Chapter Nine, Lecture Two The Eleusinian Mysteries Ancient Parallels

The Eleusinian Mysteries “Mystês” “Initiates” Forbidden to disclose what went on the in Telesterion Fall ceremony to promote the growth of grain Presided over by the Eumolpids –The hierophant (hiera)

The Eleusinian Mysteries All who could speak Greek and hadn’t committed murder could participate in the eight day ceremony Inside the telesterion, a sacred building, the Anaktoron was the center of a performance and (perhaps) a light show Perhaps a reenactment of the Demeter/Korê myth

The Eleusinian Mysteries Initiates not given immortality per se, but guaranteed a blessed afterlife Advanced no more doctrine Closed in the 4 th century AD along with many other pagan centers

Ancient Parallels

Eastern Fertility Myths Babylonian Inanna and Dumuzi Egyptian Isis and Osiris Phrygian Cybele and Attis Aphrodite and Adonis

Concepts to Observe Pattern of the dying divinity The grieving of the consort The quest Rebirth

Inanna and Dumuzi Inanna = goddess of sex and war Dumuzi = her shepherd consort

Inanna in the Underworld Inanna goes into the underworld to visit her sister Ereshkigal, the Queen of the underworld She must strip naked before she is allowed in She’s put on trial and condemned to death by the Annunaki gods — hung on a hook as a piece of decaying meat

Her Escape While she’s there, the earth is barren Ninshubur follows her instructions and eventually goes to Enki Enki fashions beings, who trick Ereshkigal into releasing her with their weeping for the death of children But unless she can find someone to die for her, she must return

Dumuzi Dumuzi is seen not mourning her death enough Inanna tells the demons to take him He is allowed to return to earth one day each year to receive ritual honors.

The Phrygian Adaptation

The Birth of Adgestis Zeus impregnates a rock near Cybele The hermaphrodite Agdestis is born — so powerful and wild, that the other gods fear him Dionysus gets him drunk and sets a snare that tears off his male sexual organ — the pomegranate tree springs from the genitals

Birth of Attis A local princess, Nana, picks up the fruit and puts it into her dress She becomes pregnant Her father, disgraced, tries to prevent the birth by locking her up and starving her She is supported by Cybele Attis is born

Death of Attis Attis is about to marry, but Agdestis, his companion, drives the guests insane One guest, Gallus, slices off his own genitals Maddened, Attis also cuts off his own genitals to spite Agdestis and dies

Death of Attis His intended kills herself where he died, and Cybele buries them in a common grave Zeus allows Attis’s hair and one finger to live on

Egyptian Isis and Osiris Isis becomes the central Egyptian goddess The Greeks equated her with Demeter Key political charter myth -- the Pharaoh is justified in the myth

The Myth Isis and Osiris were fraternal twins They married and become king and queen of Egypt They brought features of civilized life to Egypt Osiris travelled to teach other nations

Osiris’s Murder The monster Typhoeus kills Osiris with the coffin trick It floats out the Nile and to Byblos in Phoenicia A tree grew around it The king of Byblos cut down the tree for his palace and brought the coffin with it

Osiris Returned In her quest, Isis comes to Byblos Stops by a well and is met by the daughters of the king and queen She cares for their son -- burning away the mortal parts by night while flying above it as a swallow Discovered, she reveals herself and demands the coffin back

Osiris Back in Egypt Typhoeus finds where Isis has hidden the coffin and tears the corpse up into fourteen pieces Isis finds all the pieces but one, the penis, and builds where each one was found She fashions a wooden phallus as a replacement

Birth of Horus While bringing the coffin back from Byblos, Isis reanimated the penis and became pregnant while flying over it as a hawk Now the hawk god Horus is born

Battle with Typhoeus Horus defeats Typhoeus and his allies But Isis lets him go Angered, Horus assaults Isis and tears off her crown Isis is visited by Osiris and another Horus (the baby) is born

Aphrodite and Adonis

Birth of Adonis Pygmalion and Galatea Paphos Cinyras Myrrha Adonis born from the myrrha tree

Aphrodite Adonis becomes the love-object of Aphrodite Killed in a hunt Becomes the anemone flower

Summary Female power central –Males are discardable The Greek variation has perplexing inconsistencies –There is no dying male consort –Does it date back to before the sexual fertility of the female was completely understood?

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