the more important--began on the 15th of the month of Boedromion,
corresponding roughly with the month of September, and lasted until the
23rd of the same month. During that time it was unlawful to arrest any
man present, or present any petition except for offences committed at
the Festival, heavy penalties being inflicted for breaches of this law,
the penalties fixed being a fine of not less than a thousand drachmas,
and some assert that transgressors were even put to death.
[Footnote 1: From two inscriptions found at Eleusis it would appear that
it was customary to make the name public after the death of the
hierophant. It seems also to have been the practice to make the name
known to the initiate under the pledge of secrecy. Sir James Frazer
thinks that the names were, in all probability, engraved on tablets of
bronze or lead and then thrown into deep water in the Gulf of Salamis.]
III
PROGRAMME OF THE GREATER MYSTERIES
The following is the programme of the "Greater Mysteries," which
extended over a period of ten days. The various functions were
characterized by the greatest possible solemnity and decorum, and the
ceremonies were regarded as "religious" in the highest interpretation of
that term.
FIRST DAY.--The first day was known as the "Gathering," or the
"Assembly," when all who had passed through the Lesser Mysteries
assembled to assist in the celebration of the Greater Mysteries. On this
day the Archon Basileus presided over all the cults of the city, and
assembled the people at a place known as the Poikile Stoa. After the
Archon Basileus, with four assistants, had offered up sacrifices and
prayers for the welfare of Greece, the following proclamation was made
by the Archon Basileus, wearing his robe of office:--
"Come, whoever is clean of all pollution and whose soul has not
consciousness of sin. Come, whosoever hath lived a life of righteousness
and justice. Come all ye who are pure of heart and of hand, and whose
speech can be understood. Whosoever hath not clean hands, a pure soul,
and an intelligible voice must not assist at the Mysteries."
The people were then commanded by the hierophant to wash their hands in
consecrated water, and the impious were threatened with the punishment
set forth in the law if they were discovered, but especially, and this
in any case, with the implacable anger of the gods. The hierocceryx then
impressed upon all the duty of observing the most rigid secrecy with
respect to what they might witness, and bade them to be silent
throughout the ceremonies, and not utter even an exclamation. The
candidates for initiation assembled outside the temple, each under the
guidance and direction of the mystagogue, who repeated these
instructions to the candidates. Once within the sacred enclosure all the
initiates were subject to a purification by fire ceremonial. All wore
regalia special to the occasion. This is evident from the wording of
inscriptions which have been discovered, but particulars of the regalia
are wanting. We know that extravagant and costly dresses were regarded
by Demeter with disfavour, and that it was forbidden to wear such in the
temple. Jewellery, gold ornaments, purple-coloured belts, and
embroideries were also barred, as were robes and cloths of mixed
colours. The hair of women had to fall down loose upon the shoulders,
and must not be in plaits or coiled upon the head. No woman was
permitted to use cosmetics.
SECOND DAY.--The second day was known as _Halade Mystæ_, or "To the sea,
ye mystæ," from the command which greeted all the initiates to go and
purify themselves by washing in the sea, or in the salt water of the two
consecrated lakes, called Rheiti, on what was known as "The Sacred Way."
The priests had the exclusive right of fishing in these lakes. A
procession was formed, in which all joined and made their way to the sea
or the lakes, where they bathed and purified themselves. This general
purification was akin to that practised to this day by the Jews at the
beginning of the Jewish year. The day was consecrated to Saturn, into
whose province the soul is said to fall in the course of its descent
from the tropic of Cancer. Capella compares Saturn to a river,
voluminous, sluggish, and cold. The planet signifies pure intellect, and
Pythagoras symbolically called the sea a tear of Saturn. The bathing was
preceded by a confession, and the manner in which the bathing was
carried out and the number of immersions varied with the degree of guilt
which each confessed. According to Suidas, those who had to purify
themselves from murder plunged into salt water on two separate
occasions, immersing themselves seven times on each occasion. On
returning from the bath all were regarded as "new creatures," the bath
being regarded as a laver of regeneration, and the initiates were
clothed in a plain fawn-skin or a sheep-skin. The purification, however,
was not regarded as complete until the following day, when there was
added the sprinkling of the blood of a pig sacrificed. Each had carried
to the river or lake a little pig, which was also purified by bathing,
and on the next day this pig was sacrificed. The pig was offered because
it was very pernicious to cornfields. On the Eleusinian coinage the pig,
standing on a torch placed horizontally, appears as the sign and symbol
of the Mysteries. On this day also some of the initiated submitted to a
special purification near the altar of Zeus Mellichios on the Sacred
Way. For each person whom it was desired to purify an ox was sacrificed
to Zeus Mellichios, the infernal Zeus, the skin of the animal was laid
on the ground by the dadouchos, and the one who was the object of the
lustration remained there squatting on the left foot.
THIRD DAY.--On the third day pleasures of every description, even the
most innocent, were strictly forbidden, and every one fasted till
nightfall, when they partook of seed cakes, parched corn, salt,
pomegranates, and sacred wine mixed with milk and honey. The Archon
Basileus, assisted again by the four epimeletæ, celebrated, in the
presence of representatives from the allied cities, the great sacrifice
of the Soteria for the well-being of the State, the Athenian citizens,
and their wives and children. This ceremony took place in the Eleusinion
at the foot of the Acropolis. The day was known as the Day of Mourning,
and was supposed to commemorate Demeter's grief at the loss of
Persephone. The sacrifices offered consisted chiefly of a mullet and of
barley out of Rharium, a field of Eleusis. The oblations were accounted
so sacred that the priests themselves were not permitted, as was usual
in other offerings, to partake of them. At the conclusion of the general
ceremony each one individually sacrificed the little pig purified in the
sea the night before.
The hog of propitiation offered to Frey was a solemn sacrifice in the
North of Europe and in Sweden, down to modern times, the custom has been
preserved by baking, on Christmas Eve, a loaf or cake in the form of a
hog.
FOURTH DAY.--The principal event of the fourth day was a solemn
procession, when the holy basket of Ceres (Demeter) was carried in a
consecrated cart, the crowds of people shouting as it went along, "Hail,
Ceres!" The rear end of the procession was composed of women carrying
baskets containing sesamin, carded wool, grains of salt, corn,
pomegranates, reeds, ivy boughs, cakes known as poppies, and sometimes
serpents. One kind of these cakes was known as "ox-cakes"; they were
made with little horns and dedicated to the moon. Another kind contained
poppy seeds. Poppy was used in the ceremonies because it was said that
some grains of poppy were given to Demeter upon her arrival in Greece to
induce sleep, which she had not enjoyed from the time of the abduction
of Persephone. Demeter is invariably represented in her statues as being
very rotund, crowned with ears of corn, and holding in her hand a branch
of poppy.
FIFTH DAY.--The fifth day was known as the Day of Torches, from the fact
that at nightfall all the initiates walked in pairs round the temple of
Demeter at Eleusis, the dadouchos himself leading the procession. The
torches were waved about and changed from hand to hand, to represent the
wanderings of the goddess in search of her daughter when she was
conducted by the light of a torch kindled in the flames of Etna.
SIXTH DAY.--Iacchos was the name given to the sixth day of the Festival.
The "fair young god," Iacchos, or Dionysos, or Bacchus, was the son of
Jupiter and Ceres, and accompanied the goddess in her search for
Persephone. He also carried a torch, hence his statue has always a torch
in the hand. This statue, together with other sacred objects, were taken
from the Iacchion, the sanctuary of Iacchos in Athens, mounted on a
heavy rustic four-wheeled chariot drawn by bulls, and, accompanied by
the Iacchogogue and other magistrates nominated for the occasion,
conveyed from the Kerameikos, or Potter's Quarter, to Eleusis by the
Sacred Way in solemn procession. It was on this day that the solemnity
of the ceremonial reached its height. The statue, as well as the people
accompanying it, were crowned with myrtle, the people dancing all the
way along the route, beating brass kettles and playing instruments of
various kinds and singing sacred songs. Halts were made during the
procession at various shrines, at the site of the house of Phytalus,
who, it was said, received the goddess into his house, and, according to
an inscription on his tomb, she requited him by revealing to him the
culture of the fig; particularly at a fig-tree which was regarded as
sacred, because it had the renown of being planted by Phytalus; also
upon a bridge built over the river Cephissus, by the side of which Pluto
descended into Hades with Persephone, where the bystanders made
themselves merry at the expense of the pilgrims. At each of the shrines
sacrifices and libations were offered, hymns sung, and sacred dances
performed. Having passed the bridge, the people entered Eleusis by what
was known as the Mystical Entrance. Midnight had set in before Eleusis
was reached, so that a great part of the journey had to be accomplished
by the light of the torches carried by each of the pilgrims, and the
nocturnal journey was spoken of as the "Night of Torches" by many
ancient authors. The pitch and resin of which the torches were composed
were substances supposed to have the virtue of warding off evil spirits.
The barren mountains of the Pass of Daphni and the surface of the sea
resounded with the chant, "Iacchos, O Iacchos!" At one of the halts the
Croconians, descendants of the hero Crocon, who had formerly reigned
over the Thriasian Plain, fastened a saffron band on the right arm and
left foot of each one in the procession. Iacchos was always regarded as
a child of Demeter, inasmuch as the vine grows out of the earth. Various
symbols were carried by the people, who numbered sometimes as many as
from thirty to forty thousand. These symbols consisted of winnowing
fans--the "Mystic Fan of Iacchos," plaited reeds and baskets, both
relating to the worship of the goddess and her son. The fan, or van, as
it was sometimes called, was the instrument that separates the wheat
from the chaff, and was regarded also as an emblem of the power which
separates the virtuous from the wicked. In the ancient paintings by
Bellori two persons are represented as standing by the side of the
initiate. One is the priest who is performing the ceremony, who is
represented as in a devout posture, and wearing a veil, the old mark of
devotion, while another is holding a fan over the head of the candidate.
In some of the editions of Southey's translation of the _Æneid_ the
following lines appear:--
Now learn what arms industrious peasants wield
To sow the furrow's glebe, and clothe the field:
The share, the crooked plough's strong beam, the wain
That slowly rolls on Ceres to her fane:
Hails, sleds, light osiers, and the harrow's load,
The hurdle, and _the mystic van of God._
The distance covered by the procession was twenty-two kilometres, but
Lycurgus ordered that if any woman should ride in a chariot to Eleusis
she should be mulcted in a fine of 8,000 drachmas. This was to prevent
the richer women from distinguishing themselves from their poorer
sisters. Strange to relate, the wife of Lycurgus was the first to break
this law, and Lycurgus himself had to pay the fine which he had
ordained. He not only paid the penalty, but gave a talent to the
informer. Immediately upon the deposit of the sacred objects in the
Eleusinion, at the foot of the Acropolis, one of the Eleusinian priests
solemnly announced their arrival to the priestess of the tutelary
goddess of Athens--Pallas Athene. Plutarch, in commenting upon lucky and
unlucky days, says that he is aware that unlucky things happen sometimes
on lucky days, for the Athenians had to receive a Macedonian garrison
"even on the 20th of Boedromion, the day on which they led forth the
mystic Iacchos."
SEVENTH DAY.--On the seventh day the statue was carried back to Athens.
The return journey was also a solemn procession, and attended with
numerous ceremonies. Halts were again made at several places, like the
"stations" of Roman Catholic pilgrimages, when the inhabitants also fell
temporarily into line with the procession. For those who remained behind
at Eleusis the time was devoted to sports, the combatants appearing
naked, and the victors were rewarded with a measure of barley, it being
a tradition that that grain was first sown in Eleusis. It was also
regarded as a day of solemn preparation by those who were to be
initiated on the following night. The return journey was conducted with
the same splendour as the outward journey. It comprised comic incidents,
the same as on the previous day. Those who awaited the procession at the
bridge over the Athenian river Cephisson exchanged all kinds of chaff
and buffoonery with those who were in the procession, indulging in what
was termed "bridge fooling." These jests, it is said, were to recall the
tactful measures employed by a maidservant named Iambe to rouse Demeter
from her prolonged sorrowing. There is a strange contradiction in the
various statements made by the ancient writers as to what was
permissible and what was forbidden during the ceremonies. Demeter, when
in search of her daughter, broke down with fatigue at Eleusis, where she
sat down on a well, overwhelmed with grief. It was strictly forbidden to
any of the initiated to sit down on this well lest it should appear that
they were mimicking the weeping goddess. Yet the mimicking of the jests
of Iambe were part of the ceremonial of the Mysteries. According to the
ancient writers the "jests," so-called, would be regarded to-day as in
bad taste.
Having thus spoken, she drew aside her garments
And showed all that shape of the body which it is
improper to name--the growth of puberty.
And with her own hand Iambe stripped herself under
the breasts.
Blandly then the goddess laughed and laughed in her
mind,
And received the glancing cup in which was the
draught.
During the Peloponnesian war the Athenians were unable to obtain an
armistice from the Lacedæmonians who held Decelea, and it became
necessary to send the statue of Iacchos and the processionists to
Eleusis by sea. Plutarch says: "Under these conditions it was necessary
to omit the sacrifices usually offered all along the road during the
passing of Iacchos."
EIGHTH DAY.--The eighth day was called Epidaurion, because it happened
once that Æsculapius, coming from Epidaurius to Athens, desired to be
initiated, and had the Lesser Mysteries repeated for that purpose. It
therefore became customary to celebrate the Lesser Mysteries a second
time upon this day, and to admit to initiation any such approved
candidates who had not already enjoyed the privilege. There was also
another reason for the repetition of the initiatory rites then. The
eighth day was regarded as symbolical of the soul falling into the lunar
orbi, and the repeated initiation, the second celebration of that sacred
rite, was symbolical of the soul bidding adieu to everything of a
celestial nature, sinking into a perfect oblivion of her divine origin
and pristine felicity, and rushing profoundly into the region of
dissimilitude, ignorance, and error. The day opened with a solemn
sacrifice offered to Demeter and Persephone, which took place within the
peribolus. The utmost precision had to be observed in offering this
sacrifice as regarding the age, colour, and sex of the victim, the
chants, perfumes, and libations. The acceptance or rejection of a
sacrifice was indicated by the movements of the animal as it approached
the altar, the vivacity of the flame, the direction of the smoke, etc.
If these signs were not favourable in the case of the first victim
offered, other animals must be slain until one presented itself in which
all the signs were favourable. The flesh of the animal offered was not
allowed to be taken outside the sacred precincts, but had to be consumed
within the building. The following is said to have been an Invocation
used during the celebration of the Mysteries:--
Daughter of Jove, Persephone divine,
Come, blessed queen, and to these rites incline;
Only-begotten, Pluto's honoured wife,
O venerable goddess, source of life:
'Tis thine in earth's profoundities to dwell,
Fast by the wide and dismal gates of hell.
Jove's holy offering, of a beauteous mien,
Avenging goddess, subterranean queen.
The Furies' source, fair-hair'd, whose frame proceeds
From Jove's ineffable and secret seeds.
Mother of Bacchus, sonorous, divine,
And many form'd, the parent of the vine.
Associate of the Seasons, essence bright,
All-ruling virgin, bearing heav'nly light.
With fruits abounding, of a bounteous mind,
Horn'd, and alone desir'd by those of mortal kind.
O vernal queen, whom grassy plains delight,
Sweet to the smell, and pleasing to the sight:
Whose holy forms in budding fruits we view,
Earth's vig'rous offspring of a various hue:
Espous'd in autumn, life and death alone
To wretched mortals from thy pow'r is known:
For thine the task, according to thy will,
Life to produce, and all that lives to kill.
Hear, blessed Goddess, send a rich increase
Of various fruits from earth, with lovely Peace;
Send Health with gentle hand, and crown my life
With blest abundance, free from noisy strife;
Last in extreme old age the prey of death,
Dismiss me willing to the realms beneath,
To thy fair palace and the blissful plains
Where happy spirits dwell, and Pluto reigns.
NINTH DAY.--The ninth day was known as the Day of Earthen Vessels,
because it was the custom on that day to fill two jugs with wine. One
was placed towards the East and the other towards the West, and after
the repetition of certain mystical formulæ both were overthrown, the
wine being spilt upon the ground as a libation. The first of these
formulæ was directed towards the sky as a prayer for rain, and the
second to the earth as a prayer for fertility.
The words used by the hierophant to denote the termination of the
celebration of the Mysteries-_Conx Om Pax_: "Watch and do no evil"--are
said to have been Egyptian, and were the same as those used at the
conclusion of the Mysteries of Isis. This fact is sometimes used as an
argument in favour of the Egyptian origin of the Eleusinian Mysteries.
TENTH DAY.--On the tenth day the majority of the people returned to
their homes, with the exception of every third and fifth year, when they
remained behind for the Mystery Plays and Sports, which lasted from two
to three days.
The Eleusinian Games are described by the rhetorician Aristides as the
oldest of all Greek games. They are supposed to have been instituted as
a thank-offering to Demeter and Persephone at the conclusion of the corn
harvest. From an inscription dating from the latter part of the third
century B.C. sacrifices were offered to Demeter and Persephone at these
games. They included athletic and musical contests, a horse race, and a
competition which bore the name of the Ancestral or the Hereditary
Contest, the nature of which is not known, but which it is thought may
have had its origin in a contest between the reapers on the sacred
Rharian plain to see which should first complete his allotted task.
The ancient sanctuary in which the Mysteries were celebrated was burnt
by the Persians in 480 or 479 B.C., and a new sanctuary was built--or,
at least, begun--under the administration of Pericles. Plutarch says
that Corcebus began the Temple of Initiation at Eleusis, but only lived
to finish the lower rank of columns with their architraves; Metagenes,
of the ward of Xypete, added the rest of the entablature and the upper
row of columns, and that Xenocles of Cholargus built the dome on the
top. The long wall, the building of which Socrates says he heard
Pericles propose to the people, was undertaken by Callicrates. Cratinus
satirized the work as proceeding very slowly:--
Stone upon stone the orator has pil'd
With swelling words, but words will build no walls.
According to some writers the Temple was planned by Tetinus, the
architect of the Parthenon, and Pericles was merely the overseer of the
building. We are told by Vitruvius that the Temple at Eleusis consisted
at first of one cell of vast magnitude, without columns, though it was
probable that it was meant to be surrounded in the customary manner; a
prostyle, however, only was added, and that not until the time of
Demetrius Phalereus, some ages after the original structure was erected.
It is probable that the uncommon magnitude of the cell, added to the
various and complicated rites of initiation to the Eleusinian Mysteries,
of which it was the scene, prevented its being a peristyle, the expense
of which would have been enormous. The Temple was one of the largest of
the sacred edifices of Greece. Its length was 68 metres, its breadth
54,66 metres and its superficial area 3716,88 square metres. The
monumental altar of sacrifice was placed in front of the facade, close
by the eastern angle of the enclosure. According to Virgil the words
"Far hence, O be ye far hence, ye profane ones," were inscribed over the
main portal.
In the fourth century of the Christian era the Temple of Eleusis was
destroyed by the Goths, at the instigation of the monks, who followed
the hosts of Alaric.
The revenues from the celebrations must have been considerable. At both
the Lesser Mysteries and the Greater Mysteries a charge of one obole a
day was demanded from each one attending, which was given to the
hierophant. The hierocceryx received a half-obole a day, and other
assistants a similar sum. In current coinage an obole was of the value
of a fraction over 1 1/4d.
IV
THE INITIATORY RITES