THE ELEUSINIAN MYSTERIES AND THE AFTERLIFE

WHAT ARE THE RELIGIOUS RITUALS HELD IN HONOR OF DEMETER AND PERSEPHONE, THE ELEUSINIAN MYSTERIES ABOUT?

WE WILL EXPLORE WHAT IS KNOWN ABOUT THE MYSTERIES AND THE PROMISE THEY APPARENTLY EXTENDED FOR A HAPPY AFTERLIFE.

WE WILL LOOK AT THE CONTRASTING VIEW OF THE AFTERLIFE FOUND ELSEWHERE IN GREEK MYTH AND RELIGION, LOOKING AT DEPICTION OF THE UNDERWORLD IN HOMER, AT SUGGESTIONS

OF REINCARNATION, AND AT THE MYTH OF ORPHEUS AND ITS ASSOCIATED CULT ORPHISM.

DEMETER’S VISIT TO ELEUSIS IS A CRUCIAL NARRATIVE ELEMENT IN THE HOMERIC HYMN; IT ALSO HAS

CONNECTIONS TO THE RITUAL OUTSIDE THE STORYLINE

ELEUSIS IS A TOWN NEAR ATHENS, WHERE THE GREAT “MYSTERIES” IN HONOR OF DEMETER AND PERSEPHONE WERE CELEBRATED FOR OVER 1000 AND PERHAPS NEARLY 200 YEARS. THEY FELL INTO DISUSE ABOUT 400 A.D.

“MYSTERIES” IN THIS CONTEXT MEANS “SECRETS”; THE CEREMONIES WERE OPEN ONLY TO INITIATES.

THE INITIATES WERE FORBIDDEN TO TELL NON-INITIATES ABOUT THE RITES.

INITIATION WAS AVAILABLE TO MEN AND WOMEN, TO FREE PEOPLE AND TO SLAVES; THE ONLY REQUIREMENTS WERE THAT ONE MUST NOT BE A MURDERER AND THAT ONE MUST SPEAK GREEK. ONE HAD TO MAKE THE JOURNEY TO ELEUSIS--AND MAKE A SACRIFICE--TO BE INITIATED.

THE REQUIREMENT OF SECRECY MEANS THAT OUR KNOWLEDGE OF THE MYSTERIES IS BOTH LIMITED AND QUITE PROBABLY BIASED.

ALTHOUGH CERTAINLY SOME INITIATES MUSH HAVE TOLD THE SECRET, THE SURVIVING WRITTEN REFERENCES OBSERVE THE PROHIBITION. THEY ALLUDE TO DETAILS OF THE MYSTERIES BUT DO NOT DESCRIBE THEM.

THE ONLY WRITERS WHO DO DESCRIBE THE MYSTERIES ARE EARLY CHRISTIAN AUTHORS. BECAUSE THEY WROTE WITH THE DESIRE TO PROVE THE MYSTERIES FALSE, THEIR TESTIMONY MAY NOT BE ACCURATE.

THE SOURCES SEEM TO AGREE THAT THE HIGH POINT OF THE MYSTERIES WAS THE SHOWING OR REVEALING OF SOMETHING TO THE INITIATES.

SOME SOURCES IMPLY THAT WHATEVER WAS REVEALED WAS OBSCENE.

OTHER SOURCES SAY THAT THE REVELATION CONSISTED OF AN EAR O F WHAT BEING CUT IN SILENCE.

ALTHOUGH THE DETAILS OF THE MYSTERIES WILL PROBABLY REMAIN UNKNOWN, WE KNOW ENOUGH TO RECOGNIZE MANY DETAILS IN THE HOMERIC HYMN AS AETIOLOGIES FOR PARTS OF THE RITUAL OF THE MYSTERIES.

DEMETER’S VISIT TO ELEUSIS EXPLAINS WHY THE MYSTERIES ARE CELEBRATED THERE.

ON A CONCEPTUAL LEVEL, THE CONNECTION WITH DEATH AND THE AFTERLIFE IS AETIOLOGICAL, BECAUSE INITIATION PROMISED A HAPPY AFTERLIFE.

IF WE HAD MORE INFORMATION, WE MIGHT RECOGNIZE OTHER DETAILS AS AETIOLOGICAL.

THE ELEUSINIAN MYSTERIES APPARENTLY PROMISED A HAPPY AFTERLIFE. ELSEWHERE IN SURVIVING LITERATURE, WE FIND LESS PLEASANT VIEWS OF THE AFTERLIFE.

THE STANDARD VIEW SEEMS TO BE THAT THE UNDERWORLD IS A PLACE OF DIM, SHADOW EXISTENCE, MUCH LESS DESIRABLE THAT LIFE IN THIS WORLD.

THE GHOST IS SOMETIMES CALLED AN EIDOLON, OR ‘IMAGE’ ; IT IS LESS REAL THAN THE LIVING PERSON.

THE WORD FOR SOUL, PSYCHE, ORIGINALLY SEEMS TO HAVE MEANT ‘BREATH’--THAT WHICH VISIBLY LEAVE THE BODY AT THE TIME OF DEATH.

IN THE ODYSSEY, THE SPRITS IN TARTAROS ARE DESCRIBED AS BEING WITLESS, NOT EVENING KNOWING THEMSELVES.

SOME EXCEPTIONALLY NOTEWORTHY SOULS ARE PICKED OUT FOR REWARD OR PUNISHMENT, BUT OVERALL THERE SEEMS TO BE LITTLE SENSE THAT ONE’S STATE IN THE AFTERLIFE WAS DETERMINED BY ONE’S ACTIONS IN THIS LIFE.

THE CONCEPTION OF THE ELYSIAN FIELDS, RESERVED FOR A VERY FEW ESPECIALLY GOOD SOULS, IS ALLUDED TO IN THE ODYSSEY AND ELSEWHERE.

THE IDEA OF PUNISHMENT FOR THE WICKED IS MORE CLEARLY DEVELOPED, BUT EVEN IT DOES NOT APPLY TO THE MAJORITY OF HUMANITY; PUNISHMENT IS RESTRICTED TO A FEW FAMOUS WRONGDOER’S, SUCH AS THE “CARDINAL SINNERS” TANTALOS, TITYOS, AND SISYPHUS.

WE ALSO HAVE SOME EVIDENCE OF A BELIEF IN REINCARNATION.

PYTHAGORAS (6TH B.C.) APPARENTLY TAUGHT A DOCTRINE THAT INCLUDED REINCARNATION (ALONG WITH VEGETARIANISM).

PLATO DISCUSSES REINCARNATION IN THE SO-CALLED “MYTH OF ER” (IN THE REPUBLIC).

ONE DIFFICULTY IN USING THIS AS EVIDENCE FOR 4TH CENTURY BELIEF IS THAT PLATO MAY HAVE INVENTED THIS ‘MYTH’ FOR USE IN THE REPUBLIC.

ELSEWHERE, FOR INSTANCE IN THE APOLOGY OF SOCRATES, PLATO DESCRIBES A VIEW OF THE AFTERLIFE THAT IS MUCH CLOSER TO THE TRADITIONAL ONE.

VIRGIL (1ST B.C.) COMBINED THE IDEAS OF REWARD AND PUNISHMENT AND THE IDEA OF REINCARNATION IN BOOK VI OF THE AENEID. AS WITH PLATO, IT IS DIFFICULT TO KNOW TO WHAT EXTENT THE IDEA WAS A LITERARY DEVICE AND TO WHAT EXTENT IS MIRRORS ACTUAL BELIEF.

ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT MYTHS CONCERNING THE AFTERLIFE IS THE MYTH OF ORPHEUS AND EURYDICE. ORPHEUS, A SON OF APOLLO AND ONE OF THE MUSES, WAS THE GREATEST POET WHO EVER LIVED.

ORPHEUS, A HUMAN, SUPPOSEDLY HAD THE POWER TO CHARM ANIMALS AND EVEN STONES AND TREES WITH HIS MUSIC.

WHEN HIS WIFE EURYDICE DIED, ORPHEUS MADE HIS WAY TO THE UNDERWORLD TO PLEAD FOR HER RELEASE.

HIS MUSIC WAS SO MOVING THAT HADES AND PERSEPHONE AGREED TO RELEASE EURYDICE IF ORPHEUS NOT LOOK BACK AT HER ON THE WAY OUT.

ORPHEUS DID LOOK BACK, AND EURYDICE RETURNED TO TARTAROS.

THE PURELY MYTHICAL ORPHEUS WAS ASSOCIATED WITH A BODY OF WRITINGS AND A SET OF RELIGIOUS BELIEFS CALLED “ORPHISM.”

ORPHISM BEGAN TO BE TAUGHT IN THE 6TH CENTURY B.C.

THE ORPHIC WRITING (FEW OF WHICH SURVIVE) SUPPOSEDLY CONTAIN KNOWLEDGE THAT ORPHEUS GAINED WHILE IN THE UNDERWORLD.

REINCARNATION IS CENTRAL TO THE DOCTRINE;ONLY BY FOLLOWING THE TEACHINGS OF ORPHEUS TO LEAD AN ASCETIC LIFE CAN THE SOUL EVENTUALLY BE FREED FORM REBIRTH. AS IN BUDDHISM,INCARNATION IS A BAD THING FROM WHICH ONE SEEKS RELEASE.

SOME ORPHIC WRITINGS CONTAINED PRECISE INSTRUCTIONS ABOUT WHAT ONE SHOULD SAY AND DO IN THE UNDERWORLD TO AVOID REINCARNATION.

THUS, ORPHISM, LIKE THE ELEUSINIAN MYSTERIES, HELD OUT THE PROMISE OF A HAPPY, OR AT LEAST HAPPIER, AFTERLIFE.

NO ORTHODOXY ABOUT THE AFTERLIFE EXISTS. IT WAS GENERALLY CONSIDERED BOTH LESS IMPORTANT AND LESS PLEASANT THAN THIS LIFE. GREEK MYTHOLOGY CONTAINS NO AETIOLOGY FOR DEATH THROUGH, FOR EXAMPLE, HUMAN SIN OR MISTAKE.