Matt Dillon, Pilgrims and Pilgrimages in Ancient Greece, Routledge, 2012
Chapter3 Pilgrimage destinations: 1 Mystery Cults, healing sanctuaries and oracles, p 60.
Mystery celebrations were common
included secret rites of honour.
The Eleusinian mysteries were related to agriculture and a better afterlife.
Also at Andania
and Lykosoura
important requirements of ritual purity and silence.
p 61 Eleusinian- probably from Mycenaean origins, were popular from classical , Hellenic and Roman times. This was open to all except non-Greek speakers, the polluted and murders. See Homer Hymn to Demeter. http://www.uh.edu/~cldue/texts/demeter.html
People travelled large distances to become an initiate
there was a festival every 4 years
p 62 The lesser Eleusinian mysteries at Agrai outside the walls of Athens in Anthesterion ( Feb-March)
note to self - this is the zodiac sign of pisces, also heralded in by Pesach in the month of Adar into Nissan and the spring equinox. This was probably fasting and purification.
The greater Eleusinian mysteries took place in Boedromion (Sep-Octo) libra the autumnal equinox, Tishrei at Eleusis. The sacred objects were taken from Eleusis to the temple in Athens
p 63 Herodotus recalls the procession, vast numbers of people marching to he sea singing the song of Iakchos, also related in Aristophanes The Frogs.
The initiates had a yellow ribbon tied to their right hand and left leg
( thought- the right hand is sacred, the left leg is sinister in the sephirot). There is a purification by washing ( as there is in Jewish ceremony)
the gephyrismos rite of verbal abuse and gestures to the Athenians . (Make note of the sacred way, streams, bridges and various geographical aspects of the procession)
p 65 a reenactment of the Demeter, Persephone story with symbolism of agriculture. here was fasting and no wine as reenactment of Demeter's grief.
a powerful narcotic was used perhaps for hallucinatory experience. The kykeon was holy, a mix of drink offered to Demeter after her fasting in protest at the loss of her daughter, the reenactment includes fasting and then taking of the kykeon.
p 66The Lovatelli urn and the Torre nova sarcophagus show reliefs of Kerakles initiation, wearing a lion skin, there is a small stool for sitting on, the head is covered. On the urn a female figure is holding a fan, in the sarchopagus a woman is holding a torch upside down.
https://www.google.com.au/search?q=Lovatelli+urn&tbm=isch&source=iu&ictx=1&fir=uMhoSXbSPECbEM%253A%252CtKjQjLY-66A4uM%252C_&usg=__VlZUWAGseyVSIWrJLoT7ZKC8Dz0%3D&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwibpvekzIbcAhVFspQKHW-sCHMQ9QEIKzAA#imgrc=uMhoSXbSPECbEM:
See Elderkin, G W, THE SARCOPHAGUS OF SIDAMARA, http://www.ascsa.edu.gr/pdf/uploads/hesperia/146587.pdf
There is a pig sacrifice
p 67 Inside the telesterion the initiates were in reverend silence, the mysteries were revealed, perhaps a simple explanation, the door of the anaktoron the holy of holies was opened and a light made the initiates silent and amazed.
The kistai were sesame seed sweetmeats cakes, in the shape of pyramids and balls lumps of salt, a serpent, fennel a woman;s pudenda although there seems to be a negative connotation with sexuality and pagan religions in the recordings here by later Christian writers
p 68 Most likely the kistae, secret objects were agricultural implements.
The mysteries promised afterlife.
p 69 Sophocles Thrice blessed are those who have seen these rites and then come to Hades, there is life there for them alone, for the others everything there is evil.
As the temple was built on a Mycenaeun site, the Elysian mysteries are as old as Homer, offering a positive view of the afterlife, the island of blessings and the utopian Eleusian fields.
p 70 the topography- the Mirthless rock, the
Kallichoron well
the cave, Plutonion, entrance to the underworld.
The mysteries came to an end with the in AD 396 with the destruction of the temple at Eleusis by Alaric the Goth
The mysteries of the Great Gods of Samothrace are relatively unknown and date from 4th C. The names of 600 mystai, initiates are recorded and 100 more names. The names of the gods are in contention. The ithyphallic statues may mean fertility but they may also have been there to ward off danger. The cult promised to save men at sea but there were clearly female initiates.. The initiates put on a purple sash. Magnetic rings were thought to have magical properties. The initiation took only one night. myesis and epopteia, two rooms, the anaktoron and the hieron ( the holy place for the initiated)
p 72. Andania and Lykosoura
Chapter3 Pilgrimage destinations: 1 Mystery Cults, healing sanctuaries and oracles, p 60.
Mystery celebrations were common
included secret rites of honour.
The Eleusinian mysteries were related to agriculture and a better afterlife.
Also at Andania
and Lykosoura
important requirements of ritual purity and silence.
p 61 Eleusinian- probably from Mycenaean origins, were popular from classical , Hellenic and Roman times. This was open to all except non-Greek speakers, the polluted and murders. See Homer Hymn to Demeter. http://www.uh.edu/~cldue/texts/demeter.html
People travelled large distances to become an initiate
there was a festival every 4 years
p 62 The lesser Eleusinian mysteries at Agrai outside the walls of Athens in Anthesterion ( Feb-March)
note to self - this is the zodiac sign of pisces, also heralded in by Pesach in the month of Adar into Nissan and the spring equinox. This was probably fasting and purification.
The greater Eleusinian mysteries took place in Boedromion (Sep-Octo) libra the autumnal equinox, Tishrei at Eleusis. The sacred objects were taken from Eleusis to the temple in Athens
p 63 Herodotus recalls the procession, vast numbers of people marching to he sea singing the song of Iakchos, also related in Aristophanes The Frogs.
The initiates had a yellow ribbon tied to their right hand and left leg
( thought- the right hand is sacred, the left leg is sinister in the sephirot). There is a purification by washing ( as there is in Jewish ceremony)
the gephyrismos rite of verbal abuse and gestures to the Athenians . (Make note of the sacred way, streams, bridges and various geographical aspects of the procession)
p 65 a reenactment of the Demeter, Persephone story with symbolism of agriculture. here was fasting and no wine as reenactment of Demeter's grief.
a powerful narcotic was used perhaps for hallucinatory experience. The kykeon was holy, a mix of drink offered to Demeter after her fasting in protest at the loss of her daughter, the reenactment includes fasting and then taking of the kykeon.
p 66The Lovatelli urn and the Torre nova sarcophagus show reliefs of Kerakles initiation, wearing a lion skin, there is a small stool for sitting on, the head is covered. On the urn a female figure is holding a fan, in the sarchopagus a woman is holding a torch upside down.
https://www.google.com.au/search?q=Lovatelli+urn&tbm=isch&source=iu&ictx=1&fir=uMhoSXbSPECbEM%253A%252CtKjQjLY-66A4uM%252C_&usg=__VlZUWAGseyVSIWrJLoT7ZKC8Dz0%3D&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwibpvekzIbcAhVFspQKHW-sCHMQ9QEIKzAA#imgrc=uMhoSXbSPECbEM:
See Elderkin, G W, THE SARCOPHAGUS OF SIDAMARA, http://www.ascsa.edu.gr/pdf/uploads/hesperia/146587.pdf
There is a pig sacrifice
p 67 Inside the telesterion the initiates were in reverend silence, the mysteries were revealed, perhaps a simple explanation, the door of the anaktoron the holy of holies was opened and a light made the initiates silent and amazed.
The kistai were sesame seed sweetmeats cakes, in the shape of pyramids and balls lumps of salt, a serpent, fennel a woman;s pudenda although there seems to be a negative connotation with sexuality and pagan religions in the recordings here by later Christian writers
p 68 Most likely the kistae, secret objects were agricultural implements.
The mysteries promised afterlife.
p 69 Sophocles Thrice blessed are those who have seen these rites and then come to Hades, there is life there for them alone, for the others everything there is evil.
As the temple was built on a Mycenaeun site, the Elysian mysteries are as old as Homer, offering a positive view of the afterlife, the island of blessings and the utopian Eleusian fields.
p 70 the topography- the Mirthless rock, the
Kallichoron well
the cave, Plutonion, entrance to the underworld.
The mysteries came to an end with the in AD 396 with the destruction of the temple at Eleusis by Alaric the Goth
The mysteries of the Great Gods of Samothrace are relatively unknown and date from 4th C. The names of 600 mystai, initiates are recorded and 100 more names. The names of the gods are in contention. The ithyphallic statues may mean fertility but they may also have been there to ward off danger. The cult promised to save men at sea but there were clearly female initiates.. The initiates put on a purple sash. Magnetic rings were thought to have magical properties. The initiation took only one night. myesis and epopteia, two rooms, the anaktoron and the hieron ( the holy place for the initiated)
p 72. Andania and Lykosoura
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