ELEUSINIA, in Grecian antiquity, a festival observed in honour of Ceres, by some states every fourth, hut by others every fifth year. The Athenians celebrated it at Eleusis, a town of Attica; and hence arose the name.

Ceres, saysIsoerates, wandering in quest ofher daughter Proserpine, arrived in Attica, where some good officeswere rendered her, which it is unlawful for those who are not initiated to hear. In return she conferred two unparalleled benefits, namely, the knowledge of agriculture, by which the human race is raised above the brute creation; and the mysteries, from which the partakers derive sweeter hopes than other men enjoy, both as to the present life and a future state of existence. It was the popular opinion that the Eleusinian goddesses suggested prudent counsel to their votaries, and influenced their conduct; and that the latter were respected in the infernal regions, and had precedence in the assemblies of the blessed, whilst the unhallowed were left in utter darkness, wallowing in mire, or labouring to fill a leaky vessel. The Athenians were solicitous to secure these advantages to their children, by having them initiated as soon as possible in the Eleusinian mysteries.

Ceres was supposed to be particularly partial to Eleusis and its vicinity. There were the memorials ofher presence and ofher bounty; the well named Callichorus, by which she had rested, in the reign of Ereetheus; the stone on which she sat, named the sorrowful ; the Rharian plain, where barley was first sown; and the thrashing floor and altar of Triptolemus, a herdsman whom she instructed in the culture of that grain, the use of which succeeded to aeorns. Her mysteries continued to possess a pre-cmi-nence in holiness, and to be accounted as much superior to all other religious festivals as the gods were to the deified heroes. Even the garments worn at the solemnity were supposed to partake ôf the efficacy of the mysteries, and to be possessed of signal virtues. It was customary to retain them until they began to decay, and then to dedicate them in the temple, or to use them as swaddling clothes.

The mystic temple, as it was called, provided by Pericles for the solemnity, created by its sanetity an awe only equalled by the astonishment which its beauty and magnitude excited in every beholder. The profane or uninitiated were forbidden to enter it upon any pretence. Two young Aearnanians happening inadvertently to mix with the crowd at the season of the mysteries, and to go in, were discovered and put to death. The chief priest, hierophant, or mystagogue, was taken from the Eumolpidae, a holy family which flourished at Athens, and derived its descent from Eumolpus, a shepherd and favourite of Ceres. He was enjoined to observe celibacy, and he wore a stole or long garment, and in his hair a wreath of myrtle. The grand requisites in his character were strength and melody of voice, solemnity of deportment, magnificence, and strict decorum. Under him, besides many of inferior station, was the daduchus or torch-bearer, who likewise wore his hair with a fillet; the priest, who officiated at the altar; and the hieroeeryx, or sacred herald; all very important personages. The latter was of a [7:8:665]family which claimed the god Mercury, and Aglauros, the ∣ daughter of Cecrops, for its ancestors.

The secrecy in which the mysteries were enveloped 1 served to enhance the idea of their consequence, and to increase the desire of participation. It was so strict that ∣ no person was allowed even to name the hierophant by whom he had been initiated; whilst public abhorrence and detestation awaited the babbler, and the law decreed that he should die the death.

The Athenians suffered none to be initiated into these mysteries excepting such as were members of their city. This regulation, which compelled Hercules, Castor, and Pollux, to become citizens of Athens, was strictly observed in the first ages of the institution; but after a time all persons, barbarians excepted, were freely admitted.

The festivals were divided into greater and lesser mysteries. The institution of the latter arose out of the following circumstance. Hercules having passed near Eleusis while the Athenians were celebrating the mysteries, desired to be initiated. As this request could not be complied with, he being a stranger, and as Eumolpus was unwilling to displease him on account of his great power, and the services which he had rendered to the Athenians, another festival was instituted without violating the laws; it was denominated μmoa, and Hercules was solemnly admitted to the celebration, and initiated. These lesser mysteries were observed at Agrae, near the Ilissus. The greater were celebrated at Eleusis, from which place Ceres has been called Eleusinia. In later times the lesser festivals were preparatory to the greater, and no person could be initiated at Eleusis without a previous purification at z∖grae. This purification they performed by keeping themselves pure, chaste, and unpolluted during nine days; after which they came and offered sacrifices and prayers, wearing garlands of flowers called iμt^α, and having under their feet Δ/o¢ κωδ/ον, Jupiter’s shin, which was the skin of a victim offered to that god. The person who assisted was called υδgavoς, from υδωg, water, which was used at the purification; and those purified were called μυδτaι, the initiated. A year after the initiation into the lesser mysteries they sacrificed a sow to Ceres, and Avere admitted into the greater, and the secrets of the festivals were solemnly revealed to them.

This festival was observed in the month Boedromion or September, and continued nine days, from the 15th till the 23d. During that time it was unlawful to arrest any man, or present any petition, on pain of forfeiting a thousand drachmas, or, according to others, on pain of death. It was also unlawful for those who were initiated to sit upon the cover of a well, and to eat beans, mullets, or weazels. If any woman rode to Elcusis in a chariot she was obliged by an edict of Lycurgus to pay six thousand drachmas. The design of this law was to destroy all distinction between the richer and poorer citizens. When the season approached, the mystae, or persons who had been initiated only in the lesser mysteries, repaired to Eleusis to be instructed in the ceremonial. The service for the opening of the temple, with morning sacrifice, was performed, and the ritual was then produced from the sanctuary. It was enveloped in symbolical figures of animals, which suggested words compendiously, in letters with ligatures, the tops being buddled together, or disposed circularly like a wheel, and the whole utterly inexplicable to the profane. The case, which was called pe-troma, consisted of two stones exactly fitted; and the mysterious record, after being read, was closed up and replaced until a future festival. The principal rite was nocturnal, and confined to the temple and its environs. The mystae waited without with impatience and apprehension. Lamentations and strange sounds were heard. Thunder pealed above these noises, and flashes of light and fire irradiated the gloom, rendering the darkness which followed more awful and sublime. The candidates for initiation were beaten by some invisible hand, whilst frightful apparitions, and monsters of a canine form, were presented to them, which filled them with apprehension and terror, and paralysed their energies. The scene then suddenly changed to one of a brilliant and agreeable character. The propylaea or vestibules of the temple were opened, the curtains withdrawn, and the hidden things displayed. They were introduced by the hierophant and daduchus, the former of whom revealed to them the mysteries. The splendour of illumination, the glory of the temple and of the images, and the singing and dancing which accompanied the exhibition, all contributed to soothe the mind after its recent agitation, and to render the wondering devotee tranquil and satisfied. After this inspection, or. as it was called, the autopsia, they retired, and others advanced. The succeeding days were employed in purification, in sacrifice, in pompous processions, and in spectacles, at which they assisted, wearing myrtle crowns. The second day was called αλαδs μυδτaι, to the sea, ye initiated ; because they were commanded to purify themselves by ablution in the sea. On the third.day sacrifices were offered, as also a mullet, and barley from a field of Eleusis. These oblations were called Šua, and were held so sacred that the priests themselves dared not, as in other sacrifices, partake of them. On the fourth day they made a solemn procession, in which the zαλαMov, or holy basket of Ceres, was paraded in a consecrated cart, while on every ţside the people shouted ∆ij∕znrεi, Hail, Ceres. After these followed women, called xιδτο<ροξοι, who carried baskets, in which was sesamin, carded wool, grains of salt, a serpent, pomegranates, reeds, ivy boughs, and so on. The fifth was called ⅛ τωv λαμπάδων r ∣ μεξα, the torch day, because on the following night the people ran about with torches in their hands. It was usual to dedicate torches to Ceres, and contend who should offer the largest, in commemoration of the travels of the goddess, and of her lighting a torch in the flames of Mount Aetna. The sixth day was called Ιακχος, from Iacchus, the son of Jupiter and Ceres, who accompanied his mother in her search after Proserpine, with a torch in his hand. From this circumstance the hand of his statue was furnished with a torch, and carried in solemn procession from the Ccramicus to Eleusis. The statue, with those who accompanied it, called Iα%χα- γωγov, was crowned with myrtle. In the way nothing was heard but singing and the noise of brazen kettles as the votaries danced along. The way through which they issued from the city was called iιeα oooς, or the sacred way the resting place ∕sga δ ∖ rxr i , from a jig-tree which grew ir the neighbourhood. They also stopped on a bridge over the Cephisus, where they derided those who passed by After they had crossed this bridge, they entered Eleusis by a place called μυδτMr ∖ sιδoδoς, or the mystical entrance The seventh day was devoted to sports, in which the victors were rewarded with a measure of barley, that grain having been first sown in Eleusis. The eighth day was called Eff∕δαu^∕ωv ⅛wga, because Aesculapius on his returr from Epidaurus to Athens was initiated by the repetition of the lesser mysteries. It became customary therefore to celebrate them a second time upon this occasion, ir order that those who had not hitherto obtained the privilege might be lawfully initiated. The ninth and 1as1 day of the festival was called πλημο-χοαι, or earthen vessels because it was customary to fill two such vessels wit! wine, one placed towards the east, and the other towards the west; which, after the repetition of some mystica, words, were both thrown down, and the wine spilt on the ground was offered as a libation.
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The story of Ceres and Proserpine, the foundation of the Eleusinian mysteries, was both verbally narrated and represented in allegorical show. Proserpine was gathering flowers when she was stolen by Pluto; and hence the procession of the holy basket, which was placed on a car dragged along by oxen and followed by a train of females, some carrying the mystic chests, shouting Hail, Ceres. At night a procession was made with lighted torches, in order to commemorate the goddess searching for her daughter. A measure of barley, the grain which, it was believed, she had bestowed, was the reward of the victors in the gym-nic exercises; and the proceedings at the temple had a reference to the legend. A knowledge of these things, from which the profane were excluded, formed the amount of what was communicated to the initiated; and the mode in which it was performed was skilfully adapted to the reigning superstitions. The operation was forcible, and the effect in proportion. The priesthood flourished as piety increased; and although the dispensation was corrupt, its tendency was not malignant. It produced sanctity of manners, an attention to the social duties, and a desire to be distinguished for what was then deemed virtue. (See Divine Legation of Moses demonstrated ; Gibbon, in his Miscellaneous Works, on Virgil’s account of Aeneas’s Descent into the Shades; and Heyne’s Excursus, in reference to the same subject.)