MISTRESSES OF GRAIN AND SOULS
Demeter’s origins as a grain goddess must lie in the Neolithic period with the advent of agriculture. Her name contains the Greek word for “mother,” but whether the initial syllable means “earth,” “grain,” or something else has long been debated. Homer had little interest in Demeter and none in her relationship with Kore (the Maiden), though Persephone appears in epic poetry as the bride of Hades. The queen of the dead (Attic Pherephatta) has a non-Greek name and must have been in origin a deity separate from Demeter’s daughter. Even after the two were firmly and inextricably identified, they were often paradoxically represented in cult as two distinct personages. Eleusinian iconography and terminology, for example, juxtaposed Thea, the underworld goddess, with Kore, the daughter. The Greeks avoided pronouncing or inscribing the ominous name Persephone in cult contexts, replacing it with Kore or other euphemisms, though such caution was less often exercised by the poets. Demeter and Kore were frequently worshiped together under such names as the Two Goddesses, the Thesmophoroi, or the Great Goddesses.
Demeter sanctuaries tended to be scattered in neighborhoods rather than centralized, probably because they were used for local celebrations of the Thesmophoria, Demeter’s main festival. In spite of their crucial role in the prosperity of the city, Demeter and Kore rarely functioned as civic gods. Exceptional were Thebes, where Demeter’s sanctuary occupied prime civic space on the Kadmeia, and certain cities of Sicily and Magna Graecia, where the two goddesses were dominant presences in the pantheon. In the Greek West, Kore/Persephone herself was sometimes the more prominent partner of the two, and played an important role in the social construction of marriage and the rites leading to adulthood for women and men. In keeping with Kore’s significance as the archetypal bride, the western colonies saw the core of the myth as the theogamy of Persephone/Kore and Hades, rather than the reunion of Demeter and Kore after the latter’s abduction, which was the focus of the famous Eleusinian Mysteries.
Thesmophoria
The most widespread festival of Demeter and Kore, and one of the most popular of all Greek rites, was the women’s festival known as the Thesmophoria. The term thesmos means “that which is laid down,” hence laws, rites, or revered customs. As the presiding deities, the two goddesses were called Thesmophoroi (Bringers of the Divine Law) because the introduction of grain cultivation was considered the origin of civilized life. Some scholars believe that the “things laid down” are to be understood in a much more literal sense, as the dead piglets deposited during the central rite of the festival. Still, the epithet unquestionably conveys the respect in which the goddesses were held, as do other cult titles such as Megalai Theai (Great Goddesses) and Hagnai Theai (Pure Goddesses). Each year, normally in late summer or early fall, married Greek women gathered in the local Demeter sanctuary, often called the Thesmophorion. Although celebration of the festival was generally not centralized, one sanctuary might be more heavily frequented than the rest. Most had a few modest cult buildings or a simple shrine called a megaron rather than an elaborate temple, but they are relatively easy to identify as sanctuaries of Demeter and Kore by the objects left behind: ceramic tableware; water jars; terracottas of the goddesses or their votaries, often carrying a piglet; pig bones; numerous lamps for the nocturnal parts of the rites; and the remains of ritual meals.
Literary evidence for the exclusion of males is plentiful. Herodotus (6.134) tells how the Athenian general Miltiades attempted to enter a restricted building (megaron) in the sanctuary on Paros – perhaps to meddle with the “untouchable” things there – and as a result of divine anger was stricken with a fatal case of gangrene. Xenophon says (Hell. 5.2.29) that the men of Thebes kept clear of the Kadmeia while the women were performing the rites there, going so far as to hold the boule¯ (council) in the agora rather than its usual place on the akropolis. Men’s dedications are often found at these sites, so we know that their exclusion was not complete. Demeter sanctuaries were apparently used for a number of different observances throughout the year, only some of which involved ritual gender segregation.
The sacred objects used and acts performed during the Thesmophoria were kept secret. We hear of ritual dances, processions, and special foods, particularly bread. The Delian celebration, held in the late summer month of Metageitnion, involved an event called the Megalartia (Large Loaves), and bread seems to have played an important role in the celebrations at Korinth . Only one source, a scholiast on Lucian (Dial. meret. 2.1), describes the ritual in detail, and his version refers to Attic custom. He writes that piglets are cast into the “chasms of Demeter and Kore” in honor of Eubouleus, a herdsman whose swine were swallowed in the abyss when Hades abducted Kore (Eubouleus reappears as a deity in Eleusis). After an unspecified period, the rotted remains of the piglets are brought up from the chasms (also called aduta, innermost chambers, and megara, chambers) by ritually pure women, laid on the altars, and mixed with the seed grain to ensure a good harvest. The scholiast says that pine branches and phallic shapes made of wheat terracottas and lamps consistent with a sanctuary of Demeter and Kore, but not enough material to confirm the existence of a Thesmophorion.
Demeter, Kore, and the agricultural year
As one might expect, many festivals of Demeter and Kore were tied to the annual cycle of grain cultivation. Barley and wheat were the staple crops, sown during the fall in most Mediterranean lands. Great anxiety surrounded the fateful question of when to plough and sow, for the farmer must plant late enough to coincide with the fall rains, yet early enough to allow the shoots to become established before the onset of winter cold. Therefore the most important festivals and rituals connected with grain cultivation are clustered around sowing time.
As usual, we are best informed about the Attic year. Early in Pyanopsion (October/November), the Proerosia or pre-ploughing sacrifices took place in the demes, including Eleusis. In conjunction with the Proerosia there were at least three sacred ploughings, one at Skiron, one in the Rharian plain of Eleusis, and one in Athens. The Thesmophoria, with its ritual preparation of the seed, followed soon after. During the next month, Poseideion (December/January), the grain sprouted and began to grow. By the time of the Haloa at the winter solstice, it became evident whether the farmers had chosen their sowing dates wisely. Epigraphic evidence from the fourth century (IG II2 1672.124, 144) shows that huge amounts of firewood were used, probably for the bonfires typical of solstice ritual. At this point in the year, the grain was quiescent because of the cold; only the returning heat of the sun could bring it to fruition. Ancient accounts of the Haloa are late and confused, but it is clear that like the Thesmophoria, the festival involved a link between human and vegetable fertility. Temporarily flouting the rules of behavior for respectable females, women gathered at Eleusis drank wine, engaged in sexual banter, and handled pastries shaped like male and female genitals.
In Anthesterion (February/March) the Lesser Mysteries took place just as the grain stalks entered their prime phase of growth, celebrated in the Chloaia (Greening festival). This was probably the main festival of Demeter Chloë, though she also received a sacrifice at the harvest. Perhaps surprisingly, the main harvest observance, known in Attica and some Ionian cities as the Thargelia and in other Greek lands as the Thalysia, had early ties to Apollo and Artemis rather than Demeter. Homer (Il. 9.533–35) thinks of thalusia as first fruit offerings to Artemis, and Apollo was the patron of the Thargelia, but by the Hellenistic period Theocritus (Id. 7.31–38) describes the Thalysia on Kos as a Demeter festival. On the other hand, we know that Demeter was an important figure in the harvest folklore of Greek peasants, who sang songs to her as they reaped. The Kalamaia (Straw festival), probably held in the mid-summer month of Skirophorion, was an Attic/Ionian celebration of the threshing and winnowing. This was also the month of the Skira, a poorly dough are used the same way, all given as thank offerings for the generation of crops and the procreation of people.
The ritual deposition of piglets was probably widespread; piglets were cast into megara at Potniai in Boiotia, and excavations of Demeter and Kore sanctuaries at Knidos and Priene have uncovered such pits. At Eleusis, several deep shafts, which probably served this function, were found around the porch of the so-called Telesterion. Apparently, the story of Kore’s rape was the mythic foundation for the ritual; the piglet is also symbolic of the female genitals, and the piglets falling into the earth to be resurrected with the grain repeat the descent and ascent of Kore. Thus the Thesmophoria and the Eleusinian Mysteries shared the same myth, interpreted in different ways. Kevin Clinton has suggested that the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, usually thought to recount the origin of the Mysteries, is primarily an aetiological account of the Thesmophoria.
The Attic Thesmophoria was a three-day festival held a few weeks before the ploughing and sowing of the fields; we also hear of such festivals celebrated as early as midsummer (Thebes) and lasting as long as ten days (Sicily). Women gathered in the sanctuaries, bringing supplies of food and setting up tents as temporary accommodations. As part of the proceedings, the women engaged in sex-talk (aischrologia) and ritual mockery. This seems to have been a mainstay of the goddesses’ segregated worship; its mythic explanation is that when Demeter was grieving for Kore, scurrilous jokes and gestures caused her to smile. The sex-talk was the verbal equivalent of the piglets, pine branches and phallic shapes handled by the participants; the women’s heightened awareness of their own sexuality and reproductive ability was powerful (therefore it could be deployed to aid the growth of crops) yet dangerous to male prerogatives (therefore its unfettered expression was limited to the festival context).
The first day of the Athenian festival was called Anodos (Ascent), perhaps with reference to the women’s retrieval of material from the chasms. The second day was the Nesteia (Fasting), a day when no public business or sacrifice was conducted in the city. The last day was called Kalligeneia (Beautiful Offspring), making clear the connection between agricultural bounty and women’s fertility. This was probably a feast day, presided over by leaders (archousai) elected from each deme. It is clear from Isaeus’ speeches (3.80, 6.49–50, 8.19) that citizen matrons organized and attended the festival, but the sources conflict on the question of whether slaves and prostitutes could be present and in what capacities. Aristophanes’ Women at the Thesmophoria draws a vivid tableau of male suspicion and female revelry during the Thesmophoric ritual, which he sets on the Pnyx, in the same meeting place used by the Athenian assembly. Excavation in this area uncovered a few understood festival celebrated by married women who temporarily abstained from sex. Like the Thesmophoria, it was celebrated at a number of sites in Attica. Finally, the Eleusinian Mysteries were held in Boedromion (September/October), about a month before the ploughing and sowing began once more, renewing the agricultural cycle.
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| The Eleusinian Mysteries |
For a thousand years, people traveled to the small town of Eleusis in Attica in order to experience something profound, something that soothed their fears of death and enhanced their lives immeasurably. This most prestigious of mystery cults must have begun as a local rite open only to the people living nearby, but gradually it accommodated ever-larger numbers, including slaves and foreigners. Many secrets still surround the cult, for its hundreds of thousands of initiates kept their promise not to reveal what took place within the sanctuary. Still, a surprising amount is known from archaeological investigation of the once-inviolate precinct, the assertions of hostile Christian Fathers (which must be read with caution), and other scattered bits of subsidiary festival of Asklepios that began in 420 when the cult of Asklepios and Hygieia was introduced at Athens on this day.
The nineteenth brought the great pompe¯ (procession) and escort of the hiera back to Eleusis. Wearing garlands of myrtle and carrying bunches of myrtle twigs or bundles of provisions attached to the end of sticks, the mustai set out in a merry mood to walk about 22 km to the sanctuary. They were led by Iakchos, the god who personified the ritual cry “Iakche!” Because of the boisterous tone of the parade and similarity between the names Iakchos and Bakchos, the former began at an early date to be associated with Dionysos, yet he is a distinct Eleusinian deity. After arriving at the outer court of the sanctuary, where there was a temple of Artemis Propylaia (Before the Gateway) and the Eleusinian patron deity Poseidon, the mustai spent the rest of the evening celebrating the “reception of Iakchos” and singing and dancing at the well called Kallichoron (Place of Beautiful Dances). Perhaps this was also the day when kernoi, special offering trays equipped with cups of various seeds and grains, were presented to the goddess. The next day saw the offering of the pelanos, a massive cake of barley and wheat harvested from the sacred Rharian plain, and other sacrifices financed from the “first fruit” offerings (aparchai) tithed to Demeter and Kore. The mustai meanwhile fasted, and finally broke their fast with the kukeo¯n, a posset of barley water and an aromatic herb, pennyroyal. These actions, and others to follow, imitated the activities of Demeter when her daughter had disappeared; Demeter’s fast and request for the kuko¯n is recorded in the Homeric Hymn to Demeter (2.208–10).
With evening began the secret part of the ritual, when the mustai were admitted into the confines of the sanctuary proper. This was situated on the southwest slope of the Eleusinian akropolis, and had two main components. First was the rocky cliff containing a cave that served as a cult place for Theos (God) and Thea (Goddess), the Eleusinian titles for Plouton and Persephone in their roles as king and queen of the dead. With them was worshiped a deity or hero named Eubouleus, whose role was similar to that of Hermes in the Homeric Hymn to Demeter: he is shown on vase paintings holding torches in the presence of Theos and Thea, ready to guide the goddess back to the upper world for a reunion with her grieving mother. The agelastos petros (Mirthless Rock), where Demeter is supposed to have sat mourning the loss of her daughter, was probably also in this rocky area. Passing by the cave with its small shrine, the mustai would have followed a path up to the principal structure, the initiation hall known to scholars as the Telesterion, but in Classical times called the neo¯s (temple) or anaktoron (lord’s hall). Starting in the late seventh or early sixth century, a succession of ever-larger temples was built over the old Mycenaean Megaron B, each one containing an inner room whose position was kept constant. The design of this “temple” differs dramatically from those of other gods, for unlike most Greek temples, it was designed to hold a large number of people and includes seating around the walls. information. The Eleusinian Mysteries had an important public component, and contemporary sources addressing this aspect of the rites, including inscriptions and vase paintings, are numerous.
In spite of the plentiful data (or perhaps because of it), many scholarly controversies surround the Mysteries. Debate centers on the date at which the Eleusinian cult was incorporated into Athenian religion (from the beginning, or not until the sixth century?), the relationship between the cult and the Homeric Hymn to Demeter (to what extent does the latter reflect an “Eleusinian” perspective?) and the significance of the Mycenaean remains found in the sanctuary (do they point to continuity of the cult from the Bronze Age?). The early Mycenaean Megaron B, located beneath the later Demeter temple or Telesterion, was distinguished from nearby houses by its stepped porch and the remains of frescoes within; Mycenaean figurines were found in the vicinity. Yet its function is not clearly established; it may have served as an elite residence, a cult building, or both. A curved Geometric wall outside Megaron B could be either the remains of a Geometric Demeter temple or a retaining wall added to the still-standing Bronze Age structure. In any case, the earliest unequivocal evidence of the cult are the massive eighthcentury terrace and a wall enclosing the whole area, with a sacrificial pyre full of broken figurines, pottery, and ashes at the entrance.
Eleusis lies at the edge of the Thriasian plain, the “bread basket” of Attica; it was bound to be of interest to the emerging polis. Legend tells of a war between the two towns when Erechtheus was king at Athens and Eumolpos, the first celebrant of the Mysteries, at Eleusis. The resulting settlement left financial control of the cult entirely in Athenian hands, while ritual responsibilities were shared between two aristocratic families, the Eumolpidai of Eleusis and the Kerykes of Athens. The chief priest of the Mysteries, the Hierophant (Revealer of Sacred Things) was always a Eumolpid, while the Keryx (Herald) and Dadouchos (Torchbearer), other important officials, were both Kerykes. Second only to the Hierophant was the Priestess of Demeter and Kore, who might come from a number of different families. Hers was probably the oldest office associated with the cult, for her duties extended to several of the local, deme-level festivals of Demeter at Eleusis. Inscriptions reveal an ongoing struggle for ritual authority between the Hierophant and the Priestess of Demeter in the fourth century, when a Hierophant was convicted of impiety for usurping the Priestess’ right to preside at the Haloa. Many of the sacred personnel connected with the Mysteries seem to have held their offices for life, a fact that sets the Eleusinian priesthoods apart from most others among the Greeks.
Initiation to the Mysteries required time, effort, and a cost that, while substantial, was not out of reach even for the poor. Those who wished to participate were expected to undergo a long period of preparation, beginning with the Lesser Mysteries in Anthesterion, seven months before the Eleusinian festival. Little is known of the Lesser Mysteries, but they took place in the suburb of Agrai at Athens in the sanctuary of Meter/Rhea, and they involved purification of candidates by bathing in the Ilissos river or through the use of the Dios ko¯idion, a sacred fleece obtained by sacrificing a ram to Zeus Meilichios. Together with the Sacred Way that connected Athens to Eleusis, and the city Eleusinion between the agora and the northwest corner of the Akropolis, the Lesser Mysteries helped to cement the relationship between Athens and Eleusis and shaped the “Athenian” identity of the festival as a whole.
Candidates for initiation, or mustai (those whose eyes are closed), had to seek a sponsor from the Eumolpidai or Kerykes to guide their spiritual preparation, known as mue¯sis. On 13 and 14 Boedromion (September/October), the hiera (sacred objects) were brought in procession from Eleusis to the Athenian Eleusinion, and their safe arrival was announced to the priestess of Athena on the Akropolis. Priestesses from Eleusis carried these objects in boxes on their heads, so they cannot have been large or heavy, but we know nothing else about them except that they played a central role in the climactic rite. The next day was the first day of the Mysteries proper, the Agyrmos (Gathering). All assembled in the agora for a formal proclamation by the Hierophant and Dadouchos. Anyone unable to speak Greek, ritually impure, or conscious of having committed a crime was asked to abstain from the rite. At this time the mustai probably paid their fees, which have been calculated as the equivalent of several days’ wages. The sixteenth of Boedromion was a day of purification. Directed by the heralds, the mustai brought piglets to Phaleron or Peiraieus, where they bathed in the sea and washed the animals. Each then sacrificed the piglet “on his/her own behalf.” The next day was allotted to major state sacrifices, and the eighteenth was the Epidauria, a subsidiary festival of Asklepios that began in 420 when the cult of Asklepios and Hygieia was introduced at Athens on this day.
The nineteenth brought the great pompe¯ (procession) and escort of the hiera back to Eleusis. Wearing garlands of myrtle and carrying bunches of myrtle twigs or bundles of provisions attached to the end of sticks, the mustai set out in a merry mood to walk about 22 km to the sanctuary. They were led by Iakchos, the god who personified the ritual cry “Iakche!” Because of the boisterous tone of the parade and similarity between the names Iakchos and Bakchos, the former began at an early date to be associated with Dionysos, yet he is a distinct Eleusinian deity. After arriving at the outer court of the sanctuary, where there was a temple of Artemis Propylaia (Before the Gateway) and the Eleusinian patron deity Poseidon, the mustai spent the rest of the evening celebrating the “reception of Iakchos” and singing and dancing at the well called Kallichoron (Place of Beautiful Dances). Perhaps this was also the day when kernoi, special offering trays equipped with cups of various seeds and grains, were presented to the goddess. The next day saw the offering of the pelanos, a massive cake of barley and wheat harvested from the sacred Rharian plain, and other sacrifices financed from the “first fruit” offerings (aparchai) tithed to Demeter and Kore. The mustai meanwhile fasted, and finally broke their fast with the kukeo¯n, a posset of barley water and an aromatic herb, pennyroyal. These actions, and others to follow, imitated the activities of Demeter when her daughter had disappeared; Demeter’s fast and request for the kuko¯n is recorded in the Homeric Hymn to Demeter (2.208–10).
With evening began the secret part of the ritual, when the mustai were admitted into the confines of the sanctuary proper. This was situated on the southwest slope of the Eleusinian akropolis, and had two main components. First was the rocky cliff containing a cave that served as a cult place for Theos (God) and Thea (Goddess), the Eleusinian titles for Plouton and Persephone in their roles as king and queen of the dead. With them was worshiped a deity or hero named Eubouleus, whose role was similar to that of Hermes in the Homeric Hymn to Demeter: he is shown on vase paintings holding torches in the presence of Theos and Thea, ready to guide the goddess back to the upper world for a reunion with her grieving mother. The agelastos petros (Mirthless Rock), where Demeter is supposed to have sat mourning the loss of her daughter, was probably also in this rocky area. Passing by the cave with its small shrine, the mustai would have followed a path up to the principal structure, the initiation hall known to scholars as the Telesterion, but in Classical times called the neo¯s (temple) or anaktoron (lord’s hall). Starting in the late seventh or early sixth century, a succession of ever-larger temples was built over the old Mycenaean Megaron B, each one containing an inner room whose position was kept constant. The design of this “temple” differs dramatically from those of other gods, for unlike most Greek temples, it was designed to hold a large number of people and includes seating around the walls.
The sources give us only a glimpse of what took place in this room amid the forest of columns, the actual telete¯ (mystery rite). Certainly the initiates were guided on an emotional path from confusion and grief to confidence and joy, and this progression seems to have corresponded to the events in a ritual drama depicting Kore’s return from the underworld and her reunion with Demeter. At a critical moment, the Hierophant appeared from the inner room in a blaze of torchlight to display the hiera to the onlookers. Those who had experienced the Mysteries in a previous year were permitted to remain in the Telesterion for a further revelation; such individuals were called epoptai (those who have seen). Following the climactic rites, bulls and pigs were sacrificed to the goddesses and other Eleusinian deities, while initiates used special vessels called ple¯mochoai to pour libations of water toward the east and west.
On the day after the Mysteries concluded, the Athenian Council met in the city Eleusinion to review the conduct of the festival and deal with any infractions of sacred law; this custom was attributed to a law of Solon. The earliest votive deposits in the Eleusinion date to the seventh century, and it received architectural elaboration in the sixth. It contained a temple of Demeter and Kore, altars, and many inscribed decrees relating to the conduct of the Mysteries, as well as a temple of Triptolemos, the Eleusinian hero who is said to have introduced the knowledge of grain cultivation to the world, flying about in his winged chariot.
Particularly in the period of empire, Athens promoted the Mysteries, along with the knowledge imparted by Triptolemos, as its unique gifts to the world. Heralds were sent to other cities to declare a sacred truce of fifty-five days, which allowed time for pilgrims to travel to Athens, be initiated, and return home. The first fruits decree (IG I3 78), issued c. 435, details the collection of an annual tithe of grain from every deme in Attica and the Athenian allies, and urges that every Greek city likewise join in the offering. We don’t know how many Greek cities heeded this rather high-handed request, but Athens clearly succeeded in securing for Eleusis a Panhellenic reputation and status, which it maintained until the end of antiquity. Even as the cult gained renown across the Greek world, however, the “Eleusinian version” of the Demeter/Kore myth remained surprisingly localized. Other cities often had their own versions of the myth that failed to be displaced because they, like the traditions at Eleusis, were venerable tales tied to local landmarks (wells, caves, or rocky outcroppings). Even the Homeric Hymn to Demeter reflects a generic, Panhellenized version of the Attic cult: Eubouleus, the titles Theos and Thea, and the Mirthless Rock are omitted from the story, while Triptolemos is barely mentioned.
By Jennifer Larson in "Ancient Greek Cults-A Guide", Rouledge USA-UK, 2007, excerpts p. 69-76. Adapted and illustratedd to be posted by Leopoldo Costa.
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