The term "Eleusinian Mysteries" reveals to us the triumph of the famous ancient Greek rite. It was celebrated in honor of the goddesses of fertility Demeter and Persephone. Initially, only they were present at this festival. A little later, a new character appeared in him - the god of winemaking Dionysus: during the Mysteries he was given the name Iacchus. This magnificent event got its name from the place of its holding - the small Greek town of Eleusis, located not far from Athens.
The Mysteries of Eleusis: what lay behind them
What was the essence of the myths underlying the Eleusinian mysteries? All these stories tell about the separation of Demeter from her daughter Persephone. The ancient Greeks also mentioned another name for the daughter of the Goddess of Fertility: Cora. According to legend, she was kidnapped by the God of the Underworld or the underworld - Hades, also known as Pluto. He not only kidnapped Cora, but also forced her to become his wife.
According to legend, everything happened in a meadow, where the daughter of the ancient Greek goddess of fertility was gathering flowers with her companions. And suddenly, as from the ground, Hades suddenly appeared. Rushing through the meadow in a chariot, he kidnapped Persephone.
Heartbroken mother, Demeter, did not lose hope of finding her lost daughter. Assuming the form of an old woman, she continued to search for Cora. For a long time wandering everywhere, she found herself a refuge in the ancient Greek town of Eleusis. In the end, having lost faith in the success of the enterprise, Demeter settled in the house of the local king, began to serve him and nurse his child. But the Goddess of Fertility completely forgot her duties … The plants began to wither, the harvests became bad - so great was the pain of her loss.
Seeing all this, God Zeus descended from Olympus. He went to the kingdom of the dead and forced Hades to return Cora to earth, on the condition that she would spend at least three months a year with her husband. It is winter that the Greeks have since attributed the very three months when plants freeze and Demeter falls into grief.
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Great and Lesser Eleusinian Mysteries
The Mysteries and Sacraments in ancient Greece were divided into three degrees. As for the holidays associated with them, there were two of them: the great and the small. Both celebrations were held over several days and nights, accompanied by activities and ceremonies. There is also an interesting legend about the temple where the celebrations were held. According to myths and legends, it was built exactly in the place where the goddess Demeter sat on the "stone of sorrow". She was sad, as we remember, because she could not find her daughter. In the end, only Imba, who was also in the service of the king Kelei, managed to console the goddess. With funny stories and jokes, Imba persuaded Demeter to eat and quench her thirst. In memory of these mythical events, the Eleusinian temple was erected.
Feast of the initiates of the sacraments
Only a select few of the clergy were initiated into the sacrament of the mysteries. The dedication took place in the aforementioned Eleusinian temple, in its special room, to which not everyone had access. A "Sacred Road" was laid between the temple and Athens. Along the edges of this path, there were monuments and works of art in the form of sculptures, characteristic of such places in those times immemorial. The majesty of this building can be appreciated even now, despite the fact that time has played a cruel joke on it - and only ruins remain of the former greatness of the grandiose structure. But this does not at all prevent true connoisseurs of ancient cultures from receiving a positive charge of emotions here and feeling the greatness and spirit of the events of past eras …
Eleusis today.
The visible side of the mystery of the mysteries
They can be distributed by seasons:
- The Great Mysteries - September, the month of boedromion;
- Small Eleusinian Mysteries - spring, the so-called month of Anfesteria, the time of the festival of the vine;
During the spring Eleusinian celebration, various rites of purification were performed, accompanied by enacted performances of allegorical content. During this period, as was commonly believed, Persephone (daughter of Demeter) and finally returned to her mother.
The September events lasted for nine days. Sea water served as a source of purification and was used on the first day of the celebration. It is also known about the sacrifices, the rites of atonement, which took place on the "day of the meeting" (the same day the first). The completion of the rituals laid the foundation for the festival of Iacchus. This solemn event looked entertaining and was accompanied by entertainment and dancing, laughter and offerings to God Dionysus. The procession that accompanied this ritual headed for the sacred bay. People carried images from the temple of Iacchus, lighting their path with torches, since the actions took place already at night.
The joyful and solemn part of the procession was replaced by a sorrowful one. This symbolized a general empathy for the loss of Demeter, an awareness of all the hardships that the goddess endured in her search for Cora-Persephone. The rituals performed were no longer so funny, but on the contrary: they were already mournful and sad. The mournful singing of the choir was heard … Gloomy words and lamentations were heard everywhere … But soon … - the general triumph was again replaced by sadness and sorrow. It was that moment in history when, according to legend, Demeter found her daughter and was reunited with her. The great mysteries also ended with rituals of sacrifices in memory of those who left the mortal world and reconciliation.
Initiation into the Eleusinian sacraments
All these holidays were also accompanied by initiation into the mysteries of the Eleusinian mysteries. The initiates, thus, embarked on the path of realizing the truth, a kind of meaning of human existence - and here, in all its immeasurability, the theme of the soul was revealed after a person's transition to the afterlife.
The degrees of knowledge and initiation of the ancient Greeks into the mysterious Eleusinian knowledge and experiences can be conditionally divided into two stages:
1. The first degree of initiation into the truth took place during the spring celebration of the minor mysteries. This was a kind of preparation for the next stage, when the human soul was purified.
2. Second degree - initiation into the great mysteries during the September celebration. Here a person received an explanation of the mysteries described in myths, and came to realize the true allegorical meanings.
The essence of the Eleusinian truth embodied the idea of man's transition to life after death. Symbolic rituals and myths about Demeter and Persephone helped to spread the idea of the immortality of the human soul and the continuation of his life's path in another, afterlife.
Initially, only the citizens of Attica had the right to become enlightened. With the development and spread of the cult, any Greek who:
was not convicted of violating the laws of nature (for example, murder);
violation of human moral standards;
was not a slave - he got the opportunity to become one of these enlightened people.
Eleusinian Mysteries and Afterlife Bliss
A prepared soul, purified and passed through the first degree of enlightenment during a small celebration, was admitted to the great. It was during this period of nine days that various solemn rites of worship and comprehension of the truth took place. The height of bliss among the enlightened was considered to be the transition to the afterlife, where the gods promised them the highest blessing.
The theme of the transition was revealed in the form of prayers, playing out mythical scenes, drawing up legends, in religious posts, and so on. Many acts illustrated the legend of Demeter and Persephone, the suffering of the mother goddess, during which the theme of the afterlife was touched upon.
It was generally accepted that only torture and torment awaited unenlightened people in the afterlife. Those who knew the truth were in for eternal earthly bliss.
Participation of the inhabitants of the Northern Black Sea region in the sacraments
Despite the fact that, according to legend, at the inception of the cult of agriculture, only the descendants of the first enlightened could learn this sacrament, over time this trend has changed. In later times, followers of the Eleusinian ordinances began to appear throughout Greece. Those Greeks who lived in the Black Sea region (Olbia and Nymphea) were no exception. This is evidenced by the historical data that tells about the transfer of the first harvest to Athens: the mysteries gradually gained popularity everywhere. This was also facilitated by the predictions of the Delphic Oracle about the will of the gods. And all the Greeks, including those living in the Black Sea region, listened to his predictions.
Festivals of Cybele and other gods of eastern origin
From the traditions of the East, the Greeks borrowed another mythical character - the Goddess Cybele, who was the mother of most of the Olympic gods. Eastern celebrations in her honor were cruel and, at times, bloody. There are even known cases of self-sacrifice, people inflicting cuts and wounds on each other: these were the results of a state of religious ecstasy.
Thus, Cybele's beloved Attis, addressing her, wrote:
"May I stay away from your monstrous secrets, and may your terror and madness intoxicate others."
In turn, the fierce rituals of the East were, nevertheless, somewhat softened by the Greeks. However, they still continued to frighten many. And if we draw a parallel here with the Eleusinian mysteries, then Attis can be considered similar to Kore, and Cybele to Dimetre.
The mysticism of ancient magic
The theory of special states of consciousness entheogens is based on the fact that during the praise of divine beings and enlightenment, all participants in the mysteries and mysteries were given a certain drink that influenced the psychological state of people. This drink contained psychotropic substances (as is commonly believed in one of the theories of scientists who have studied this topic). The deepest mystical state of the initiates is explained, in this case, not so much even by some supernatural side as by the influence on the participants of the action of certain types of hallucinogenic spore fungi.
By interacting with the human brain, these mushrooms sharpened their sensitivity to events, which gave rise to a feeling of the unknown, the mysterious. The exact composition of the drink and food taken during the rituals still, even after many centuries, remains a mystery, around which various scientists studying the Hellenistic era still build their theories and guesses.
Ruslan Petrusevich