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 unnitiated. 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 punishnent was meted out to any person not initiated into the mysteries who chanced to be present at their celebraion, 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 initited 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.
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 afterwards were displayed 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.
No one was permitted to attend the Mysteries who had incurred the 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 ofiered 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 tOth 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 members possessed the hereditary and sole right to the secrets of the Mysteries. Hence the recognition by the State to their exclusive right and privilege to direct the initiations and to provide each a half of the religious staff of the temple.
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, 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 formulae 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 voicee 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 released 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 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 commandng 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 purifactory 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 peculiarly 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 celebration 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.
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 Dinias 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 suhstituted for the proper names. 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 inscriDtions 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 torchbearers 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 heing offered they were the leaders of the sacred music, who had under their charge the hynmodoi, 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, known by the general name of Melissae, i.e., bees, perhaps so-called because bees, being makers of honey, were sacred to Demeter. 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 Epimeletae, 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.
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. 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 restriction, as to admission began to be relaxed, and in proportion to that relaxation, their essential religious character disappeared and they became a mere 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.
(to be continued)
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