See Holy Coat.
A mystery is defined by Miss Jane Ellen Harrison (Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion, p. 151, 2d ed., Cambridge, 1908) as "a rite in which certain sacra are exhibited which can not be safely seen by the worshiper till he has undergone certain purifications." This holds true both for tribal and cultic mysteries. Primitive peoples restrain non-initiates from sight of sacra for the reasons that such sight is a breach of taboo which (they suppose) would bring evil on the tribe, and punish such breach in order to expurgate the crime and relieve the tribe of the onus of guilt and the evil consequences supposed to result from the transgression. By tribal mysteries are meant those rites of initiation of boys (and in some regions of girls) at the time of reaching manhood (or womanhood) into the rights of adultship as conceived by the tribe, together with the later developments, coming with advance in civilization,
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The two bases in nature of the institution here called tribal mysteries are (1) the ineffaceable distinction of sex, the female being almost universally regarded in primitive society as the inferior and therefore limited in natural privileges; and (2) the distinction, effaceable by age, of the boy from the man, the former being classed in society with the women. Initiation marks the formal separation of the boy from social classification with women and from tutelage by them, together with release from the disabilities which that classification imposes and the assumption of the rights and duties of manhood, or, at any rate, the taking of the first steps toward that assumption. But among primitive peoples in probably most cases the distinction between man and boy not being regarded as erased by age alone, ceremonial must come to the aid of nature. An unitiated male, even though aged, is classed with the women and rests under their tribal disabilities (A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of South-Eastern Australia, p. 530, London, 1904). It is quite in accordance with primitive logic that the ceremonial should have the two characteristics of secrecy and an ordeal. The change from boyhood to manhood involves the power to procreate, and before the mystery of new life the savage stands in awe. It is in his mind related with the power of spirits, therefore within the realm of religion; the favor of these spirits and the successful use of the powers of manhood depend upon a certain correctness of procedure, hence it comes within the domain also of primitive magic. In both of these regions there rule the ideas which under the Romans came to be expressed as sacra and profana, involving the participation in certain rites by definite classes and the exclusion from them of other classes. Because of the assumed inferiority of the women, on account of their natural disabilities as conceived by primitive logic, they and all who were classed with them could not participate in or even witness the ceremonial which began the transformation of the boy into the man. The adult males alone were possessed of knowledge of the means by which aspirants to adult male rights could attain those rights, or, to express the idea in other words, could become members of the tribe in full standing, sharing by favor of the spirits in its government and in such duties as fell to the men. Hence it was the initiated adult males and the candidates alone who might be present either to participate in or to witness the initiation, and in many cases only the elders, those retired from such services as fighting and the like, conducted the ceremonies: Further, because the initiation marked the admission of the candidate to manhood with its responsibilities, the rites most often assumed the character of an ordeal which aimed to test his qualifications for the rank to which he aspired. Once more, because the successful passing of the ordeal involved ultimate eligibility to marriage, rites were performed looking to the married state, such as Circumcision and sometimes subincision.
It follows directly from the foregoing that the tribe divides into two broad sections, the initiated (males) and the women and non-initiates. The former constitute what is to all intents and purposes a secret society. Secrecy is enforced by a series of taboos, the breach of which involves severe penalties. Thus over a wide area including Australia the sight of a bullroarer1 by a woman subjects her to death. The matter which is kept secret varies with the tribe, but may be described in general terms as the rites of initiation and the methods of performing them, including the masks, disguises of the performers, the dances, and the songs which constitute part of the ceremonies, as well as the traditional significance of them all. The broad division of tribal members into two classes gives place as social order advances into a more complex system which works out in three ways: (1) It may split up into societies in which there are various degrees with admission from one to another and rising in importance and prestige. The basal distinction here is age; but the number of degrees or other distinguishing characteristics varies with the tribe or people. The influence of the individual in the tribe generally depends upon his advancement through and status in the various grades. (2) On the other hand, the society may become intertribal, like the totem gens, and the occasion of initiation, often becoming stated, is an affair not of a single tribe alone, but of the initiates and candidates of the several tribes thus affiliated. The effect of this in the direction of social development will be seen at once. It is wholly natural that at such assemblages intertribal matters be discussed, occasions of dispute be talked over, and that causes that might lead to war, to say nothing of individual differences, may be so considered as to lead to complete pacification. At such times an intertribal peace prevails under penalty of death for its breach. The immediate consequences are a decided advance in social structure and ethical well-being. (3) The third method of development is into what may be described as the magical fraternity, the total results
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The initiations being of moment to the tribe, they are celebrated as occasions of festivity which appeal to every initiated member. The materials for the festivities are provided in part by the fathers of the candidates, in part by the tribe at large. As culture advances, the number of the initiated comes to be less than all the males of the tribe. In the case where centralization of power in the hands of the chief has not developed, where the government is rather by elders, the ideal fostered by the mysteries is strongly that of fidelity to the tribe as represented by the elders, who conduct the ceremonies in the presence of the initiates. Where centralization has occurred, a less democratic organization may arise, various secret societies may form, more or less limited in membership and with different demands for qualification on the part of aspirants to membership. In these cases the ceremonies may grow in complexity and impressiveness, and the religious element is often more stressed, so that these become largely the guardian of religion. In such a situation puberty ceremonies become more curtailed and do not carry with them membership in the societies. These more aristocratic organizations involve not universal obligation, as do the moat primitive type, but special privilege, the obtaining of which requires not only the suffrage of members, but also no slight expenditure, which in turn secures such a degree of consideration in the tribe as seems quite commensurate with the difficulty and expense attendant. The performance of the rites still required at puberty devolves upon the higher grades in the societies, each of which grades has its own ceremony of initiation possibly performed at considerable intervals. Entrance into these, therefore, becomes a desideratum to the ambitious. Where this stage of civilization is reached, the separation of the boy from his parents may take place at as early an age as five years, and the course of instruction and service to the tribe may last till he is forty or till his father dies and he enters upon his inheritance. In the tribal societies the simplicity and naiveté of primitive faith dies, and self-seeking enters in with an almost inevitable duplicity and deceit, advancing to extortion and governing by oppression and even murder, as in the interior of Africa. In cases not a few the tribal society becomes a means of perpetuating the power of the elders and of securing for them an easy support in their old age. Necessarily, the conditions described in the preceding paragraphs tend to die out with progress in culture, the mysteries may come to be no secret, and the proscribed classes may obtain admission at any rate as witnesses. Among the North American Indians, who are in this stage, the institution of initiation has as its central feature the lonely puberty watch of the candidate, who under the stress of fasting and mental effort dreams of an animal or spirit which thus becomes his guardian genius. Still, the fraternities which are associated with this stage evidently often perpetuate the principal religious beliefs and cere monies of earlier conditions.
With the belief in the virtue of magic invariable among primitive peoples, it is not strange that magical fraternities should form about the rites of initiation, and that the ceremonies should not seldom come to have association with the purpose of securing success in hunting and agriculture. One of the fundamental ideas of initiation is correctness of one's status with respect to marriage (and therefore the obtaining of progeny). In primitive logic the step from this end to consideration of the means of living is a short one. Mimetic magic is resorted to for success in various undertakings, as in the buffalo dance of the Indians (G. Catlin, Report of Smithsonian Institution for 1885, ii. 309-311, Washington, 1886). And as deceased ancestors are supposed to have power for good or ill in the directions of increase of progeny and of the fruits of the chase and of toil, it is not strange that societies form around the cult of ancestors. In many societies the dead are regarded as members still active though unseen. Such organizations, in this way bound to the past yet actively interested in present welfare, become repositories of tradition, creators of secret ritual, and protectors of such rude poetic art as exists under such conditions. On the other hand, they may and do degenerate and become the centers of orgies and practises too horrible to describe, especially in Africa, where the worst results of this species of domination are found. In short, the phenomena attending the initiation into the mysteries among primitives illustrate both the noblest and the meanest qualities of humanity. They have contributed both to the uplift and to the degeneration of peoples, and exhibit the lofty and worthy aspirations of man as well as his most lamentable failings.
In the most primitive conditions and when tribes are migratory, no exact location other than some place apart from the tribal camp is fixed for the ceremonies. In these circumstances it is usual for the bachelors and boys to camp apart from the place where the families are settled for the time being. The rites are in a still more retired location, guarded from intrusion by the noise of the bull-roarer or other instrument, the sound of which indicates that the ceremonies are in progress. Where settled habitations are the rule, the separation of the sexes already referred to has brought about in many communities the establishment of the "men's house." This is usually the most conspicuous structure in the place, and admission to it is denied to the non-initiates, or at least to those not eligible to initiation. There the unmarried males may live, or at the most sleep; their separation from the women necessitating nonparticipation in family life. This house becomes the center and locus of the mysteries, and as development proceeds, societies and fraternities make it their home. With the multiplication of fraternities, there may be several of these houses in a community. This house serves the purpose also of council house, may answer the uses of the modern club, or may even become the center of defense in case of attack. Celebrations take place in or before it, and
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Inasmuch as the reason for the existence of the
mysteries is in general the induction of the pubescent
youth into the rights and proper manner of
performing the duties of manhood,
there is involved preparation for marriage
in certain ways deemed necessary
by peoples in that stage of civilization.
The particular methods depend
upon the traditions, usages, and ideas of the tribe,
group of tribes, or people. The practises that prevail
imply two salient ideas: (1) the ordeal, in
volving much of severe pain, physical and mental,
and suffering that may and sometimes does ter
minate fatally, while successful passing of the trial
establishes the right of the candidate to admission
to the ranks of warriors, or at least to such instruction
as will fit him for that status; (2) instruction
in the manner of performing the duties, religious
and social, which the new position involves. Very
often the ordeal involves mutilations which are
permanent, and supposedly may serve the triple
purpose of marks that prove the fact of initiation
and the right to manhood's privileges, of testing
the aspirant's courage and power to endure pain
without complaint and even with indifference, and
in the most common rite (that of circumcision) of
fitting the candidate for the duties of marriage. At
the time of initiation the boys are taken from the
women and girls, occasionally assuming a particular
garb indicative of their candidateship. They
are conducted to the men's encampment or men's
house (see above, § 6); in some cases the
surrender of the boys by the women is the occasion of
ceremonies that are dramatic and impressive, and emphasize
the new status to which the boys aspire.
After their separation the boys are instructed by
precept and often by ceremonial, are told that they
have passed from childhood and its ways, and that
their place is henceforth with the men, from whom
they are to receive the lessons in war or hunting
or other duties which are to make them worthy
members of society. The novice after initiation is
supposed to be a new being. Quite generally his
death and resurrection are dramatically represented.
In the light of more developed institutions it is evident
that this ceremonial is a crude way of expressing
purification; the fundamental notion is not altogether
foreign to the Pauline idea "dead to sin"
(
The instruction during the period of seclusion is in general, even among the rudest tribes, of a character which must astonish by its salutariness those who suppose that with a high grade of civilization alone are developed the moralities, especially those concerning sex and property. Altogether outside of what pertains to every-day necessities (which in this type of society include besides the ways of obtaining food by hunting and fishing, as well as its preparation, also the art and methods of war), there is the education of the boys in conduct toward women which is not a whit lower than is involved by standards of sexual morality in "enlightened" lands. By inculcation of sheer self-control a restraint upon indulgence is achieved which more pretentious grades of culture accomplish only through the seclusion of women. And the task of self-control is made the more difficult because of the system of taboo and the restrictions imposed by the rules which complicate the ideas of relationship and prevent intermarriage between certain classes within the tribe. So the candidate receives instruction regarding the choice of a wife which may legally be made, and is charged to keep strictly within those lines. He is cautioned against promiscuity and unchastity (though in a few regions the period of initiation is followed by a sort of orgy). He is taught the necessity of obedience to the elders, of fidelity to tribal obligations, is instructed in the geography of the tribal possessions and the necessity in the public interest of remaining within the tribal boundaries. The qualities of truthfulness, justness, honesty, generosity, kindness to the weak, filial regard, courage, good judgment are enjoined, while even the principle of eugenics from the viewpoint of tribal advantage is emphasized. Fidelity to the tribe is urged through the impartation of its history and its relations with other tribes, and the native games, songs, and dances (having religious purport); the secrets and obligations of the system of totems and taboos are also communicated. Through the advice coming from the elders around the camp-fire after the daily labors are ended, the admiration and regard of the youth are won, the feeling of brotherhood is fostered, and a sobering effect is produced. So pronounced are these effects
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Impartial study of tribal mysteries, the merest outlines of which are sketched in the preceding paragraphs, makes clear that the entire g. Influence social, religious, and political economy
on Social of primitive life centers in them. TheyDevelop- are responsible for the formation of went. character in youth; the ideas then instilled control the domestic, social, and religious life of the adult. They are a strongly conservative force, based on a crude, empiric, yet often correct utilitarianism, which in many of its aspects is highly ethical. Individual and social morality are in the main their products. All this is true of even the crudest forms. The secret and magical fraternities into which the primary mysteries develop influence no less profoundly the three departments of human life and are potent in the evolution of the social organism. So that from a historical standpoint alone the subject is worthy of serious attention. When it comes to be seen that the Eleusinian, Orphic, and other mysteries which dominated so large a portion of Greek life, but elaborated and philosophized upon the central ideas of the primitive variety, the historical importance of these primitive forms becomes still more evident.
II. Cultic Mysteries.-1. The Elensinia: The typical mysteries of this sort are Greek. For a thorough appreciation of their importance and relations a prerequisite is knowledge of at least the barest outlines of Greek religious his-
1, creek Cory as the study of the last decadeReligious has revealed it. The knowledge of Back-
ground. Greek religion common since the dom inance of Christianity is founded upon the pantheon of Homer and the mythology system atized by Hesiod. These were reflected in the wri tings known as the Greek classics and are the sub stance on which the official cults were founded. The Homeric deities are Aphrodite, Apollo, Ares, Arte mis, Athens, Hephxstos, Hera, Poseidon, and Zeus, "king and ruler of gods and men." But there are constant reminders, in the mention of other deities, even in the classics, that these Homeric gods were not all in whom the Greeks believed. Recent in vestigation has made it clear that in the folk re-ligion, which had not the prestige of the state cults, these other deities had a large part. It is proved now that the members of the Homeric pantheon were invaders, not indigenous among the darkhaired pre-Homeric Greeks, and that they were the objects of worship of the "fair-haired" hosts that beleaguered Troy. Before them there had come in other cults which had in some cases persisted, and there were indigenous nature deities whose worship and sacrifices the invaders adopted or appropriated, these.latter taking over the cults and the shrines of the older gods, even though the sacrifices and the mode of worship were sometimes incongruous and even inappropriate according to common Greek ideas (as when Zeus, a heaven god, in two cases received the sacrifice of a pig, which was appropriate only to a chthonic or earth-god). These earlier deities were for the most part chthonic, their concern was the produce of the earth, and to the worship of these peasants and country.folk clung with a persistency that even the gorgeous temples, stately worship, and high art inspired by the new gods could not shake. As in India after the decline of Buddhism the native faiths forced a compromise with the philosophic faith of Brahmanism that resulted in Hinduism, so in Greece the control over the religious mind held by Cybele or Rhea, by Demeter, Persephone, or Ge, by Dionysus and Leto and Selene not only held firm, but in some cases forced recognition by the State. It was in connection with this group of deities, to whom must be added the prophet Orpheus, that the cultic mysteries were observed. And that the mysteries in which these deities were the foci of attention existed practically throughout the Greek world is susceptible of proof. During several centuries immediately preceding the Christian era they were syncretized or diluted or adulterated by ruder elements brought in from Asia Minor or Crete or Thrace, in all of which regions orgiastic and primitive ceremonies seem to have been cultivated with an abandon that removed them but little if at all from savage rites. But the distinction between the Greek cultic mystery and the tribal celebration is, in large, that the former crystallize about personal deities, and these deities are chthonic or concerned with the fruits of the earth (Lenormant, in Contemporary Review, 1880, i. 848-849). The deities that stand out in this relation are the "Great Mother" of Asia Minor, who takes form in Greece in, e.g., Demeter and Kore, and, among male gods, Dionysus, "lord of the grape and its blood-red juice."
It may be taken as proved, however, that the Greek mysteries of the historical period are to be traced to clan celebrations probably
2. Origin of the same character as those de of the scribed in the first part of this discus-
Eleusinia. lion. That the clan organization, if not upon a totemic basis at least with totemic accompaniments, existed in Greece in the prehistoric period and that it left observances which survived in the historic period are axiomatic for comparative religionists. And this clan organization implies the mystic initiation. The association of the clan mysteries with definite deities presents no difficulties. The development of ghosts into demi-
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The adoption is precisely parallel to the acclaim of
Yahweh by Israel after the passage of the Red Sea and the defeat of the Amalekitea. The early local character of the mysteries celebrated at Eleusis
(12 m. n.w. of Athena) is attested by a large num ber of facts, the most prominent of which is the performance of the principal rites (" greater mys teries ") at Eleusis while only the preliminary rites
(" lesser mysteries ") were performed at Athens.
Moreover, this latter celebration was instituted al most certainly after the subjection o_ Eleusis to
Athena in the seventh century B.C., and was clearly a political move to afford the suzerain city a share in the popular observances and to foster local pride.
Almost as decisive a proof is the hereditary trans mission of the principal functions in the mysteries and the restriction of knowledge of the higher secrets to certain families of Eleusis, the Eumol pidfe, Triptolemidw, and Dioeletidae, and to these were given a heroic or semi-divine ancestry. Other indications of derivation from primitive puberty rites are the requirements of adultship in the candi dates, as well as (in early times) of local citizenship, and (in all times) of legitimacy of birth; here also are to be placed the retention among the sacra of implements originally magical (so far as the reports of the sacra are to be trusted), the early meaning of which was lost while a palpably secondary and more philosophical symbolism was read into them.
The facts adduced, and a number of others, war rant selection of the Eleusinia, as illustrative and typical of this type of rites. Significant are not only the evident ancestry, and a tendency to syn cretism, but also the esteem in which s. Esti- they were held, their duration through mates of the out a millennium of history, and the
Eieusinia. abiding secrecy which veiled the pro ceedings. How highly they were regarded is wit nessed by a series of testimonies. Thus Pausanias says (V., x. 1): "There is nothing on which the blessing of God rests in so full measure as the rites of Eleusis and the Olympic games "; Pindar (ed.
C. J. T. Mommsen, p. 470, Berlin, 1864) declares:
" O happy one, who goes beneath the hollow earth having witnessed these (mysteries) 1 he indeed knows the issues of life "; Sophocles remarks (as cited by Plutarch, Quomodo adolescens, iii.): " Thrice blessed the mortals who, having contemplated these mysteries, have descended to Hades; for those only will there be a future life [of happiness], the others will find there nothing but suffering "; and the
Homeric Hymn to Demeter reads: "Happy he among mortal men who bath beheld these thingsl he that is uninitiate, and bath no lot in them, bath never equal lot in death beneath the murky gloom"
(Andrew Lang, Homeric Hymns, p. 210, London,
1899). The history can be traced from Pindar and the Homeric Hymns in the seventh century B.C. to 396 A.D.; the mysteries survived the edicts of the Christian emperors, but the monks who accompanied Alaric to Attics in 396 secured the destruction of the temples and buildings at Eleusis in which the mystic drama had its home. For the continuance of the secrecy there are in evidence not only the still dense ignorance respecting the ritual and the fact that what little is known is the result of patient gleaning from every available source covering a millennium of Greek and Roman literature (best gathered in C. A. Lobeck, Aglaophamus, Regensburg, 1829), but also the explicit testimony of Gregory Nazianzen: "Eleusis knows as well as the witnesses the secret of this spectacle (the drama), which is with reason kept so profound" (" Oration XXXIX. On the Holy Lights," in NPNF, 2 ser., vii., 353).
The myth which lay at the base of the Eleusinia as celebrated in the historical period was that Kore, 4. The gore daughter of Demeter, was seized while
Myth. gathering flowers and carried away. by Hades, king of the lower world, Zeus conniving at the deed. Demeter wandered discon solate over the earth seeking knowledge of her daughter, and at last was told by Helios, who alone had seen the rape, what had been done; after nine days' wandering she arrived at Eleusis in the guise of an old woman, where she seated herself by the sacred spring. She was kindly received by Celeus, king of the place, but declined refreshment in the shape of wine, directing, however, preparation of the kykeon-a compound of meal and water flavored with crushed mint, with which she broke her long fast. She became nurse to the infant son of Celeus, whom by daily anointing with ambrosial ointment and nightly baths of fire she intended to make im mortal. But the mother was suspicious, spied on the goddess, was terrified at sight of the flames, and, crying out, foiled the purpose of Demeter. The latter then revealed herself, directed a temple to be built in her honor, and in this took up her dwelling; she then inaugurated the mysteries,. the con duct of which she taught to the families of Eumol pus, Triptolemus, and Diocles, directing them ever to keep secret the knowledge imparted in the cere monies from all but initiates (Arnobius, "Against the Heathen," v. 25, ANF, vi. 499; A. Lang, ut sup., pp. 209-210). Still she mourned her daughter, and in sympathy the earth refused its fruits, till the extinction of the race of men and discon tinuation of offerings to the gods were threatened. Zeus then sent Hermes to the lower world to release Kore and have her brought back to earth. Hades had, however, prevailed upon the maiden to eat a pomegranate seed, and, having eaten, she was bound to return thither, though a season of dwelling upon earth was permitted. So maid and mother were reunited at Eleusis, and the earth once more became fruitful (for a parallel to this myth see Tammuz-Adonis, § 4; for the descensus ad inferos see Sun and Sun Worship, II., § 7). Eumolpus was accredited with the actual establishment of the cere monies, and in his family remained the chief places in the conduct of the mysteries. The natural ob jects in Eleusis made sacred by the visit of Demeter|
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The myth is evidently etiological; a dearth may have been the occasion of the introduction of the Demeter and Kore elements that covered the more primitive rationale of the earlier clan rites. What seems to have escaped the attention of observers is the discord between myth and ceremonial. The former relates the reunion in the autumn of maid and mother-the season of harvest and of sowing of winter grain. The disappearance of Kore is by common consent the sowing of the seed corn, and this reappears (comes from the underworld) in its green sprouts in the spring, and spring, according to all analogy, should be the time of reunion of mother and daughter. Moreover, harvest offerings were, according to epigraphic evidence, a part of the involved ritual at Eleusis. The myth was, therefore, forced into connection with the Eleusinia, was superimposed upon the old clan ceremonies, just as the Dionysiac-Iacchic-Orphic elements later came in upon the whole.
As already indicated, the Eleusinia consisted of the "lesser" and the "greater" mysteries. The former were celebrated at Athens and served as the preliminary degree or preparation for the greater or real initiation; they were sacred to Kore and Dionysus, while the greater were sacred to Demeter and Kore. The time of the lesser is in doubt, being either in the month Anthesterion (February March), or in Elaphebolion (March-April); the days were the twentieth to the twenty-first. The place was Agra or Agri, a suburb of Athens, near the spring Callirhoe, where was a temple to Demeter and Persephone (Kore). The memory of the purely supplementary origin of the lesser mysteries is preserved in the legend that they were instituted in honor of Herakles, who wished to be initiated, but could not as his visit to Athens did not coincide with the season of the observance; besides, one not a citizen could not take the greater initiation, and foreigners were allowed to take the lesser degree. The observance then became preliminary to the final ceremonies. Little is known of the rites, though it is certain that the central thought, as of the greater, was purification, there being several marks of that proceeding, fasting (abstention from fowl, certain kinds of fish, beans, pomegranates, and apples), continence, and lustration on the banks of the Ilyssos River (cf. Eusebius, Praeparatio Evangelica, III., i., Eng. transl., i. 91, Oxford, 1903). The candidates received instruction from the mystagogue (preceptor for the occasion) in the needful matters; this possibly included the Eleusinian version of the myth concerning the principal deities, and may have embraced the Iacchic-Dionysiac corruptions. Certainly the methods of purification were taught, also the dietary restrictions and taboos and the kind and order of sacrifices.
The twentieth (or twenty-first; from this point the dates are in uncertainty) was possibly the day of the offering of first-fruits to Demeter (C. F. W. Dittenberger, Sylloge inscriptionum Graecarum,
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Mysteries of the mystic drama, when the myatx shared the mourning of Demeter and her subsequent joy, visited the spots consecrated, according to the story, by the experiences of the goddess, and then, like her, broke their fast by drinking the kykeon (see above, II., 1, § 4), the chief sacrament of the festival. The two nights of the drama seem to represent two degrees of initiation, the second possibly taken after a year's interval, full initiates being known as epoptce, the term indicating evidently that they had seen and (according to the formula given by Clement of Alexandria) handled the sacra. The day following seems to have been a day of games, at which the prize was a measure of new barley, the firstfruits from the sacred field of Demeter near by. The Eleusinia closed with the return of the mystae to Athens in procession bearing the statue of Iacchus, two final events marking the entry. The first was the passing of the bridge of the Kephisaos, the mystic and the spectators bandying jests, sometimes ribald and perhaps obscene (an addition probably after the admission of Dionysus to a share in the honors; certainly not original); and the pouring of two libations of water at the gate of Athens, most likely one to the East (the place of sunrise and the heavenly gods) and the other to the West (the place of sunset and of the entrance to the underworld). On the next day, the ceremonies being closed, the Athenian senate met to hear the report of the officials concerning the celebration and to try offenders who had offered profanation. There are very clear indications that the celebration was in the latest period prolonged for two or three days, thus deferring by that period the day of assembling of the senate.
The matters given in the preceding paragraphs constitute in the main the externals only, and except for the purifications and sacrifices do not deal with the concerns which gave to the mysteries their significance and their value. These externals were not closed to any bale and
8aora. citizens as spectators, women as well as men attending the processions and other rites. The secrecy began with the performances which followed the arrival of Iacchua at Eleusis. The essentials there consisted of four series of acts: katharsis or purification, s2cstasis or rites and sacrifices preliminary to initiation (both these open to the public as spectators); teleute or initiation, and epopteia or eight of the sacred objects (these only for candidates and initiates). In the epopteid are doubtless included the viewing of the sacred drama and the sight and handling of the sacra. Scattered cryptic references indicate that the drama included startling transformations effected by sudden transitions from darkness to intense light, while the actors reproduced the scenes of the myth, especially the reappearance of Kore from the under world and the actions of the other divinities in the myth. The keynotes of all the proceedings were purification, consecration, and hope for the future both in this life and the next. Concerning the secret rites only a few details are known from incidental allusions in literature and from the excavations at Eleusis, the latter clearing up much concerning the possibilities of the telesterion or hall of initiation. It is a Christian Father, Clement of Alexandria ("Exhortation to the Heathen," chap. ii., in ANF, ii. 175-177; cf. Harrison, Prolegomena, ut sup., pp. 155, 158), who gives the "token" (symbol) by which the initiate proved his adeptship: "I fasted, I drank the kykeon, I took from the chest, I put into the basket and back from the basket into the chest"; or "I ate from the timbrel, I drank from the cymbal, I carried the kernos, I passed beneath the pastos." The meaning of the first two clauses in the first of these formulas is clear; the cryptic character of the rest is evident. But one can not doubt that certain articles were taken out of a cheat, and for the time placed in a basket until all had been handled and then returned to the chest. Doubtless the mystagogue explained during the process the symbolical significance of the articles; but what these were is practically unknown. For while certain articles used in the mysteries are spoken of in the classics, in Clement of Alexandria, and in the earlier treatises on antiquities (such as AthenEcus, "Banquet," xi. 52-56) and dictionaries, in each case there is doubt whether they belonged to the Eleusinia or to some of the numerous mysteries of the Greek world. With the utmost probability one of the articles was an ear of barley. Another, the kernos, is nearly as certain, and while it has been explained as a winnowing fan, it is now known from excavations to have designated a composite cup (Harrison, Prolegomena, ut sup., pp. 158-160)--a platter with a number of little cups attached which held cereals, perhaps honey, and other materials, symbolic of the gifts of Demeter. Clement (ut sup.) tabulates the articles taken from the chest as "sesame, cakes, pyramidal cakes, globular and flat cakes embossed all over, lumps of salt, and a serpent, . . . pomegranates, branches, rods, ivy leaves, . . . poppy seeds, . . . the unmentionable symbols of Themis, marjoram, a lamp, a sword, a woman's comb, which is a euphemism and mystic expression for the muliebra." But Clement may have confused these articles with things that were employed in the mysteries of the great mother of Asia Minor.The sacerdotal functionaries who conducted or took part were the hierophantes of the Eumolpia fly' who conducted the initiations and uttered the sacred sayings in which the revelations were made. They were assisted by the daduchoi, who seem also to have been Eumolpidae. These grades seem to have included both sexes. Other officers were the lacchogos, kourotrophos (nurse) and dairates, who officiated in the Iacchic procession. The liknophoros bore the liknon (winnowing fan? or was it another name for the kernos?), explained by some as the article used as the cradle of the infant Iacchos. Hydranoi purified with water the candidates, pyropharoi maintained the sacred fires, hieraules were sacred flutists
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Of the great influence of the Eleusinia over the Greeks for a millennium there can be no doubt. The
basis of this influence, in the face of lo. Sig- the secrecy which covers the teach niSeanoe. ing, of which almost nothing is known, can only be inferred. Greeks were in temperament undogmatic. The "formula of confession," as some have called Clement's "token" (ut sup.), is not a statement of belief, but an affirmation that certain actions have been performed. The essentials, apart from the purifications and sacrifices done in public, were symbolical; they consisted in' certain articles, probably insignificant in them; selves, and in such actions as taking these things from a chest and putting them back. So far as one can learn, there was no teaching of dogma. But the total impression left by the Eleusinia is that of solemnity. The implications of lewdness suggested by Clement are not confirmed by archeology. Demeter herself is an impressive figure-a tender mother, sorrowing for a daughter snatched from her by powers whom she could reach only indirectly. In her sorrow the earth shared, as later it partook of her joy when her daughter was for a season restored to her. No finer or more chaste statue exists, and none more pathetic, than the seated mourning Demeter. And when in the myth Kore is given back to her, there is no hint of orgies, only the grateful joy which spends itself in the renewal of the bountiful soil's gifts to man. That in the later and other forms of mysteries, which Clement confused in his polemic, there were shameful features is true. But nothing that is known of the Eleuainia proper carries such a suggestion. In-, stead, the one expression of teaching that peeps out through the veil of obscurity is the hope so needed in Greek religion-that the future life was to be made happier because of participation in the mysteries. " Demeter . . . bestowed on us two priceless gifts: the cultivation of the fruits of the earth . . . and the ceremony which brings to the initiated the sweetest consolation at death and the hope of eternity " (Isocrates, " Panegyrics," cited by Philios, Eleusis, pp. 41-42, London, 1906). Cicero and others might be quoted to the same effect. Granting the truth of this, one great reason
for reverence for the Eleusinia is evident. Moreover, much as Christian pilgrims sought and believed they found the favor of God by visiting the Holy Land and traveling the roads trodden by the Savior's feet, so the mystm thought to secure the goddess's favor by visiting the scenes where she sorrowed and then found joy. Add to these the sense of moral and religious relief brought by the purifications of fasting and lustration, and little more of explanation is needed to justify, from the standpoint of the old religions, the high estimation in which the Eleusinia were held throughout the Greek world and in the Roman.
2. pionysiac-Orphic Mysteries: Of a very different type from the Eleusinia were the DionysiacOrphic mysteries, which from the fifth century s.c. on invaded and, pervaded popular Greek religion. The character of the god and of the
1. Charac- man from whom these derived their ter of Dio- names furnish clues to the character nysiac Cel-
ebration. of the observances. Dionysus (Bao-ebration. thus) was not in the Homeric pantheon, but by the beginning of the sixth century he had scaled Olympus. He was of Thracian origin, in all probability the deity of the Satrae (who gave their name to satyrs-Harrison, ut sup., p. 379) or the Bessi, a mountain tribe which had the reputation of being the worst of brigands, living on Mt. Haemus (Strabo, vii. 318, and Fragment 25), which yielded in religion or politics to no conqueror till Nicetas of Remesiana (q.v.) at the end of the fourth century won them for Christianity (Paulinus of Nola, Carmen, xxx.). The traditional origin of Dionysus from Thebes (as in the Tyrannus of Sophocles) is an attempt to give this foreign god, who had been received into the pantheon; a native origin. His late arrival in Greece is avouched in the prologue to the Bacchce of Euripides: " Now I come to Hellas, having taught all the world else my dances and my rite of mysteries " (Harrison, ut sup., p. 371). This statement involves the fact, which could be abundantly attested, that the Dionysiac ceremonies had spread widely, partly in consequence of northern (Thracian) migration in two streams, one via Macedonia to the Greek peninsula, and the other into Asia Minor and thence east and south, having meanwhile assimilated much from the mysteries of the Great Mother for which Asia Minor was celebrated. The names and epi thets by which this god was known encyst the facts of his origin, his wanderings, and his nature. "Sabazios" bespeaks Thrace and Phrygia, and contains in itself the idea of sleep brought on by 5abaium, a fermented drink made of grain. "Bromios" has a Theban ring which expresses confused sounds, as the rumbling of thunder, or of the mob, or of orgiastic music-the noise of the rout. And this fits in with and is used in connection with the myth that Dionysus came untimely to birth when his mother Semele (an earth deity) was smitten with the lightning of Zeus. He was also " Dendrites," the " tree-god," and then specialized as deity of the grape and of wine. Similarly as "Dithyrambos" he suggests the heady mead made of honey. Many other titles might be cited to the same purport were these not sufficient to reveal his
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Orpheus, also of Thracian origin, never attained to godship, he always remained human. Diodorus (iii. 65) brings him into connection with Dionysus in a twofold manner: explicitly as the grandson of Charops, to whom, in return for a
2. Sisni$- favor, Dionysus taught his rites; and cants of implicitly in that Oiagros, son of
Orpheus. Charops and father of Orpheus, handed those rites on to his son, who (and this is important) "made many changes in them." The usual conception of Orpheus stops with his fame as a musician. This has importance, indeed, even for the mysteries; but it is as a religious reformer that Orpheus has most interest in this connection. This fact is brought out in the story of his death, which relates that he honored Helios above Dionysus, and the latter sent his Bassarids (Thracian bacchanals) against him, and they tore him in pieces and scattered the remnants (Eratosthenes, Katasterismoi, xxiv.). The Muses gathered these together and buried them, but the head, entombed at Lesbos, continued to sing and to utter oracles. The historic kernel here is doubtless the martyrdom of Orpheus at the hands of Dionysiac mystics because as a reformer of the mysteries he did Dionysus too little honor. It is also deducible from the story and is supported by other data that Orpheus was a prophet and religious teacher; Pausanias (IX., xxx. 12) says that he was credited with discovering rites of the gods, purifications for unholy acts, remedies for sicknesses, and means of turning away the divine wrath (cf. Aristophanes, " Frogs," 1032; Augustine, " City of God," xviii. 14, in NPNF, 1 ser., ii. 368). The significant facts in all this are (1) that the wild orgiastic rites of Dionysus, celebrated especially in wooded gorges on the mountains by choruses of ecstatic women, were revised by Orpheus; (2) that this revision took the forms of (a) a sobering down of the orgiastic-the muse of Orpheus is never pictured as stirring and exciting,
but as entrancing and quieting,* and (b) of engrafting upon the rites a loftier spiritual meaning.
Three particulars in Orphism are noteworthy: (1) it introduced more thoroughly into Greek religion the principle of asceticism (in the shape of abstinence, opposing thereby inci-
8. Orphic dentally the drunken cups of Dionysus)Teachings. than was otherwise done-the idea was that of good works, a holy life; (2) it either borrowed from Egypt (or India?) or independently evolved the conception of the samsard or cycle of births, reincarnation, and release therefrom by abstinence, plus purification in the mysteries and the holy life; (3) it either (more probably) adopted the Egyptian idea of identification of the soul after death with a deity, or itself independently created it. But the foundation-thought in this was the attainment of purity. So Euripides makes Theseus, the hater of the self-righteous and of mystics, taunt the Orphic adept: " Boast, now 1 Thou so holy that no flesh where life bath been feeds thee who bast Orpheus for thy king " (Hippolytus, 952-953). Similarly in the confession of the mystic quoted from Euripides by Porphyry (De abstinentid, iv. 19; cf. the passage in Harrison, ut sup., p. 479) the adept is " set free and named by name a Bacchus of the mailed priests, robed in pure white, clean from man's birth and coffined clay (i.e., from the pollutions both of birth and death), while from his lips is ever banished touch of meat where life bath been." It is quite certain that Orphism involved also the habit of self-examination, probably after the pattern of the Pythagoreans: " What that is wrong have I done? What good deed is-mine? And what that I should have I not accomplished? " (Diogenes Laertius, "Life of Pythagoras," xix.).
In spite of Orphic attempts to eliminate the extravagant from the rites, the testimonies are too many and too explicit to hide the fact
4. sum- that in the background of the system mars. lurked rites that were disgusting and repellent. Among these were the sacrificial eating of raw, even of living, flesh of bull or goat (cf. Comparative Religion, VI., 1, d. § 1), and with great probability a rite that recalled the earlier eating of the flesh of a child (cf. Journal of Hellenic Studies, 1890, p. 343; and for the orgiastic ritual and indications of this feast of raw flesh cf. Plutarch, De oracz, lorum defectu, xiv.; Clement of Alexandria, "Exhortation," ii., inIANF, i i.175-176; Arnobius, " Against the Heathen," v. 19-23, in ANF, vi. 497-498; Firmieus Maternus, De errors profanarum religionum, vi.). How far these survived in the historic period is doubtful. That they were mimicked if not actually carried out is beyond question. And that in more retired regions the mysteries concealed not merely crudities (Plato, Republic, 364 B; Heraclitus, Fragment 130) but savageries is true. Still, even in the recrudescence of primitive rites in the Greco-Roman world that took place, having their starting-point in Asia Minor, 200 s.c.-200 A.D.,
* The inscription found at the Iobaccheion at Athena gives as a direction for the performance: "No one is to make a noise, or clap his hands, or sing, but each is to do his part in all quietness and order" (text and translation conveniently given in Harrison, ut sup., pp. 474-475).
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Bibliography: For tribal mysteries incomparably the best works for the student are those which deal with the life of savages in different lands, compiled by competent observers. Among the best and indispensable works of this kind are: L. Fison and A. W. Howitt, Kamilaroi and Kurnai, Melbourne, 1880; R. H. Codrington, Melanesian Studies, London, 1891; A. Hamilton, Maori Art, Wellington, 1896; B. Spencer and F. J. Gillen; Native Tribes of Central Australia, London, 1899; idem, Northern Tribes of Central Australia, ib. 1904; F. H. Cushing, Zuni Folk Tales, New York, 1902; W. H. Furness, Borneo Head Hunters, London, 1902; A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of South-East Australia, ib. 1904; Mrs. K. L. Parker, Euahlayi Tribe, ib. 1905; and the Reports and Bulletins of the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C. The material has been brought together in two books of the highest value: H. Schurtz, Altersklassen und Münnerbunde, Berlin, 1902; and H. Webster, Primitive Secret Societies, a Study in Early Politics and Religion, New York, 1908 (an excellent handbook on the subject). Consult further: E. B. Tylor, in Journal of Anthropological Studies, xxviii (1898), 145 sqq.; idem, Primitive Culture, new ed., London, 1903; J. G. Frazer, Golden Bough, iii. 422-445, ib. 1900; E. Crawley, Mystic Rose, pp. 215-223, 270-314, New York, 1902; G. S. Hall, Adolescence, ii. 232-260, ib. 1904.
On Greek Mysteries the work of Miss Harrison cited so frequently in the text is of prime importance, adducing evidence which is frequently unique. Consult further: C. A. Lobeck, Aglaophamus, Regensburg, 1829 (indispensable for the collection of materials from the classics); L. Preller, Demeter und Persephone, Hamburg, 1837; idem, Griechische Mythologie, ed. C. Robert, Berlin, 1894; F. Lenormant, Monographic de la voie sacriée eleusinienne, Paris, 1864; idem, in Contemporary Review, 1880, i. 847 sqq., ii. 119 sqq., 412 sqq.; A. Mommsen, Heortologie, Leipsic, 1864; C. Strube, Ueber den Bilderkreis von Eleusis, Leipsic, 1870; C. S. Wake, Evolution of Morality, ii., chap. vi., London, 1878; W. Mannhardt, Mythologische Forschungen, Strasburg, 1884; H. Junker, Die Studenwachen in den Osirismysterien nach den Inschriften von Dendera, Edfu, und Philae, Vienna, 1890; L. Dyer, Gods in Greece, pp. 174-218, London, 1891; P. Gardner, New Chapters in Greek Hist., ib. 1892; H. Rubensohn, Die Mysterienheiligtümer in Eleusis und Samothrace, Berlin, 1892; A. Dieterich, Nekyia, Leipsic, 1893 (important); P. Foucart, Recherches sur l'origine et la nature des mysteres d'Eleusis, Paris, 1895 (of very considerable value); E. Maass, Orpheus, Munich, 1895; D. Philios, Eleusis, ses mystères, ses ruines, et son musee, Athens, 1896, Eng. transl., Eleusis, her Mysteries, Ruins, and Museum, London, 1906 (the treatment of the mysteries is rather superficial); T. Mommsen, Die Feste der Stadt Athen, Leipsic, 1898; A. Lang, Myth, Ritual, and Religion, i. 270 sqq., ii. 286 sqq., London, 1899; idem, Homeric Hymns, pp. 55-100, 183-210, ib. 1899; G. D'Alviella, in RHR, xlvi (1902), nos. 2 and 3, xlvii (1903), nos. 1 and 2; idem, Eleusinia, Paris, 1903; E. Rohde, Psyche, 3d ed., Tübingen, 1902(indispensable); O. Gruppe, Griechische Mythologie und Religionsgeschichte, Munich, 1906; R. Reitzenstein, Die hellenistischen Mysterienreligion, ihre Grundgedanken und Wirkungen, Leipsic, 1910; F. Cumont, Oriental Religions in Roman Paganism, Chicago, 1911; Ersch and Gruber, Encyklopädie, I., xxxiii. 268-298, lxxxii. 219-380.
1 A bull-roarer is a piece of wood carved in the shape of an elongated rhomboid or modification of that form, attached by one end to a string, and swung rapidly around the head by the string, producing a peculiar and very penetrating sound. It was used by the Greeks and by them called a rhombus. The sound made by this instrument is often the signal that puberty rites are being or are about to be celebrated and that the profane are to remain at a distance and out of sight. The exhibition of the instrument is usually an invitation or a command to attend the ceremonies.
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