sixth and seventh days of the celebration of the Mysteries, the
candidates being led blindfolded into the temple and the ceremony opened
with prayers and sacrifices by the second Archon. The candidates were
crowned with myrtle wreaths, and, on entering the building, they
purified themselves in a formal manner by immersing their hands in the
consecrated water. Salt, laurel-leaves, barley, and crowns of flowers
were also employed in the purification. The priests, vested in their
sacerdotal garments, then came forward to receive the candidates. This
initial ceremony took place in the outer hall of the temple, the temple
itself being closed. A herald then came forward and uttered the
proclamation: "Begone ye profane. Away from here, all ye that are not
purified, and whose souls have not been freed from sin." In later years
this formulary was changed, and in its stead the herald proclaimed: "If
any atheist, or Christian, or Epicurean, is come to spy on the orgies,
let him instantly retire, but let those who believe remain and be
initiated, with good future." It was the final opportunity for the
retirement of any who were not votaries who had by chance entered the
precincts: if discovered afterwards the punishment was death. In order
to make certain that no intruders remained behind all who were present
had to answer certain specified questions. Then all again immersed their
hands into the consecrated water and renewed their pledge of secrecy.
The candidates for initiation then took off their ordinary garments and
put on the skins of young does. This done, the priests wished them joy
of all the happiness their initiation would bring them, and then left
the candidates alone. Within a few minutes the apartment in which they
were was plunged in total darkness. Lamentations and strange noises were
heard; terrific peals of thunder resounded, seemingly shaking the very
foundations of the temple; vivid flashes of lightning lit up the
darkness, rendering it more terrible, while a more persistent light from
a fire displayed fearful forms. Sighs, groans, and cries of pain
resounded on all sides, like the shrieks of the condemned in Tartarus.
The novitiates were taken hold of by invisible hands, their hair was
torn, and they were beaten and thrown to the ground. Then a faint light
became visible in the distance and a fearful scene appeared before their
eyes. The gates of Tartarus were opened and the abode of the condemned
lay before them. They could hear the cries of anguish and the vain
regrets of those to whom Paradise was lost for ever. They could,
moreover, witness their hopeless remorse: they saw, as well as heard,
all the tortures of the condemned. The Furies, armed with relentless
scourges and flaming torches, drove the unhappy victims incessantly to
and fro, never letting them rest for a moment. Meanwhile the loud voice
of the hierophant, who represented the judge of the earth, could be
heard expounding the meaning of what was passing before them, and
warning and threatening the initiates. It may well be imagined that all
these fearful scenes were so terrifying that very frequently beads of
anguish appeared on the brows of the novices. Howling dogs and even
material demons are said actually to have appeared to the initiates
before the scene was changed. Proclus, in his _Commentary on
Alcibiades_, says: "In the most holy of the Mysteries, before the
presence of the god, certain terrestrial demons are hurled forth, which
call the attention from undefiled advantages to matter." At length the
gates of Tartarus were closed, the scene was suddenly changed, and the
innermost sanctuary of the temple lay open before the initiates in
dazzling light. In the midst stood the statue of the goddess Demeter
brilliantly decked and gleaming with precious stones; heavenly music
entranced their souls; a cloudless sky overshadowed them; fragrant
perfumes arose; and in the distance the privileged spectators beheld
flowering meads, where the blessed danced and amused themselves with
innocent games and pastimes. Among other writers the scene has been
described by Aristophanes in _The Frogs_:--
_Heracles_. The voyage is a long one. For you will come directly to
a very big lake of abysmal depth.
_Dionysos_. Then how shall I get taken across it?
_Heracles_. In a little boat just so high: an old man who plies
that boat will take you across for a fee of two oboles.
_Dionysos_. Oh dear! How very powerful those two oboles are all
over the world. How did they manage to get here?
_Heracles_. Theseus brought them. After this you will see serpents
and wild beasts in countless numbers and very terrible. Then a
great slough and overflowing dung; and in this you'll see lying any
one who ever yet at any place wronged his guest or beat his mother,
or smote his father's jaw, or swore an oath and foreswore
himself.... And next a breathing of flutes shall be wafted around
you, and you shall see a very beautiful light, even as in this
world, and myrtle groves, and happy choirs of men and women, and a
loud clapping of hands.
_Dionysos_. And who are these people, pray?
_Heracles_. The initiated.
It was regarded as permissible to describe certain scenes of the
initiation, and this has been done by many writers, but a complete
silence was demanded as to the means employed to realize the end, the
rites and ceremonies in which the initiate took part, the emblems which
were displayed, and the actual words uttered, and the slightest
contravention of this rule rendered the offender liable to the strongest
possible condemnation and chastisement.
In the course of the ceremony the hierophant asked the candidates a
series of questions, to which written answers had been prepared and
committed to memory by the candidates. The holy Mysteries were revealed
to them from a book called _Petroma,_ a word derived from _petra_, a
stone, and so called because the writings were kept between two cemented
stones which fitted in to each other. The Pheneatians used to swear by
and on the Petroma. The domed top held within it a mask of Demeter which
the hierophant wore at the celebration of the Mysteries, or during part
of the ceremonial. The garments worn by the initiates during the
ceremony were accounted sacred and equal to incantations and charms in
their power to avert evils. Consequently they were never cast off until
torn and tattered. Nor was it usual, even then, to throw them away, but
it was customary to make them into swaddling clothes for children or to
consecrate them to Demeter and Persephone.
Admission to the third degree took place during the night between the
seventh and eighth days of the celebration of the Greater Mysteries.
This, the final degree, with the exception of those called to be
hierophants, was known as the degree of Epopta. Exactly in what the
ceremonial consisted, save in one particular presently to be described,
is unknown. Hippolytus is practically the only authority for the main
incident of the degree. Certain words and signs were, however,
communicated to the initiated which, it was stated, would, when
pronounced at the hour of death, ensure the eternal happiness of the
soul.
The most solemn part of the ceremony was that which has been described
by some writers as the hierogamy, or sacred marriage of Zeus and
Demeter, although some have erroneously referred to it as the marriage
of Pluto and Persephone. During the celebration of the Mysteries the
hierophant and hierophantide descended into a cave or deep recess and,
after remaining there for a time, they returned to the assembly,
surrounded seemingly by flames, and the hierophant, displaying to the
gaze of the initiated an ear of corn, exclaimed with a loud voice: "The
divine Brimo has given birth to the holy child Brimos: The strong has
brought forth strength." The scene was dramatic and symbolical, and
there could have been nothing material in the incident. The torches of
the multitude were extinguished while the throng above awaited with
anxious suspense the return of the priest and priestess from the murky
place into which they had descended, for they believed their own
salvation to depend upon the result of the mystic congress. The charges
brought against the Eleusinian Mysteries of rioting and debauchery
during their Grecian history are brought by those who were not permitted
to share their honours, or who were prejudiced in favour of some other
form of religion. In the opinion of the majority of contemporary writers
these charges were wholly gratuitous, and they maintain that the
Eleusinian Mysteries produced a sanctity of manners and a cultivation of
virtue. They could not, of course, make a man virtuous against his will
and Diogenes, when asked to submit to initiation, replied that
Pataecion, a notorious robber, had obtained initiation.
"The Athenians," says Hippolytus, "in the initiation of Eleusis, show to
the epoptæ the great, admirable, and most perfect mystery of the epoptæ:
an ear of corn gathered in silence." The statement is so clear as to
leave no doubt whatever on the subject; indeed, it has never been called
into question. The presentation of the ear of corn was regarded as a
special, indeed the most important, feature of the Mysteries of Eleusis,
and it was reserved for the final degree. Much has been made of this
incident by many who can see no beauty in pre-Christian or non-Christian
systems of religion, their comments being based mainly on a statement of
Gregory Nazianus, who stands almost alone in discerning lewdness in the
Eleusinian ceremonial. He says: "It is not in our religion that you will
find a seduced Cora, a wandering Demeter, a Keleos, and a Triptolemus
appearing with serpents; that Demeter is capable of certain acts and
that she permits others. I am really ashamed to throw light on the
nocturnal orgies of the initiations. Eleusis knows as well as the
witnesses the secret of the spectacle, which is with reason kept so
profound."
Apart from this isolated statement the Eleusinian Mysteries have not
been charged, as many other ancient rites were, with promoting and
encouraging immorality. In his account of the doings of the false
prophet Alexander of Abountichos, Lucian describes how the impostor
instituted rites which were a close parody of those celebrated at
Eleusis, and he narrates the details of the travesty. Among the mimetic
performances were not only the epiphany and birth of a god but the
enactment of a sacred marriage. All preliminaries were gone through, and
Lucian says that but for the abundance of lighted torches the marriage
would actually have been consummated. The part of the hierophant was
taken by the false prophet himself. From the travesty it is evident that
in the genuine Mysteries, in silence, in darkness, and in perfect
chastity the sacred marriage was symbolized and that immediately
afterwards the hierophant came forward and standing in a blaze of
torchlight made the announcement to the initiates.
The name _Brimo_, expressed at full length _Obrimo,_ seems to be a
variation of the compound term _Ob-Rimon_, "the lofty serpent goddess."
The birth of Brimo; and the mighty deeds
Of the Titanic hosts; the servitude
Of Jove; and the mysterious mountain rites
Of Cybelè, when with distracted pace she sought
Through the wide world the beauteous Proserpine;
The far-fam'd labours of the Machian Hercules;
Th' Idèan orgies; and the giant force
Of the dread Corybantes; and the wanderings
Of Ceres, and the woes of Prosperpine:
With these I sung the gifts of the Cabiri;
The Mysteries of Bacchus; and the praise
Of Lemnos, Samothrace, and lofty Cyprus,
Fair Adonean Venus; and the rites
Of dread Ogygian Praxidicè;
Arinian Minerva's nightly festival;
And Egypt's sorrow for the lost Osiris.
_Orphic Hymn._
Dr. Jevons maintains that this ear of corn was the totem of Eleusis, and
this view has been adopted by M. Reinach, who says: "We find in the
texts a certain trace not only of the cult but of the adoration and the
exaltation (in the Christian meaning of the word) of the ear of corn."
But he has omitted to quote the texts on which he relies for this
assertion. It would be interesting to know why, among all the plants
which die and revive in the course of a year, wheat was chosen for
preference, why the ear more than the grain, why it should be emphasized
that it was gathered, for what reason the spectacle was reserved for the
epoptæ, and in what manner it secured or ensured for the individual a
blissful existence after death. The demonstration presupposes that the
preceding rites were leading up to this supreme display.
After this demonstration the epoptæ partook of barley meal flavoured
with pennyroyal, as a solemn form of communion with Demeter. According
to Eustathius, the compound was a kind of thick gruel, half-solid,
half-liquid. This done, each of the initiated repeated after the
hierophant the following words: "I have fasted, I have drank 'cyceon.' I
have taken from the cystos, and after having tasted of it I placed it in
the calathos. I again took it from the calathos and put it back in the
cystos." This formula, notwithstanding its length, is said to have been
the password leading to the third degree.
Justin Martyr gives the oath of initiation as follows: "So help me
heaven, the work of God who is great and wise: so help me the word of
the Father which he spake when he established the whole universe in his
wisdom."
With this ceremony the third degree ended, save that the epoptæ were
placed upon exalted seats, around which the priests circled in mystic
dances. The day succeeding admission into the final degree was regarded
as a rigorous fast, at the conclusion of which the epoptæ drank of the
mystic cyceon and ate of the sacred cakes.
According to Theo of Smyrna, the full or complete initiation consisted
of five steps or degrees, which he sets out as follows:--
"Again, philosophy may be called the initiation into true sacred
ceremonies, and the tradition of genuine mysteries; for there are five
parts of initiation; the first of which is previous purgation, for
neither are the Mysteries communicated to all who are willing to receive
them, but there are certain characters who are prevented by the voice of
the crier, such as those who possess impure hands and an inarticulate
voice, since it is necessary that such as are not expelled from the
Mysteries should first be refined by certain purgations, but after
purgation the tradition of the sacred rite succeeds. The third part is
denominated inspection. And the fourth, which is the end and design of
inspection, is the binding of the head and fixing the crown, so that the
initiated may, by this means, be enabled to communicate to others the
sacred rites in which he has been instructed. Whether after this he
becomes a torch-bearer, or an interpreter of the Mysteries, or sustains
some other part of the sacerdotal office. But the fifth, which is
produced from all these, is friendship with divinity, and the enjoyment
of that felicity which arises from intimate converse with the gods.
According to Plato, purification is to be derived from the five
mathematical disciplines, viz. arithmetic, geometry, stereometry, music,
and astronomy."
Apuleius is represented as saying to himself:--
"I approached the confines of death; and, having crossed the threshold
of Proserpine, I at length returned, borne along through all the
elements. I beheld the sun shining in the dead of night with luminous
splendour: I saw both the infernal and the celestial gods. I approached
and adored them."
Themistius represents initiation in the following words:--
"Entering now the mystic dome, he is filled with horror and amazement.
He is seized with solicitude and a total perplexity. He is unable to
move a step forward; and he is at a loss to find the entrance to that
road which is to lead him to the place he aspires to. But now, in the
midst of his perplexity, the prophet (hierophant) suddenly lays open to
him the space before the portals of the temple. Having thoroughly
purified him, the hierophant now discloses to the initiated a region all
over illuminated and shining with a divine splendour. The cloud and
thick darkness are dispersed; and the mind, which before was full of
disconsolate obscurity, now emerges, as it were, into day, replete with
light and cheerfulness, out of the profound depth into which it had been
plunged."
The fee for initiation was a minimum sum of fifteen drachmas (a drachma
being of the value of 7 3/4d.), in addition to which there were the
usual honoraria to be bestowed upon the various officials, to which
reference has already been made. Presumably, also, gifts in kind were
made to the principal officials, for an inscription of the fifth century
B.C., found at Eleusis, reads:--
"Let the Hierophant and the Torch-bearer command that at the Mysteries
the Hellenes shall offer first-fruits of their crops in accordance with
ancestral usage.... To those who do these things there shall be many
good things, both good and abundant crops, whoever of them do not injure
the Athenians, nor the city of Athens, nor the two goddesses."
The Telestrion or Hall of Initiation, sometimes called "The Mystic
Temple," was surrounded on all sides by steps, which presumably served
as seats for the initiated while the sacred dramas and processions took
place on the floor of the hall. These steps were partly built in and
partly cut in the solid rock; in later times they appear to have been
covered with marble. There were two doors on each side of the hall with
the exception of the north-west, where the entrance was cut out of the
solid rock, a rock terrace at a higher level adjoining it. This was
probably the station of those not yet admitted to full initiation. The
roof of the hall was carried by rows of columns which were more than
once renewed. The Hall itself did not accommodate more than four
thousand people. The building was perhaps more accurately described by
Aristophanes, who called it: "The House that welcomed the Mystæ," and he
carefully distinguished it from the Temple of Demeter. It was not the
dwelling-place of any god, and it, therefore, did not contain any holy
image. It was built for the celebration of a definite ritual, and the
Eleusinian Hall of Initiation was therefore the only known _church_ of
antiquity, if by that term we mean the meeting-place of the
congregation.
Mr. James Christie, in his work on _Greek Vases,_ contends that the
phantasmal scenes in the Mysteries were shown by transparencies, such as
are yet used by the Chinese, Javanese, and Hindus.
V
THEIR MYSTICAL SIGNIFICANCE
Life, as we know it, was looked upon by the ancient philosophers as
death. Plato considered the body as the sepulchre of the soul, and in
the _Cratylus_ acquiesces in the doctrine of Orpheus that the soul is
punished through its union with the body. Empedocles, lamenting his
connection with this corporeal world, pathetically exclaimed:--
For this I weep, for this indulge my woe,
That e'er my soul such novel realms should know.
He also calls this material abode, or the realms of generation,
a joyless region,
Where slaughter, rage, and countless ills reside.
Philolaus, the celebrated Pythagorean, wrote: "The ancient theologists
and priests testify that the soul is united with the body for the sake
of suffering punishment, and that it is buried in the body as in a
sepulchre"; while Pythagoras himself said: "Whatever we see when awake
is death, and when asleep a dream."
This is the truth intended to be expressed in the Mysteries. Sallustius,
the neo-Platonic philosopher, in his treatise _Peri Theon kai Kosmou_,
"Concerning the gods and the existing state of things," explains the
rape of Persephone as signifying the descent of the soul. Other writers
have explained the real element of the Mysteries as consisting in the
relations of the universe to the soul, more especially after death, or
as intimating obscurely by splendid visions the felicity of the soul
here and hereafter when purified from the defilements of a material
nature. The intention of all mystic ceremonies, according to Sallustius,
was to conjoin the world and the gods. Plotinus says that to be plunged
into matter is to descend and then fall asleep. The initiate had to
withstand the dæmons and spectres, which, in later times, illustrated
the difficulties besetting the soul in its approach to the gods, so also
the Uasarian had to repel or satisfy the mystic crocodiles, vipers,
avenging assessors, dæmons of the gate, and other dread beings whom he
encountered in his trying passage through the valley of the shadow of
death. Pindar, speaking of the Eleusinian Mysteries, says: "Blessed is
he who, on seeing those common concerns under the earth, knows both the
end of life and the given end of Jupiter."
Psyche is said to have fallen asleep in Hades through rashly attempting
to behold corporeal beauty, and the truth intended to be taught in the
Eleusinian Mysteries was that prudent men who earnestly employed
themselves in divine concerns were, above all others, in a vigilant
state, and that imprudent men who pursued objects of an inferior nature
were asleep, and engaged only in the delusion of dreams; and that if
they happened to die in this sleep before they were aroused they would
be afflicted with similar, but still sharper, visions in a future state.
Matter was regarded by the Egyptians as a certain mire or mud. They
called matter the dregs or sediment of the first life. Before the first
purification the candidate for initiation into the Eleusinian Mysteries
was besmeared with clay or mud which it was the object of the
purification to wash away. It also intimated that while the soul is in a
state of servitude to the body it lives confined, as it were, in bonds
through the dominion of this Titanic life. Thus the Greeks laid great
stress upon the advantages to be derived from initiation. Not only were
the initiates placed under the protection of the State, but the very act
of initiation was said to assist in the spreading of goodwill among men,
keep the soul from sin and crime, place the initiates under the special
protection of the gods, and provide them with the means of attaining
perfect virtue, the power of living a spotless life, and assure them of
a peaceful death and of everlasting bliss hereafter. The hierophants
assured all who participated in the Mysteries that they would have a
high place in Elysium, a clearer understanding, and a more intimate
intercourse with the gods, whereas the uninitiated would for ever remain
in outer darkness. Indeed, in the third degree the epoptæ were said to
be admitted to the presence of and converse with the goddesses Demeter
and Persephone, under whose immediate care and protection they were said
to be placed. Initiation was referred to frequently as a guarantee of
salvation conferred by outward and visible signs and by sacred formulæ.
The Lesser Mysteries were intended to symbolize the condition of the
soul while subservient to the body, and the liberation from this
servitude, through purgative virtues, was what the wisdom of the
Ancients intended to signify by the descent into Hades and the speedy
return from those dark abodes. They were held to contain perfective
rites and appearances and the tradition of the sacred doctrines
necessary to the perfection or accomplishment of the most splendid
visions. The perfective part, said Proclus, precedes initiation, as
initiation precedes inspection.
"Hercules," said Proclus also in _Plat. Polit_., "being purified by
sacred initiations and enjoying undefiled fruits, obtained at length a
perfect establishment among the gods"; that is, freed from the bondage
of matter ascending beyond the reach of its hands.
Plutarch wrote:--
"To die is to be initiated into the great mysteries,... Our whole life
is but a succession of errors, of painful wanderings, and of
long-journeys by tortuous ways, without outlet. At the moment of
quitting it, fears, terrors, quiverings, mortal sweats, and a lethargic
stupor come and overwhelm us; but, as soon as we are out of it, we pass
into delightful meadows, where the purest air is breathed, where sacred
concerts and discourses are heard; where, in short, one is impressed
with celestial visions. It is there that man, having become perfect
through his new initiation, restored to liberty, really master of
himself, celebrates, crowned with myrtle, the most august mysteries,
holds converse with just and pure souls, and sees with contempt the
impure multitude of the profane or uninitiated, ever plunged and sinking
itself into the mire and in profound darkness."
Dogmatic instruction was not included in the Mysteries; the doctrine of
the immortality of the soul traces its origin to sources anterior to the
rise of the Mysteries. At Eleusis the way was shown how to secure for
the soul after death the best possible fate. The miracle of
regeneration, rather than the eternity of being, was taught.
Plato introduces Socrates as saying: "In my opinion those who
established the Mysteries, whoever they were, were well skilled in human
nature. For in these rites it was of old signified to the aspirants that
those who died without being initiated stuck fast in mire and filth; but
that he who was purified and initiated should, at his death, have his
habitation with the gods."