accuracy, insight, and charm. Like all human
institutions, they had their foundation in a real need, to which they
ministered by dramatizing the faiths and hopes and longings of humanity,
and evoking that eternal mysticism which is at once the joy and solace
of man as he marches or creeps or crowds through the welter of doubts,
dangers, disease, and death, which we call our life.
Once the sway of the Mysteries was well-nigh universal, but towards the
end of their power they fell into the mire and became corrupt, as all
things human are apt to do, the Church itself being no exception. Yet at
their best and highest they were not only lofty and noble, but elevating
and refining, and that they served a high purpose is equally clear, else
they had not won the eulogiums of the most enlightened men of antiquity.
From Pythagoras to Plutarch the teachers of old bear witness to the
service of the Mysteries, and Cicero testified that what a man learned
in the house of the Hidden Place made him want to live nobly, and gave
him happy thoughts for the hour of death.
The Mysteries, said Plato, were established by men of great genius, who,
in the early ages, strove to teach purity, to ameliorate the cruelty of
the race, to exalt its morals and refine its manners, and to restrain
society by stronger bonds than those which human laws impose. Such being
their purpose, he who gives a thought to the life of man at large will
enter their vanished sanctuaries with sympathy; and if no mystery any
longer attaches to what they taught--least of all to their ancient
allegory of immortality--there is the abiding interest in the rites,
drama, and symbols employed in the teaching of wise and good and
beautiful truth.
What influence the Mysteries had on the new, uprising Christianity is
hard to know, and the issue is still in debate. That they did influence
the early Church is evident from the writings of the Fathers--more than
one of whom boasted of initiation--and some go so far as to say that the
Mysteries died at last, only to live again in the ritual of the Church.
St. Paul in his missionary journeys came in contact with the Mysteries,
and even makes use of some of their technical terms in his Epistles, the
better to show that what they sought to teach by drama can be known only
by spiritual experience. No doubt his insight is sound, but surely drama
may assist to that realization, else public worship might also come
under ban.
Of the Eleusinian Mysteries in particular, we have long needed such a
study as is here offered, in which the author not only sums up in an
attractive manner what is known, but adds to our knowledge some
important details. An Egyptian source has been attributed to the
Mysteries of Greece, but there is little evidence of it, save as we may
conjecture it to have been so, remembering the influence of Egypt upon
Greece. Such influences are difficult to trace, and it is safer to say
that the idea and use of Initiation--as old as the Men's House of
primitive society--was universal, and took different forms in different
lands.
Such a study has more than an antiquarian interest, not only to students
in general, but especially to the men of the gentle Craft of
Freemasonry. If we may not say that Freemasonry is historically
descended from the instituted Mysteries of antiquity, it does
perpetuate, to some extent, their ministry among us. At least, the
resemblance between those ancient rites arid the ceremonials of both
Operative and Speculative Freemasonry are very striking; and the present
study must be reckoned as not the least of the services of its author to
that gracious Craft.
THE CITY TEMPLE, LONDON, E.C.
The Eleusinian Mysteries and Rites
I
THE ELEUSINIAN LEGEND
The legend which formed the basis of the Mysteries of Eleusis, presence
at and participation in which demanded an elaborate form or ceremony of
initiation, was as follows:--
Persephone (sometimes described as Proserpine and as Cora or Kore), when
gathering flowers, was abducted by Pluto, the god of Hades, and carried
off by him to his gloomy abode; Zeus, the brother of Pluto and the
father of Persephone, giving his consent. Demeter (or Ceres), her
mother, arrived too late to assist her child, or even catch a glimpse of
her seducer, and neither god nor man was able, or willing, to enlighten
her as to the whereabouts of Persephone or who had carried her away. For
nine nights and days she wandered, torch in hand, in quest of her child.
Eventually, however, she heard from Helios (the sun) the name of the
seducer and his accomplice. Incensed at Zeus, she left Olympos and the
gods, and came down to scour the earth disguised as an old woman.
In the course of her wanderings she arrived at Eleusis, where she was
honourably entertained by Keleos, the ruler of the country, with whom,
and his wife Metanira, she consented to remain in order to watch over
the education of Demophon, who had just been born to the aged king and
whom she undertook to make immortal.
Long was thy anxious search
For lovely Proserpine, nor didst thou break
Thy mournful fast, till the far-fam'd Eleusis
Received thee wandering.
_Orphic Hymn._
The city of Eleusis is said to derive its name from the hero Eleusis, a
fabulous personage deemed by some to have been the offspring of Mercury
and Daira, daughter of Oceanus, while by others he was claimed as the
son of Oxyges.
Unknown to the parents Demeter used to anoint Demophon by day with
ambrosia, and hide him by night in the fire like a firebrand. Detected
one night by Metanira, she was compelled to reveal herself as Demeter,
the goddess. Whereupon she directed the Eleusinians to erect a temple as
a peace-offering, and, this being done, she promised to initiate them
into the form of worship which would obtain for them her goodwill and
favour. "It is I, Demeter, full of glory, who lightens and gladdens the
hearts of gods and men. Hasten ye, my people, to raise, hard by the
citadel, below the ramparts, a fane, and on the eminence of the hill, an
altar, above the wall of Callichorum. I will instruct you in the rites
which shall be observed and which are pleasing to me."
The temple was erected, but Demeter was still vowing vengeance against
gods and men, and because of the continued loss of her daughter she
rendered the earth sterile during a whole year.
What ails her that she comes not home?
Demeter seeks her far and wide;
And gloomy-browed doth ceaseless roam
From many a morn till eventide.
"My life, immortal though it be,
Is naught!" she cries, "for want of thee,
Persephone--Persephone!"
The oxen drew the plough, but in vain was the seed sown in the prepared
ground. Mankind was threatened with utter annihilation, and all the gods
were deprived of sacrifices and offerings. Zeus endeavoured to appease
the anger of the gods, but in vain. Finally he summoned Hermes to go to
Pluto and order him to restore Persephone to her mother. Pluto yielded,
but before Persephone left she took from the hand of Pluto four
pomegranate pips which he offered her as sustenance on her journey.
Persephone, returning from the land of shadows, found her mother in the
temple at Eleusis which had recently been erected. Her first question
was whether her daughter had eaten anything in the land of her
imprisonment, because her unconditional return to earth and Olympos
depended upon that. Persephone informed her mother that all she had
eaten was the pomegranate pips, in consequence of which Pluto demanded
that Persephone should sojourn with him for four months during each
year, or one month for each pip taken. Demeter had no option but to
consent to this arrangement, which meant that she would enjoy the
company of Persephone for eight months in every year, and that the
remaining four would be spent by Persephone with Pluto. Demeter caused
to awaken anew "the fruits of the fertile plains," and the whole earth
was re-clothed with leaves and flowers. Demeter called together the
princes of Eleusis--Triptolemus, Diocles, Eumolpus, Polyxenos, and
Keleos--and initiated them "into the sacred rites--most venerable--into
which no one is allowed to make enquiries or to divulge; a solemn
warning from the gods seals our mouths."
Although secrecy on the subject of the nature of the stately Mysteries
is strictly enjoined, the writer of the Homeric Hymn to Demeter makes no
secret of the happiness which belonged to all who became initiates:
"Happy is he who has been received unfortunate he who has never received
the initiation nor taken part in the sacred ordinances, and who cannot,
alas! be destined to the same lot reserved for the faithful in the
darkling abode."
The earliest mention of the Temple of Demeter at Eleusis occurs in the
Homeric Hymn to Demeter, which has already been mentioned. This was not
written by Homer, but by some poet versed in Homeric lore, and its
probable date is about 600 B.C. It was discovered a little over a
hundred years ago in an old monastery library at Moscow, and now reposes
in a museum at Leyden.
In this Homeric Hymn to Demeter, Persephone gives her own version of the
incident as follows: "We were all playing in the lovely
meadows--Leucippe, and Phaino, and Electra, and Ianthe, and Melitê, and
Iachê and Rhodeia, and Callinhoe, and Melobosis, and Ianeira, and
Acastê, and Admetê, and Rhodope, and Plouto, and winsome Calypso, and
Styx, and Urania, and beautiful Galaxamê. We were playing there and
plucking beautiful blossoms with our hands; crocuses mingled, and iris,
and hyacinth, and roses, and lilies, a marvel to behold, and narcissus,
that the wide earth bare, a wile for my undoing. Gladly was I gathering
them when the earth gaped beneath, and therefrom leaped the mighty
prince, the host of many guests, and he bare me against my will, despite
my grief, beneath the earth, in his golden chariot; and shrilly did I
cry."
The version of the legend given by Minucius Felix is as follows:
"Proserpine, the daughter of Ceres by Jupiter, as she was gathering
tender flowers in the new spring, was ravished from her delightful abode
by Pluto; and, being carried from thence through thick woods and over a
length of sea, was brought by Pluto into a cavern, the residence of
departed spirits, over whom she afterwards ruled with absolute sway. But
Ceres, upon discovering the loss of her daughter, with lighted torches
and begirt with a serpent, wandered over the whole earth for the purpose
of finding her, till she came to Eleusis; there she found her daughter,
and discovered to the Eleusinians the plantation of corn."
According to another version of the legend, Neptune met Ceres when she
was in quest of her daughter, and fell in love with her. The goddess, in
order to escape from his attentions, concealed herself under the form of
a mare, when the god of the sea transformed himself into a horse to
seduce her, with which act she was so highly offended that after having
washed herself in a river and reassumed human form, she took refuge in a
cave, where she lay concealed. When famine and pestilence began to
ravage the earth, the gods made search for her everywhere, but could not
find her until Pan discovered her and apprised Jupiter of her
whereabouts. This cave was in Sicily, in which country Ceres was known
as the black Ceres, or the Erinnys, because the outrages offered her by
Neptune turned her frantic and furious. Demeter was depicted in Sicily
as clad in black, with a horse's head, holding a pigeon in one hand and
a dolphin in the other.
On the submission of Eleusis to Athens, the Mysteries became an integral
part of the Athenian religion, so that the Eleusinian Mysteries became a
Panhellenic institution, and later, under the Romans, a universal
worship, but the secret rites of initiation were well kept throughout
their history.
Eleusis was one of the twelve originally independent cities of Attica,
which Theseus is said to have united into a simple state. Leusina now
occupies the site, and has thus preserved the name of the ancient city.
Theseus is portrayed by Virgil as suffering eternal punishment in Hades,
but Proclus writes concerning him as follows: "Theseus, and Pirithous
are fabled to have ravished Helen, and to have descended to the infernal
regions--i.e. they were lovers of intelligible and visible beauty.
Afterwards Theseus was liberated by Pericles from Hades, but Pirithous
remained there because he could not sustain the arduous attitude of
divine contemplation."
Dr. Warburton, in his _Divine Legation of Moses,_ gives it as his
opinion that Theseus was a living character who once forced his way into
the Eleusinian Mysteries, for which crime he was imprisoned on earth and
afterwards damned in the infernal regions.
The Eleusinian Mysteries seem to have constituted the most vital portion
of the Attic religion, and always to have retained something of awe and
solemnity. They were not known outside Attica until the time of the
Median wars, when they spread to the Greek colonies in Asia as part of
the constitution of the daughter states, where the cult seems to have
exercised a considerable influence both on the populace and on the
philosophers. Outside Eleusis the Mysteries were not celebrated so
frequently nor on so magnificent a scale. At Celeas, where they were
celebrated every fourth year, a hierophant, who was not bound by the law
of celibacy, as at Eleusis, was elected by the people for each
celebration. Pausanias is the authority for a statement by the
Phliasians that they imitated the Eleusinian Mysteries. They maintained,
however, that their rendering was instituted by Dysaules, brother of
Celeus, who went to their country after he had been expelled from
Eleusis by Ion, the son of Xuthus, at the time when Ion was chosen
commander-in-chief of the Athenians in the war against Eleusis.
Pausanias disputed that any Eleusinian was defeated in battle and forced
into exile, maintaining that peace was concluded between the Athenians
and the Eleusinians before the war was fought out, even Eumolpus himself
being permitted to remain in Eleusis. Pausanias, also, while admitting
that Dysaules might have gone to Phlias for some cause other than that
admitted by the Phliasians, questioned whether Dysaules was related to
Celeus, or, indeed, to any illustrious Eleusinian family. The name of
Dysaules does not occur in the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, where are
enumerated all who were taught the ritual of the Mysteries by the
goddess, though that of Celeus is mentioned:--
She showed to Triptolemus and Diocles, smiter of horses
And mighty Eumolpus and Celeus, leader of people,
The way of performing the sacred rites and explained
to all of them the orgies.
Nevertheless, according to the Phliasians, it was Dysaules who
instituted the Mysteries among them.
The Pheneatians also had a sanctuary dedicated to Demeter, which they
called Eleusinian, and in which they celebrated the Mysteries in honour
of the goddess. They had a legend that Demeter went thither in her
wanderings, and that, out of gratitude to the Pheneatians for the
hospitality they showed her, she gave them all the different kinds of
pulse, except beans. Two Pheneatians--Trisaules and Damithales--built a
temple to Demeter Thesuria, the goddess of laws, under Mount Cyllene,
where were instituted the Mysteries in her honour which were celebrated
until a late period, and which were said to be introduced there by Naus,
a grandson of Eumolpus.
"Much that is excellent and divine," wrote Cicero, "does Athens seem to
me to have produced and added to our life, but nothing better than those
Mysteries by which we are formed and moulded from a rude and savage
state of humanity; and, indeed, in the Mysteries we perceive the real
principles of life, and learn not only to live happily, but to die with
a fairer hope." Every manner of writer--religious poet, worldly poet,
sceptical philosopher, orator--all are of one mind about this, that the
Mysteries were far and away the greatest of all the religious festivals
of Greece.
II
THE RITUAL OF THE MYSTERIES
The Eleusinian Mysteries, observed by nearly all Greeks, but
particularly by the Athenians, were celebrated yearly at Eleusis, though
in the earlier annals of their history they were celebrated once in
every three years only, and once in every four years by the Celeans,
Cretans, Parrhasians, Pheneteans, Phliasians, and Spartans. It was the
most celebrated of all the religious ceremonies of Greece at any period
of the country's history, and was regarded as of such importance that
the Festival is referred to frequently simply as "The Mysteries." The
rites were guarded most jealously and carefully concealed from the
uninitiated. If any person divulged any part of them he was regarded as
having offended against the divine law, and by the act he rendered
himself liable to divine vengeance. It was accounted unsafe to abide in
the same house with him, and as soon as his offence was made public he
was apprehended. Similarly, drastic punishment was meted out to any
person not initiated into the Mysteries who chanced to be present at
their celebration, even through ignorance or genuine error.
The Mysteries were divided into two parts--the Lesser Mysteries and the
Greater Mysteries. The Lesser Mysteries were said to have been
instituted when Hercules, Castor, and Pollux expressed a desire to be
initiated, they happening to be in Athens at the time of the celebration
of the Mysteries by the Athenians in accordance with the ordinance of
Demeter. Not being Athenians, they were ineligible for the honour of
initiation, but the difficulty was overcome by Eumolpus, who was
desirous of including in the ranks of the initiated a man of such power
and eminence as Hercules, foreigner though he might be. The three were
first made citizens, and then as a preliminary to the initiation
ceremony as prescribed by the goddess, Eumolpus instituted the Lesser
Mysteries, which then and afterwards became a ceremony preliminary to
the Greater Mysteries, as they then became known, for candidates of
alien birth. In later times this Lesser Festival, celebrated in the
month of Anthesterion at the beginning of spring, at Agra, became a
general preparation for the Greater Festival, and no persons were
initiated into the Greater Mysteries until they had first been initiated
into the Lesser.
With regard to Hercules, there is a legend that on a certain time
Hercules wished to become a member of one of the secret societies of
antiquity. He accordingly presented himself and applied in due form for
initiation. His case was referred to a council of wise and virtuous men,
who objected to his admission on account of some crimes which he had
committed. Consequently he was rejected. Their words to him were: "You
are forbidden to enter here; your heart is cruel, your hands are stained
with crime. Go! repair the wrong you have done; repent of your evil
doings, and then come with pure heart and clean hands, and the doors of
our Mysteries shall be opened to you." The legend goes on to say that
after his regeneration he returned and became a worthy member of the
Order.
The ceremonies of the Lesser Mysteries were entirely different from
those of the Greater Mysteries. The Lesser Mysteries represented the
return of Persephone to earth--which, of course, took place at Eleusis;
and the Greater Mysteries represented her descent to the infernal
regions. The Lesser Mysteries honoured the daughter more than the
mother, who was the principal figure in the greater Mysteries. In the
Lesser Mysteries, Persephone was known as Pherrephatta, and in the
Greater Mysteries she was given the name of Kore. Everything was, in
fact, a mystery, and nothing was called by its right name. Lenormant
says that it is certain that the initiated of the Lesser Mysteries
carried away from Agra a certain store of religious knowledge which
enabled them to understand the symbols and representations which were
displayed afterwards before their eyes at the Greater Mysteries at
Eleusis.
The object of the Lesser Mysteries was to signify occultly the condition
of the impure soul invested with a terrene body and merged in a material
nature. The Greater Mysteries taught that he who, in the present life,
is in subjection to his irrational part, is truly in Hades. If Hades,
then, is the region of punishment and misery, the purified soul must
reside in the region of bliss, theoretically, in the present life, and
according to a deific energy in the next. They intimated by gorgeous
mystic visions the felicity of the soul, both here and hereafter, when
purified from the defilements of a material nature and consequently
elevated to the realities of intellectual vision.
The Mysteries were supposed to represent in a kind of moral drama the
rise and establishment of civil society, the doctrine of a state of
future rewards and punishments, the errors of polytheism, and the Unity
of the Godhead, which last article was afterwards demonstrated to be
their famous secret. The ritual was produced from the sanctuary. It was
enveloped in symbolical figures of animals which suggested a
correspondence which was utterly inexplicable to the uninitiated.
K.O. Müller, in his _History of the Literature of Ancient Greece_,
says:--
"All the Greek religious poetry treating of death and the world beyond
the grave refers to the deities whose influence was supposed to be
exercised in this dark region at the centre of the earth, and were
thought to have little connection with the political and social
relations of human life. These deities formed a class apart from the
gods of Olympus and were comprehended under the name of the Chthenian
gods (gods of the underworld). The mysteries of the Greeks were
connected with the worship of those gods alone. That a love of
immortality first found a support in a belief in these deities appears
from the fable of Persephone, the daughter of Demeter. Every year at the
time of harvest, Persephone was supposed to be carried from the world
above to the dark dominions of the invisible King of Shadows, and to
return every spring in youthful beauty to the arms of her mother. It was
thus that the ancient Greeks described the disappearance and return of
vegetable life in the alternations of the seasons. The changes of
Nature, however, must have been considerable in typifying the changes in
the lot of man; otherwise Persephone would have been merely a symbol of
the seed committed to the ground and would not have become queen of the
dead. But when the goddess of inanimate nature had become queen of the
dead, it was a natural analogy, which must have early suggested itself,
that the return of Persephone to the world of light also denoted a
renovation of life and a new birth in man. Hence the Mysteries of
Demeter, and especially those celebrated at Eleusis, inspired the most
elevated and animating hopes with regard to the condition of the soul
after death."
No one was permitted to attend the Mysteries who had incurred the
sentence of capital punishment for treason or conspiracy, but all other
exiles were permitted to be present and were not molested in any way
during the whole period of the Festival. No one could be arrested for
debt during the holding of the Festival.
Scarcely anything is known of the programme observed during the course
of the Lesser Mysteries. They were celebrated on the 19th to 21st of the
month Anthesterion, and, like the Greater Mysteries, were preceded and
followed by a truce on the part of all engaged in warfare. The same
officials presided at both celebrations. The Lesser Mysteries opened
with a sacrifice to Demeter and Persephone, a portion of the victims
offered being reserved for the members of the sacred families of
Eumolpus and Keryce. The main object of the Lesser Mysteries was to put
the candidates for initiation in a condition of ritual purification,
and, according to Clement of Alexandria, they included certain
instructions and preparations for the Greater Mysteries. Like the
Eleusinian Mysteries, properly so called, they included dramatic
representations of the rape of Persephone and the wanderings of Demeter;
in addition, according to Stephen Byzantium, to certain Dionysian
representations.
Two months before the full moon of the month of Boedromion,
sphondophoroi or heralds, selected from the priestly families of the
Eumolpides and Keryces, went forth to announce the forthcoming
celebration of the Greater Mysteries, and to claim an armistice on the
part of all who might be waging war. The truce commenced on the 15th of
the month preceding the celebration of the Mysteries and lasted until
the 10th day of the month following the celebration. In order to be
valid the truce had to be proclaimed in and accepted by each Hellenic
city.
All arrangements for the proper celebration of the Mysteries, both
Lesser and Greater, were in the hands of the families of Eumolpides and
Keryces. These were ancient Eleusinian families, whose origin was traced
back to the time when Eleusis was independent of Athens, and the former
family survived as a priestly caste down to the latest period of
Athenian history. Its member possessed the hereditary and the sole right
to the secrets of the Mysteries. Hence the recognition by the State of
the exclusive right and privilege of these families to direct the
initiations and to provide each a half of the religious staff of the
temple. The Eumolpides held so eminent a place in the Mysteries that
Cicero mentions them alone, to the exclusion of the Keryces.
Pausanias relates that, following a war between the Eleusinians and the
Athenians, when Erectheus, King of Athens, conquered Immaradus, son of
Eumolpus, the subdued Eleusinians, in making their submission,
stipulated that they should remain custodians of the Mysteries, but in
all other respects were to be subject to the Athenians. This tradition
is disputed by more modern writers, but it was accepted by the Athenians
and acted upon generally, and the right of the two families solely to
prepare candidates for initiation was recognized by a decree of the
fifth century B.C., the privilege being confirmed afterwards at a
convention between the representatives of Eleusis and Athens. The
Eumolpides were the descendants of a mythical ancestor, Eumolpus, son of
Neptune, who is first mentioned in the time of Pisastrus. On the death
of Eumolpus according to one legend, Ceryx, the younger of the sons, was
left. But the Keryces claimed that Ceryx was a son of Hermes by Aglamus,
daughter of Cecrops, and that he was not a son of Eumolpus.
The members of the family of Eumolpides had the first claim upon the
flesh of the sacrificed animals, but they were permitted to give a
portion to any one else as a reward or recompense for services rendered.
But when a sacrifice was offered to any of the infernal divinities, the
whole of it had to be consumed by the fire. Nothing must be left. All
religious problems relating to the Mysteries which could not be solved
by the known laws were addressed to the Eumolpides, whose decision was
final.
The meaning of the name "Eumolpus" is "a good singer," and great
importance was attached to the quality of the voice in the selection of
the hierophant, the chief officiant at the celebration of the Mysteries
and at the ceremony of initiation, and who was selected from the family
of the Eumolpides. It was essential that the formulæ disclosed to the
initiates at Eleusis should be pronounced with the proper intonation,
for otherwise the words would have no efficacy. Correct intonation was
of far greater importance than syllabic pronunciation.
An explanation of this is given by Maspero, who says: "The human voice
is pre-eminently a magical instrument, without which none of the highest
operations of art can be successful: each of its utterances is carried
into the region of the invisible and there releases forces of which the
general run of people have no idea, either as to their existence or
their manifold action. Without doubt, the real value of an evocation
lies in its text, or the sequence of the words of which it is composed,
and the tone in which it is enunciated. In order to be efficacious, the
conjuration should be accompanied by chanting, either an incantation or
a song. In order to produce the desired effect the sacramental melody
must be chanted without the variation of a single modulation: one false
note, one mistake in the measure, the introversion of any two of the
sounds of which it is composed, and the intended effect is annulled.
This is the reason why all who recite a prayer or formula intended to
force the gods to perform certain acts must be of true voice. The result
of their effort, whether successful or unsuccessful, will depend upon
the exactness of their voice. It was the voice, therefore, which played
the most important part in the oblation, in the prayer of definite
request, and in the evocation--in a word, in every instance where man
sought to seize hold of the god."
Apart from a "true voice" the words were merely dead sounds. The
character of the voice plays an important part in many religions. The
Vedas contain in them many invocations and hymns which no uninitiated
Brahman can recite: it is only the initiate who knows their true
properties and how to put them into use. Some of the hymns of the
_Rig-Veda_, when anagrammatically arranged, will yield all the secret
invocations which were used for magical purposes in the Brahmanical
ceremonies. Some Parsees pay much attention to what is called _dzád dwá_
or "free voice." It is recorded in Moslem tradition that a revelation
came to the venerated Arabian prophet resembling "the tone of a bell."
The effects which low, monotonous chanting produce on nervous people and
children are well known. Even animals and serpents are amenable to the
influence of sound.
The hierophant was a revealer of holy things. He was a citizen of
Athens, a man of mature age, and held his office for life, devoting
himself wholly to the service of the temple and living a chaste life, to
which end it was usual for him to anoint himself with the juice of
hemlock, which, by its extreme coldness, was said to extinguish in a
great measure the natural heat. In the opinion of some writers celibacy
was an indispensable condition of the highest branch of the priesthood;
but, according to inscriptions which have been discovered, some at any
rate of the hierophants were married, so that, in all probability, the
rule was that during the celebration of the Mysteries and, probably, for
a certain time before and after, it was incumbent on the hierophant to
abstain from all sexual intercourse. Foucart is of opinion that celibacy
was demanded only during the celebration of the Mysteries, although
Pausanias states definitely otherwise. In support of Foucart it may be
stated that among the inscriptions discovered at Eleusis there is one
dedicating a statue to a hierophant by his wife. It was essential that
the hierophant should be a man of commanding presence and lead a simple
life. On being raised to the dignity he received a kind of consecration
at a special ceremony, at which only those of his own rank were
permitted to be present, when he was entrusted with certain secrets
pertaining to his high office. Prior to this ceremony he went through a
special purificatory rite, immersing himself in the sea, an act to which
the Greeks attributed great virtue. He had to be exemplary in his moral
conduct, and was regarded by the people as being particularly holy. The
qualifications of a hierophant were so high that the office could not be
regarded as hereditary, for it would have been an exception to find both
father and son in possession of the many various and high qualifications
regarded as essential to the holding of the office. The robe of the
hierophant was a long purple garment; his hair, crowned with a wreath of
myrtle, flowed in long locks over his shoulders, and a diadem ornamented
his forehead. At the celebration of the Mysteries he was held to
represent the Creator of the world. He alone was permitted to penetrate
into the innermost shrine in the Hall of the Mysteries--the holy of
holies, as it were--and then only once during the celebration of the
Mysteries, when, at the most solemn moment of the whole mystic
celebration, his form appeared suddenly to be transfigured with light
before the rapt gaze of the initiated. He alone was permitted to reveal
to the fully initiated the mystic objects, the sight of which marked the
completion of their admission into the community. He had the power of
refusing admission to those applicants whom he deemed unfit to be
entrusted with the secrets. He was not inactive during the intervals
between the celebrations of the Mysteries. It was his duty to
superintend the instruction of the candidates for initiation, who for
that purpose were divided into groups and instructed by officials known
as mystagogues. The personal name of the hierophant was never mentioned.
It was supposed to be unknown, "wafted away into the sea by the mystic
law," and he was known only by the title of the office which he bore.
An interesting inscription was found some years ago at Eleusis, engraved
on the base of a statue erected to a hierophant: "Ask not my name; the
mystic rule (or packet) has carried it away into the blue sea. But when
I reach the fated day, and go to the abode of the blest, then all who
care for me will pronounce it." One of his sons had written below this
inscription, after the death of the hierophant: "Now we, his children,
reveal the name of the best of fathers, which, when alive, he hid in the
depths of the sea. This is the famous Apollonius." There is extant an
epigram by a female hierophant, which runs: "Let my name remain
unspoken: on being shut off from the world when the sons of Cecrops made
me hierophantide to Demeter, I myself hid it in the vasty depths."
Eunapius, in _Vita Maxim_, says: "I may not tell the name of him who was
then hierophant, for it was he who initiated me." The manner in which
the name was committed to the sea was either by the immersion of the
bearer or by writing the name on a leaden tablet, which was cast into
the sea. The holy name, by which the hierophant was afterwards known,
was derived from the name of some god or bore some ritualistic meaning.
Sometimes the hierophant was known simply by the title of his office
with the addition of his father's name. The rule as to the public
mention of the former name of the hierophant was occasionally
transgressed, and there is the instance of the atheistic philosopher
Theodorus addressing a hierophant by his discarded name of Lacrateides,
and also of Deinias, who was put into prison for the offence of
addressing a hierophant by his discarded family name.
Lucian refers to this in one passage in _Lexiphanes_: "The first I met
were a torch-bearer, a hierophant, and others of the initiated, haling
Deinias before the judge, and protesting that he had called them by
their names, though he well knew that, from the time of their
sanctification, they were nameless, and no more to be named but by
hallowed names."
In the Imperial Inscriptions we find the titles substituted for the
proper names.[1] The hierophant was compelled to avoid contact with the
dead in the same manner as the Cohanim of the Jewish faith, and with
certain animals reputed to be unclean. Contact with any person from whom
blood was issuing also caused impurity. He was assisted by a female
hierophant, or hierophantide--an attendant upon the goddess Demeter and
her daughter Persephone. She also was selected from the family of the
Eumolpides and was chosen for life. She was permitted to marry, and
several inscriptions mention the names of children of hierophantides. On
her initiation into this high degree she was brought forward naked to
the side of a sacred font, in which her right hand was placed, the
priest declaring her to be true and holy and dedicated to the service of
the temple. The special duty of the female hierophant was to superintend
the initiation of female aspirants, but she was present throughout the
ceremony and played some part in the initiation of the male candidates.
An inscription on the tomb of one hierophantide mentions to her glory
that she had set the myrtle crown, the seal of mystic communion, on the
heads of the illustrious initiates, Marcus Aurelius and his son,
Commodus. Another gloried in the fact that she had initiated the Emperor
Hadrian.
Next in rank to the hierophant and hierophantide came the male and
female dadouchos, who were taken from the family of the Keryces. They
were the torch-bearers, and their duty consisted mainly in carrying the
torches at the Sacred Festival. They also wore purple robes, myrtle
crowns, and diadems. They were appointed for life, and were permitted to
marry. The male dadouchos particularly was associated with the
hierophant in certain solemn and public functions, such as the opening
address to the candidates for initiation and in the public prayers for
the welfare of the State. The office was frequently handed down from
father to son. Until the first century B.C. the dadouchos was never
addressed by his own personal name, but always by the title of his
office.
The hierocceryx, or messenger of holy tidings, was the representative of
Hermes, or Mercury, who, as the messenger of the gods, was indispensable
as mediator whenever men wished to approach the Immortals. He also wore
a purple-coloured robe and a myrtle crown. He was chosen for life from
the family of the Keryces. He made the necessary proclamations to the
candidates for initiation into the various degrees, and in particular
enjoined them to preserve silence. It was necessary for him to have
passed through all the various degrees, as his duties necessitated his
presence throughout the ceremonial.
The phaidantes had the custody of the sacred statues and the sacred
vessels, which they had to maintain in good repair. They were selected
from one or other of the two sacerdotal families.
Among the other officials were: The liknophori, who carried the mystic
fan; the hydranoi, who purified the candidates for initiation by
sprinkling them with holy water at the commencement of the Festival; the
spondophoroi, who proclaimed the sacred truce, which was to permit of
the peaceful celebration of the Mysteries; the pyrphoroi, who brought
and maintained the fire for the sacrifices; the hieraules, who played
the flute during the time the sacrifices were being offered--they were
the leaders of the sacred music, who had under their charge the
hymnodoi, the hymnetriai; the neokoroi, who maintained the temples and
the altars; the panageis, who formed a class between the ministers and
the initiated. Then there were the "initiates of the altar," who
performed expiatory rites in the name and in the place of all the
initiated. There were also many other minor officials, by the general
name of melissæ--i.e. bees, perhaps so-called because bees, being makers
of honey, were sacred to Demeter. The diluvian priestesses and
regenerated souls were called "bees." All these officials had to be of
unblemished reputation, and wore myrtle crowns while engaged in the
service of the temple.
The officials; whose duty it was to take care that the ritual was
punctiliously followed in every detail, included nine archons, who were
chosen every year to manage the affairs of Greece. The first of these
was always the King, or Archon Basileus, whose duty at the celebration
of the Mysteries it was to offer prayers and sacrifices, to see that no
indecency or irregularity was committed during the Festival, and at the
conclusion to pass judgment on all offenders. There were also four
epimeletæ, or curators, elected by the people, one being appointed from
the Eumolpides, another from the Keryces, and the remaining two from the
rank and file of the citizens; and ten hieropoioi, whose duty it was to
offer sacrifices. It may be worthy of remark here that Epimenides of
Crete, who flourished about the year 600 B.C., is said by Diogenes
Laertius, in his life of that philosopher, to have been the first to
perform expiatory sacrifices and lustrations in fields and houses and to
have been the first to erect temples for the purpose of sacrifice.
The sacred symbols used in the ceremonies were enclosed in a special
chamber in the Telestrion, or Hall of Initiation, known as the
Anactoron, into which the hierophant alone had the right to penetrate.
During the celebration of the Mysteries they were carried to Athens
veiled and hidden from the gaze of the profane, whence they were taken
back to Eleusis. It was permitted only to the initiated to look upon
these "hiera," as they were called. These sacred objects were in the
charge of the Eumolpides family.
Written descriptions, however graphic or eloquent, convey but a faint
impression of the wonderful scenes that were enacted; Aristides says
that what was seen rivalled anything that was heard. Another writer has
declared: "Many a wondrous sight may be seen and not a few tales of
wonder may be heard in Greece; but there is nothing on which the
blessing of God rests in so full a measure as the rites of Eleusis and
the Olympic games." For nine centuries--that period of time being
divided almost equally between the pre-Christian and Christian
eras--they were the Palladium of Greek Paganism. In the latter part of
their history, when the restrictions as to admission began to be
relaxed, and in proportion to that relaxation, their essential religious
character disappeared, they became but a ceremony, their splendour being
their principal attraction, until finally they degenerated into a mere
superstition. Julian strived in vain to infuse new life into the
vanishing cult, but it was too late--the Eleusinian Mysteries were dead.
The Athenians were pious in the extreme, and throughout the period that
initiation was limited to that race the reputation of Eleusis was
maintained, although pilgrims from various and remote parts of the world
visited it at the season of the Mysteries. When the Eleusinian Mysteries
were taken to Rome, as they were in the reign of Hadrian, they
contracted impurities and degenerated into riot and vice; the
spirituality of their teachings did not accompany the transference or it
failed to be comprehended. Although the forms of initiation were still
symbolical of the original and noble objects of the institution, the
licentious Romans mistook the shadow for the substance, and while they
passed through all the ceremonies they were strangers to the objects for
which they were framed.
In A.D. 364, a law prohibiting nocturnal rites was published by
Valentinian, but Praetextatus, whom Julian had constituted governor of
Achaia, prevailed on him to revoke it, urging that the lives of the
Greeks would be rendered utterly unsupportable if he deprived them of
this, their most holy and comprehensive festival. Much has been made by
some writers of the fact that the ceremonies were held at night, but in
the early days of Christianity also it was the custom for Christians to
forgather either at night or before daybreak, a circumstance which led
to their assemblies being known as _antelucani_ and themselves as
_lucifugæ_ or "light-haters," by way of reproach. About the beginning of
the fifth century Theodosius the Great prohibited and almost totally
extinguished the pagan theology in the Roman Empire, and the Eleusinian
Mysteries suffered in the general destruction. It is probable, however,
that the Mysteries were celebrated secretly in spite of the severe
edicts of Theodosius and that they were partly continued through the
dark ages, though stripped of their splendour. It is certain that many
rites of the pagan religion were performed under the dissembled name of
convivial meetings, long after the publication of the Emperor's edicts,
and Psellius informs us that the Mysteries of Ceres existed in Athens
until the eighth century of the Christian era and were never totally
suppressed.