5.1 Flashcards
What type of shrine was Eleusis
Panhellenic
How far from Athens was Eleusis
15 miles
Which goddesses are the Eleusinian Mysteries associated with?
How do they relate to one another?
Demeter and Kore (Persephone)
mother & daughter
What did participants in the eleusinion mysteries expect to recieve?
Particular blessings for participation
What is a key source for understanding the mythology underpinning the Eleusinian Mysteries?
Homeric Hymn to Demeter (7th Century)
Within the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, where does Demeter rest in disguise?
King Keleus’ palace at Eleusis
Within the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, what do the gods beg Demeter to do?
End a worldwide drought
Within the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, Who reveals that Zeus had agreed to marry Kore to Hades?
The sun
Within the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, what is the compromise made by Zeus?
Kore will remain with Demeter for 2/3 of the year and Hades for the last (winter)
Who were the Eleusinian mysteries to be kept secret from?
all except initiates
What does the Homeric Hymn to Demeter end with?
Promises to initiates: happiness on earth and in the afterlife; and wealth
What was revealing the Eleusinian mysteries?
a crime
Who was nearly sentenced to execution?
According to who?
What for?
in what?
Aeschylus
Aristotle
revealing the Eleusinian secrets
a play
Later, who did not worry about divulging secrets?
Christian writers
Why are christian writers not fully reliable?
Their agenda was to discredit mystery cults
What was the name for the windowless hall?
Date of earliest form?
and current?
What did it contain?
What was in the middle?
The Telesterion
9th Cent
5th Cent
stands for initiates
a platform called the Anaktoron (regarded as an inner shrine)
Where did Demeter rest?
The Callichoron Well
what is the name for a sacred retaining wall around a cave?
What is significant about it?
Ploutoneion
It is where Hades (pluto) is believed to have appeared
What were the conditions for being initiated into the Eleusinian mysteries? (2)
What is the source for this?
Had to speak Greek
Could not have been polluted by bloodguilt (murder)
Aristophanes’ Frogs
An inscription from what yaer details the initiation process?
c.460BC
What should be gone through in spring, according to a 460BC inscription?
And in autumn?
And a year later?
To?
by?
The ‘lesser mysteries’
‘Great Mysteries’
return to Eleusis
complete the initiation process
repeating the same ceremonies as before but in a different role
At the Great Mysteries:
intiates where purified where?
then walked to where?
wearing what?
As shown in what?
Following what?
Athens
Eleusis
Myrtle leaves
The Ninnion Tablet
a statue of lacchus
When did they arrive in the Great Mysteries?
what was there?
suggested in which Aristophanes play?
evening
revelling
Frogs
What does Aristotle think happens after the revelling?
What is likely?
the initiates do not learn but experience something
Some sort of search for Kore