THE ELEUSINIAN MYSTERIES OF ANCIENT GREECE

By TheaDidius

Eleusis. Image from Demeter - The Cult at Eleusis

The Eleusinian Mysteries was an Athenian festival held in honour of the goddess Demeter, and held at Eleusis, 15 miles NW of Athens. It was based on the myth that whilst Demeter searched for her daughter Persephone, who was taken to the underworld by Hades, her duties as a grain and fertility goddess were neglected. Zeus intervened, and Persephone only had to spend some of the year in the underworld. The Mysteries were held in order to provide a happy afterlife (which not many cults had) for the initiates.

The Eleusinian Mysteries was open to all Greek-speaking men, women and slaves as long as they had not murdered anybody. Children were excluded, perhaps because the members needed to understand what was going on, more so than a child would understand.

Beginning in Athens, the participants of the ceremony cleansed themselves in the sea, and then sacrificed a piglet. The procession started at Kerameikos (the ancient cemetery of Athens), and went to Eleusis. The next day they fasted, as Demeter did when in mourning for Persephone, followed by the drinking of a special brew of barley water mixed with penny-royal called kykeon. The climax of the cememony took place in an initiation hall called the Telesterion. The rituals here were kept secret from all but the initiates.