The Eleusinian Mysteries
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Ancient Religions: Public Worship of the Greeks and Romans by E.M
Ancient Religions: Public worship of the Greeks and Romans By E.M. Berens, adapted by Newsela staff on 10.07.16 Word Count 1,250 Level 1190L TOP: The temple and oracle of Apollo, called the Didymaion in Didyma, an ancient Greek sanctuary on the coast of Ionia (now Turkey), Wikimedia Commons. MIDDLE: The copper statue of Zeus of Artemision in the National Archaeological Museum, Athens, Greece. BOTTOM: Engraving shows the Oracle of Delphi, bathed in shaft of light atop a pedestal and surrounded by cloaked figures, Delphi, Greece. Getty Images. Temples Long ago, the Greeks had no shrines or sanctuaries for public worship. They performed their devotions beneath the vast and boundless canopy of heaven, in the great temple of nature itself. Believing that their gods lived above in the clouds, worshippers naturally searched for the highest available points to place themselves in the closest communion possible with their gods. Therefore, the summits of high mountains were selected for devotional purposes. The inconvenience of worshipping outdoors gradually suggested the idea of building temples that would offer shelter from bad weather. These first temples were of the most simple form, without decoration. As the Greeks became a wealthy and powerful people, temples were built and adorned with great splendor and magnificence. So massively were they constructed that some of them have withstood the ravages of This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com. time. The city of Athens especially contains numerous remains of these buildings of antiquity. These ruins are most valuable since they are sufficiently complete to enable archaeologists to study the plan and character of the original structures. -
Liquids in Temple Ritual
UCLA UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology Title Liquids in Temple Ritual Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/7gh1n151 Journal UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology, 1(1) Author Poo, Mu-Chou Publication Date 2010-09-25 Peer reviewed eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California LIQUIDS IN TEMPLE RITUAL السوائل بطقوس المعابد Mu-chou Poo EDITORS WILLEKE WENDRICH Editor-in-Chief Area Editor Material Culture University of California, Los Angeles JACCO DIELEMAN Editor University of California, Los Angeles ELIZABETH FROOD Editor University of Oxford JOHN BAINES Senior Editorial Consultant University of Oxford Short Citation: Poo 2010, Liquids in Temple Ritual. UEE. Full Citation: Poo, Mu-chou, 2010, Liquids in Temple Ritual. In Willeke Wendrich (ed.), UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology, Los Angeles. http://digital2.library.ucla.edu/viewItem.do?ark=21198/zz0025dxbr 1088 Version 1, September 2010 http://digital2.library.ucla.edu/viewItem.do?ark=21198/zz0025dxbr LIQUIDS IN TEMPLE RITUAL السوائل بطقوس المعابد Mu-chou Poo Flüssigkeiten im Tempelritual Les liquides utilisés dans les rituels du temple In ancient Egypt the liquids most commonly used in temple rituals included wine, beer, milk, and water. The meaning of the ritual act was intimately related to the nature of the liquid employed, as well as to whatever religious and mythological associations the liquid was known to possess. With the exception of beer, all the ritual offerings of liquids were connected in some way with the idea of rejuvenation. كانت أكثر السوائل المستخدمة بالطقوس بالمعابد ھي النبيذ والجعة والحليب والماء، فكان مغزى الطقسه مرتبط بطبيعة السائل المستخدم وأيضاً متعلق باﻹرتباطات الدينية واﻷسطورية المعروفة عن ھذا السائل. -
Resounding Mysteries: Sound and Silence in the Eleusinian Soundscape
Body bar (print) issn 2057–5823 and bar (online) issn 2057–5831 Religion Article Resounding mysteries: sound and silence in the Eleusinian soundscape Georgia Petridou Abstract The term ‘soundscape’, as coined by the Canadian composer R. Murray Schafer at the end of the 1960s, refers to the part of the acoustic environment that is per- ceivable by humans. This study attempts to reconstruct roughly the Eleusinian ‘soundscape’ (the words and the sounds made and heard, and those others who remained unheard) as participants in the Great Mysteries of the two Goddesses may have perceived it in the Classical and post-Classical periods. Unlike other mystery cults (e.g. the Cult of Cybele and Attis) whose soundscapes have been meticulously investigated, the soundscape of Eleusis has received relatively little attention, since the visual aspect of the Megala Mysteria of Demeter and Kore has for decades monopolised the scholarly attention. This study aims at putting things right on this front, and simultaneously look closely at the relational dynamic of the acoustic segment of Eleusis as it can be surmised from the work of well-known orators and philosophers of the first and second centuries ce. Keywords: Demeter; Eleusis; Kore; mysteries; silence; sound; soundscape Affiliation University of Liverpool, UK. email: [email protected] bar vol 2.1 2018 68–87 doi: https://doi.org/10.1558/bar.36485 ©2018, equinox publishing RESOUNDING MYSTERIES: SOUND AND SILENCE IN THE ELEUSINIAN SOUNDSCAPE 69 Sound, like breath, is experienced as a movement of coming and going, inspiration and expiration. If that is so, then we should say of the body, as it sings, hums, whistles or speaks, that it is ensounded. -
The Lesser Mysteries of Eleusis Stefanie Goodart, M.A., S.R.C
The Lesser Mysteries of Eleusis Stefanie Goodart, M.A., S.R.C he town of Eleusis, twelve miles from Haides as an uninitiate and non-participant Athens, was home to the famous in the initiation rites will lie in mud, but he TEleusinian Mysteries. People would or she who has been both purified and has come from all parts of Greece to be initiated into participated in the initiation rites, upon this cult of “The Two Goddesses,” Demeter and arrival there, will dwell with the gods.”4 Persephone. The Mysteries consisted of two parts, Scholars have reason to believe that prior the Lesser Mysteries, which were conducted in to the fifth century BCE, these purification the spring (Athenian month of Anthesterion), rituals took place in the courtyard of the and the Greater Mysteries, which took place in Eleusinian Telesterion.5 However, there were the autumn (Athenian month of Boedromion). also very similar purification rituals that were The Lesser Mysteries can best be taking place in Athens, near the Ilissos River. characterized as a preliminary purification Around the middle of the fifth century, the that a candidate must undergo before sacred officials from Eleusis decided that taking part in the Greater Mysteries.1 Even the Athenian purifications could serve as Socrates comments that one is not permitted the necessary prerequisite to the Greater 6 to be initiated into the Greater Mysteries Mysteries. Thus, a new tradition began, without having first been initiated into the in which candidates underwent the initial 7 Lesser.2 Plutarch wrote that “in mystery purifications in Athens in the spring. -
The Higher Aspects of Greek Religion. Lectures Delivered at Oxford and In
BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME FROM THE SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND THE GIET OF Henirg m. Sage 1891 .A^^^ffM3. islm^lix.. 5931 CornelJ University Library BL 25.H621911 The higher aspects of Greek religion.Lec 3 1924 007 845 450 The original of tiiis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924007845450 THE HIBBERT LECTURES SECOND SERIES 1911 THE HIBBERT LECTURES SECOND SERIES THE HIGHER ASPECTS OF GREEK RELIGION LECTURES DELIVERED AT OXFORD AND IN LONDON IN APRIL AND MAY igii BY L. R. FARNELL, D.Litt. WILDE LECTURER IN THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD LONDON WILLIAMS AND NORGATE GARDEN, W.C. 14 HENRIETTA STREET, COVENT 1912 CONTENTS Lecture I GENERAL FEATURES AND ORIGINS OF GREEK RELIGION Greek religion mainly a social-political system, 1. In its earliest " period a " theistic creed, that is^ a worship of personal individual deities, ethical personalities rather than mere nature forces, 2. Anthrqgomorphism its predominant bias, 2-3. Yet preserving many primitive features of " animism " or " animatism," 3-5. Its progress gradual without violent break with its distant past, 5-6. The ele- ment of magic fused with the religion but not predominant, 6-7. Hellenism and Hellenic religion a blend of two ethnic strains, one North-Aryan, the other Mediterranean, mainly Minoan-Mycenaean, 7-9. Criteria by which we can distinguish the various influences of these two, 9-1 6. The value of Homeric evidence, 18-20. Sum- mary of results, 21-24. Lecture II THE RELIGIOUS BOND AND MORALITY OF THE FAMILY The earliest type of family in Hellenic society patrilinear, 25-27. -
The Roots of Ritualism in Church and Masonry - Part 2 No
Adyar Pamphlets The Roots of Ritualism in Church and Masonry - Part 2 No. 110 The Roots of Ritualism in Church and Masonry - Part 2 by H.P. Blavasky Reprinted from Lucifer Volume IV - March 1889 Published in 1920 Theosophical Publishing House, Adyar, Chennai [Madras] India The Theosophist Office, Adyar, Madras. India VII The ritualism of primitive Christianity — as now sufficiently shown — sprang from ancient Masonry. The latter was, in its turn, the offspring of the, then, almost dead Mysteries. Of these we have now a few words to say. It is well known that throughout antiquity, besides the popular worship composed of the dead-letter forms and empty exoteric ceremonies, every nation had its secret cult known to the world as the MYSTERIES. Strabo, one among many others, warrants for this assertion. ( Georg, lib. 10) No one received admittance into them save those prepared for it by special training. The neophytes instructed in the upper temples were initiated into the final Mysteries in the crypts. These instructions were the last surviving heirlooms of archaic wisdom, and it is [Page 2] under the guidance of high Initiates that they were enacted. We use the word “enacted” purposely; for the oral instructions at low breath were given only in the crypts, in solemn silence and secrecy. During the public classes and general teachings, the lessons in cosmogony and theogony were delivered in allegorical representation, the modus operandi of the gradual evolution of Kosmos, worlds, and finally of our earth, of gods and men, all was imparted in a symbolical way. The great public performances during the festivals of the Mysteries, were witnessed by the masses and the personified truths worshipped by the multitudes — blindly. -
Queen Arsinoë II, the Maritime Aphrodite and Early Ptolemaic Ruler Cult
ΑΡΣΙΝΟΗ ΕΥΠΛΟΙΑ Queen Arsinoë II, the Maritime Aphrodite and Early Ptolemaic Ruler Cult Carlos Francis Robinson Bachelor of Arts (Hons. 1) A thesis submitted for the degree of Master of Philosophy at The University of Queensland in 2019 Historical and Philosophical Inquiry Abstract Queen Arsinoë II, the Maritime Aphrodite and Early Ptolemaic Ruler Cult By the early Hellenistic period a trend was emerging in which royal women were deified as Aphrodite. In a unique innovation, Queen Arsinoë II of Egypt (c. 316 – 270 BC) was deified as the maritime Aphrodite, and was associated with the cult titles Euploia, Akraia, and Galenaië. It was the important study of Robert (1966) which identified that the poets Posidippus and Callimachus were honouring Arsinoë II as the maritime Aphrodite. This thesis examines how this new third-century BC cult of ‘Arsinoë Aphrodite’ adopted aspects of Greek cults of the maritime Aphrodite, creating a new derivative cult. The main historical sources for this cult are the epigrams of Posidippus and Callimachus, including a relatively new epigram (Posidippus AB 39) published in 2001. This thesis demonstrates that the new cult of Arsinoë Aphrodite utilised existing traditions, such as: Aphrodite’s role as patron of fleets, the practice of dedications to Aphrodite by admirals, the use of invocations before sailing, and the practice of marine dedications such as shells. In this way the Ptolemies incorporated existing religious traditions into a new form of ruler cult. This study is the first attempt to trace the direct relationship between Ptolemaic ruler cult and existing traditions of the maritime Aphrodite, and deepens our understanding of the strategies of ruler cult adopted in the early Hellenistic period. -
The Religious Prehistory of Demeter's Eleusinian Mysteries
BERNARD DIETRICH THE RELIGIOUS PREHISTORY OF DEMETER'S ELEUSINIAN MYSTERIES It has often been said that the Greek Mystery cults were unique and that their innermost secrets were well kept and buried with the long suc cession of initiates over a millennium and more I. This was certainly true of the myth and ritual and of points of detail in ceremony and belief, but in general Greek Mystery cults shared some basic features with other religions and therefore belonged to an exceedingly old tradition which antedated the development of new religious concepts in the archaic Greek world. Behind the sophisticated Mysteries of the classical age there lay ideas which had been fundamental to religious thought from prehistoric times concerning the fertility of vegetation and nature in general under the protective guidance of a Nature or Mother goddess. Within that framework great variety could exist from region to region, because, although the most successful cults like those of Samothrace and the Eleusinian Demeter spread their influence to other centres, in essence Mystery cults tended to be localised. In other words, despite common features between all these cults, each major centre had, as it were, something special to offer to ensure the loyalty of generations of worshippers. Also it is easy to overlook the important point that, shared origins apart, the sense of promise and otherworldliness which came to be incorporated in the fully developed Greek Mysteries could only flourish in an age that was receptive to their particular religious message. This meant the archaic age and especially the sixth century, for it provided the most fertile ground on which the Mystery cults could grow to their full potential and which laid the foundation of their tremendous influence in Hellenistic and Roman times. -
Leto As Mother: Representations of Leto with Apollo and Artemis in Attic Vase Painting of the Fifth Century B.C
https://publications.dainst.org iDAI.publications ELEKTRONISCHE PUBLIKATIONEN DES DEUTSCHEN ARCHÄOLOGISCHEN INSTITUTS Dies ist ein digitaler Sonderdruck des Beitrags / This is a digital offprint of the article Lavinia Foukara Leto as Mother: Representations of Leto with Apollo and Artemis in Attic Vase Painting of the Fifth Century B.C. aus / from Archäologischer Anzeiger Ausgabe / Issue Seite / Page 63–83 https://publications.dainst.org/journals/aa/2027/6626 • urn:nbn:de:0048-journals.aa-2017-1-p63-83-v6626.5 Verantwortliche Redaktion / Publishing editor Redaktion der Zentrale | Deutsches Archäologisches Institut Weitere Informationen unter / For further information see https://publications.dainst.org/journals/aa ISSN der Online-Ausgabe / ISSN of the online edition 2510-4713 ISSN der gedruckten Ausgabe / ISSN of the printed edition Verlag / Publisher Ernst Wasmuth Verlag GmbH & Co. Tübingen ©2019 Deutsches Archäologisches Institut Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, Zentrale, Podbielskiallee 69–71, 14195 Berlin, Tel: +49 30 187711-0 Email: [email protected] / Web: dainst.org Nutzungsbedingungen: Mit dem Herunterladen erkennen Sie die Nutzungsbedingungen (https://publications.dainst.org/terms-of-use) von iDAI.publications an. Die Nutzung der Inhalte ist ausschließlich privaten Nutzerinnen / Nutzern für den eigenen wissenschaftlichen und sonstigen privaten Gebrauch gestattet. Sämtliche Texte, Bilder und sonstige Inhalte in diesem Dokument unterliegen dem Schutz des Urheberrechts gemäß dem Urheberrechtsgesetz der Bundesrepublik Deutschland. Die Inhalte können von Ihnen nur dann genutzt und vervielfältigt werden, wenn Ihnen dies im Einzelfall durch den Rechteinhaber oder die Schrankenregelungen des Urheberrechts gestattet ist. Jede Art der Nutzung zu gewerblichen Zwecken ist untersagt. Zu den Möglichkeiten einer Lizensierung von Nutzungsrechten wenden Sie sich bitte direkt an die verantwortlichen Herausgeberinnen/Herausgeber der entsprechenden Publikationsorgane oder an die Online-Redaktion des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts ([email protected]). -
THE ELEUSINIAN MYSTERIES of DEMETER and PERSEPHONE: Fertility, Sexuality, Ancl Rebirth Mara Lynn Keller
THE ELEUSINIAN MYSTERIES OF DEMETER AND PERSEPHONE: Fertility, Sexuality, ancl Rebirth Mara Lynn Keller The story of Demeter and Persephone, mother and daugher naturc goddesses, provides us with insights into the core beliefs by which earl) agrarian peoples of the Mediterranean related to “the creative forces of thc universe”-which some people call God, or Goddess.’ The rites of Demetei and Persephone speak to the experiences of life that remain through all time< the most mysterious-birth, sexuality, death-and also to the greatest niys tery of all, enduring love. In these ceremonies, women and inen expressec joy in the beauty and abundance of nature, especially the bountiful harvest in personal love, sexuality and procreation; and in the rebirth of the humail spirit, even through suffering and death. Cicero wrote of these rites: “Wc have been given a reason not only to live in joy, but also to die with bettei hope. ”2 The Mother Earth religion ceIebrated her children’s birth, enjoyment of life and loving return to her in death. The Earth both nourished the living and welcomed back into her body the dead. As Aeschylus wrote in TIic Libation Bearers: Yea, summon Earth, who brings all things to life and rears, and takes again into her womb.3 I wish to express my gratitude for the love and wisdom of my mother, hlary 1’. Keller, and of Dr. Muriel Chapman. They have been invaluable soiirces of insight and under- standing for me in these studies. So also have been the scholarship, vision atdot- friendship of Carol €! Christ, Charlene Spretnak, Deem Metzger, Carol Lee Saiichez, Ruby Rohrlich, Starhawk, Jane Ellen Harrison, Kiane Eisler, Alexis Masters, Richard Trapp, John Glanville, Judith Plaskow, Jim Syfers, Jim Moses, Bonnie blacCregor and Lil Moed. -
The Eleusinian Mysteries
The Eleusinian Mysteries by Iordanis Poulkouras (trans. Sasha Chaitow) Paper Presented at the 7th Esoteric Quest Conference on The Mysteries and Philosophies of Antiquity, Samothrace, September 2008 Our topic is the Eleusinian Mysteries, perhaps one of the best-known mystery cults of all time. They are rooted in a very ancient time, long before the city state of Athens or the official worship of the Olympian Gods ever existed. Despite this, they have retained their sacrality and commanded respect within various eras and cultures, almost as if they have their own secret and magical way of evoking something in the soul or subconscious of man. I am not sure which term to use – the citizen of classical Greece, Imperial Rome, Enlightenment Europe or even our own Digital reality. There is a host of very proliferous narratives and legends around the theme of these Mysteries. Yet their accuracy is questionable since true initiates took a heavy oath of silence bestowed by the goddess herself. So let us try to make sense of what information we do have. What and When In one prophecy to the Athenians relating to the worship of Dionysus Elefthereos – Latinised to Pater Liber - the Delphi oracle reminded the citizens that the god had returned to the city together with Demeter during the reign of the King of Athens Pandion. The goddess did not stay, but went to Eleusis where she was received by King Keleos. This prophecy would put the inception of the Eleusinian Mysteries at around the 13th century BC. However, it is more or less certain that they actually date to the Minoan period when the worship of the Great Goddess predominated. -
A Theology of Memory: the Concept of Memory in the Greek Experience of the Divine
A Theology of Memory: The Concept of Memory in the Greek Experience of the Divine Master’s Thesis Presented to The Faculty of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Brandeis University Department of Classical Studies Leonard Muellner, Advisor In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For Master’s Degree by Michiel van Veldhuizen May 2012 ABSTRACT A Theology of Memory: The Concept of Memory in the Greek Experience of the Divine A thesis presented to the Department of Classical Studies Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Brandeis University Waltham, Massachusetts By Michiel van Veldhuizen To the ancient Greek mind, memory is not just concerned with remembering events in the past, but also concerns knowledge about the present, and even the future. Through a structural analysis of memory in Greek mythology and philosophy, we may come to discern the particular role memory plays as the facilitator of vertical movement, throwing a bridge between the realms of humans and gods. The concept of memory thus plays a significant role in the Greek experience of the divine, as one of the vertical bridges that relates mortality and divinity. In the theology of Mnemosyne, who is Memory herself and mother of the Muses, memory connects not only to the singer-poet’s religiously efficacious speech of prophetic omniscience, but also to the idea of Truth itself. The domain of memory, then, shapes the way in which humans have access to the divine, the vertical dimension of which is expliticly expressed in the descent-ascent of the ritual passage of initiation. The present study thus lays bare the theology of Memory.