A votive plaque known as the Ninnion Tablet depicting elements of the Eleusinian Mysteries, discovered in the sanctuary at Eleusis (mid-4th century BC)
The Eleusinian Mysteries (Greek: Ἐλευσίνια Μυστήρια, romanized: Eleusínia Mystḗria) were initiations held every year for the cult of Demeter and Persephone based at the Panhellenic Sanctuary of Eleusis in ancient Greece. They are considered the "most famous of the secret religious rites of ancient Greece".[1] Their basis was a Bronze Age agrarian cult,[2] and there is some evidence that they were derived from the religious practices of the Mycenean period.[3][4] The Mysteries represented the myth of the abduction of Persephone from her mother Demeter by the king of the underworld Hades, in a cycle with three phases: the descent (loss), the search, and the ascent, with the main theme being the ascent (ἄνοδος) of Persephone and the reunion with her mother. It was a major festival during the Hellenic era, and later spread to Rome.[5] Similar religious rites appear in the agricultural societies of the Near East and in Minoan Crete.
The rites, ceremonies, and beliefs were kept secret and consistently preserved from antiquity.[6] For the initiated, the rebirth of Persephone symbolized the eternity of life which flows from generation to generation, and they believed that they would have a reward in the afterlife.[7][8] There are many paintings and pieces of pottery that depict various aspects of the Mysteries. Since the Mysteries involved visions and conjuring of an afterlife, some scholars believe that the power and longevity of the Eleusinian Mysteries, a consistent set of rites, ceremonies and experiences that spanned two millennia, came from psychedelic drugs [disputed – discuss].[9][10] The name of the town, Eleusis, seems to be pre-Greek, and is likely a counterpart with Elysium and the goddess Eileithyia.[11]
^Encyclopædia Britannica
^Martin P. Nilsson, Vol I, p. 470
^Dietrich (1975) The origins of Greek Religion. Bristol Phoenix Press pp. 166, 167
^Walter Burkert. (1985)Greek Religion. Harvard University Press. p. 285
^Ouvaroff, M. (alternatively given as Sergei Semenovich Uvarov, or Sergey Uvarov, 1786–1855) (Translated from the French by J. D. Price) Essay on the Mysteries of Eleusis, London : Rodwell and Martin, 1817 (Reprint: United States: Kessinger Publishing, 2004). Ouvaroff does write that fixing the earliest foundation date to the Eleusinian Mysteries is fraught with problems.
^Tripolitis, Antonia. Religions of the Hellenistic-Roman Age. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, November 2001. pp. 16–21.
^Burkert, Walter. Ancient Mystery Cults. Harvard University Press (1987) pp. 20-25. ISBN 978-0674033870
^Bremmer, Jan N. The Rise and Fall of the Afterlife. Routledge (2001) pp 11-25 ISBN 978-0415141482
^Wasson, R. Gordon, Ruck, Carl, Hofmann, A., The Road to Eleusis: Unveiling the Secret of the Mysteries. Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, 1978.
^Eiland, Murray (2019). "Ancient Wellsprings of Religion and Creativity". Antiqvvs. 1 (2). Interview with Carl Ruck: 8–11.
^Elysion: The island of the happy dead (Hesiod: Works and days 166ff.).Eileithyia. A Minoan goddess of childbirth and divine midwifery: F.Schachermeyer(1967). Die Minoische Kultur des alten Kreta. W. Kohlhammer Stuttgart. pp. 141–142
and 28 Related for: Eleusinian Mysteries information
The EleusinianMysteries (Greek: Ἐλευσίνια Μυστήρια, romanized: Eleusínia Mystḗria) were initiations held every year for the cult of Demeter and Persephone...
great Eleusinian procession travelled from Athens to Eleusis, along the Sacred Way. Eleusis was the site of the EleusinianMysteries, or the Mysteries of...
goddess, and her mother Demeter were the central figures of the EleusinianMysteries, which promised the initiated a happy afterlife. The origins of her...
of Zeus; or the twice-born son of Zeus and the mortal Semele. The EleusinianMysteries identify him with Iacchus, the son or husband of Demeter. Most accounts...
included the Eleusinianmysteries, the Dionysian mysteries and the Orphic mysteries. Twice each year, initiates of the Eleusinianmysteries travelled to...
She and her daughter Persephone were the central figures of the EleusinianMysteries, a religious tradition that predated the Olympian pantheon and which...
compounded brew, as in the case of the EleusinianMysteries. A kykeon was used at the climax of the EleusinianMysteries to break a sacred fast, but it is...
The EleusinianMysteries hydria from Capua is a 4th-century BCE ancient Greek red-figure hydria, showing the reunion of Demeter and Persephone at the start...
importance, particularly at Athens and Eleusis in connection with the Eleusinianmysteries, but without any significant mythology. He perhaps originated as...
to priests. They included the EleusinianMysteries, Mithraism, the Cult of Isis, and the Cult of Sol Invictus. Mystery traditions were popular in ancient...
Clement presents the fragment as proof of the depravity of the EleusinianMysteries and Greek religion more generally. The context he provides for the...
the most important one Hades takes part in; it also connected the EleusinianMysteries with the Olympian pantheon, particularly as represented in the Homeric...
the Greco-Roman world. They were modeled on other mystery rites, particularly the Eleusinianmysteries in honor of the Greek goddesses Demeter and Persephone...
death-rebirth theme, common among agricultural cults such as the EleusinianMysteries. The Osirian Mysteries paralleled the Dionysian, according to contemporary Greek...
romanized: Déspoina) was the epithet of a goddess worshiped by the EleusinianMysteries in Ancient Greece as the daughter of Demeter and Poseidon and the...
Heracles was aided in his mission by his being an initiate of the EleusinianMysteries. Euripides has his initiation being "lucky" for Heracles in capturing...
Some rites were held at night. Orgia were part of the EleusinianMysteries, the Dionysian Mysteries, and the cult of Cybele, which involved the castration...
of this association, Hecate was one of the chief goddesses of the EleusinianMysteries, alongside Demeter and Persephone, and there was a temple dedicated...
Archaeological Museum, Athens in Greece. It depicts a scene of the EleusinianMysteries with the principal deities, Demeter, Persephone and the hero Triptolemus...
like the EleusinianMysteries. The use of the word lacked any direct references to the transcendental. A "mystikos" was an initiate of a mystery religion...
long established were the EleusinianMysteries, associated with Demeter and Persephone. People were indoctrinated into mystery religions through initiation...
and his friends of mutilating the statues, and of profaning the EleusinianMysteries. Later his opponents, chief among them being Androcles and Thessalus...
in the 6th century BC and rebuilt two centuries later, when the Eleusinianmysteries were at the height of their influence. The cave was the traditional...
called because it was the route taken by a procession celebrating the EleusinianMysteries. The procession to Eleusis began at the Sacred Gate in the Kerameikos...
821. Clinton, Kevin (1992). Myth and Cult: The Iconography of the EleusinianMysteries. Stockholm. pp. 105–107.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing...
and the second was related to Daeira a divinity connected with the Eleusinianmysteries. At Eleusis Ge received a premilinary offering among other gods....
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