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77-529: The rites, ceremonies, and beliefs were kept secret and consistently preserved from antiquity. For the initiated, the rebirth of Persephone symbolized the eternity of life which flows from generation to generation, and they believed that they would have a reward in the afterlife . There are many paintings and pieces of pottery that depict various aspects of the Mysteries. Since the Mysteries involved visions and conjuring of an afterlife, some scholars believe that

154-564: A "barbarian" (being unable to speak Greek). Men, women, and even slaves were allowed initiation. To participate in these mysteries one had to swear a vow of secrecy. Four categories of people participated in the Eleusinian Mysteries: The priesthood officiating at the Eleusinian Mysteries and in the sanctuary was divided into several offices with different tasks. Six categories of priests officiated in

231-572: A great sacrifice, and an all-night feast ( pannykhís ). The procession to Eleusis began at Kerameikos (the Athenian cemetery) on the 18th, and from there the people walked to Eleusis, along the Sacred Way (Ἱερὰ Ὁδός, Hierá Hodós ), swinging branches called bacchoi . At a certain spot along the way, they shouted obscenities in commemoration of Iambe (or Baubo ), an old woman who, by cracking dirty jokes, had made Demeter smile as she mourned

308-479: A priest who held torches for the ceremonies. He is standing near the omphalos while an unknown female (probably a priestess of Demeter) sat nearby on the kiste, holding a scepter and a vessel filled with kykeon. Pannychis is also represented. Eternity Eternity , in common parlance , is an infinite amount of time that never ends or the quality, condition or fact of being everlasting or eternal. Classical philosophy , however, defines eternity as what

385-554: A state of civilization; and as the rites are called "initiations," so in very truth we have learned from them the beginnings of life, and have gained the power not only to live happily, but also to die with a better hope. Cicero, Laws II, xiv, 36 The Greater Mysteries took place in Boedromion – the third month of the Attic calendar , falling in late summer around September or October – and lasted ten days. The first act (on

462-539: A temple dedicated to the two Eleusinian goddesses excavated at the Mas Castellar site (Girona, Spain) provided legitimacy for this theory. Ergot fragments were found inside a vase and within the dental calculus (plaque) of a 25-year-old man, providing evidence of ergot being consumed (Juan-Stresserras, 2002). This finding seems to support the hypothesis of ergot as an ingredient of the Eleusinian kykeon . On

539-435: A terrible drought in which the people suffered and starved, depriving the gods of sacrifice and worship. As a result, Zeus relented and allowed Persephone to return to her mother. According to the myth, during her search Demeter traveled long distances and had many minor adventures along the way. In one she taught the secrets of agriculture to Triptolemus . Finally, by consulting Zeus, Demeter reunited with her daughter and

616-399: Is an important concept in many lives and religions . God or gods are often said to endure eternally, or exist for all time, forever, without beginning or end. Religious views of an afterlife may speak of it in terms of eternity or eternal life . Christian theologians may regard immutability , like the eternal Platonic forms , as essential to eternity. Eternity is often symbolized by

693-469: Is artificial and was created by damming in 1920. Pine and fir forests cover the area around Parnitha. Hymettus, Penteli, Myrrhinous and Lavrio are forested with pine trees, whereas the rest are covered by shrubbery. Parts of the sprawling forests of mount Penteli and Parnitha have been lost to forest fires, while the Synngrou Estate on the foothills of the former (intersecting the border between

770-467: Is located inside the archaeological site of Eleusis . The Ninnion Tablet , found in the same museum, depicts Demeter, followed by Persephone and Iacchus, and then the procession of initiates. Then, Demeter is sitting on the kiste inside the Telesterion, with Persephone holding a torch and introducing the initiates. The initiates each hold a bacchoi. The second row of initiates were led by Iakchos ,

847-401: Is timeless or exists outside time, whereas sempiternity corresponds to infinite duration. Classical philosophy defines eternity as what exists outside time, as in describing timeless supernatural beings and forces, distinguished from sempiternity which corresponds to infinite time, as described in requiem prayers for the dead. Some thinkers, such as Aristotle , suggest the eternity of

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924-518: The Age of Enlightenment drew on the classical distinction to put forward metaphysical hypotheses such as "eternity is a permanent now". Today cosmologists, philosophers, and others look towards analyses of the concept from across cultures and history. They debate, among other things, whether an absolute concept of eternity has real application for fundamental laws of physics ; compare the issue of entropy as an arrow of time . Eternity as infinite duration

1001-526: The Attic Peninsula , is a historical region that encompasses the entire Athens metropolitan area , which consists of the city of Athens , the capital of Greece and the core city of the metropolitan area, as well as its surrounding suburban cities and towns. It is a peninsula projecting into the Aegean Sea , bordering on Boeotia to the north and Megaris to the west. The southern tip of

1078-664: The Geraneia , Parnitha (the highest mountain of Attica), Aigaleo and Penteli . Four mountains — Aigaleo, Parnitha, Penteli and Hymettus (clockwise from the southwest) — delineate the hilly plain on which the Athens urban area now spreads. The plain is pockmarked by a plethora of semi-continuous hills, the most notable ones being the Tourkovounia , Lykavittos , the Acropolis of Athens itself and Philopappou . Mesogeia lies to

1155-505: The Goths under the command of Alaric . Attica's population diminished in comparison to the neighboring area of Boeotia . The sites of historical interest date to the 11th and 12th centuries, when Attica was under the rule of the Franks . The great monastery of Dafni, that was built under Justinian I 's rule, is an isolated case that does not signify a widespread development of Attica during

1232-745: The Greek War of Independence in the 1820s, the peasants of Attica were the first to revolt (April 1821), occupying Athens and seizing the Acropolis that was handed over to the Greek revolutionaries in June, 1822. Attica belonged to the newly-founded Greek state from its founding. From 1834, Athens was made the new Greek capital (moved from Nafplio in Argolis ), which caused the gradual repopulation of Attica by other people around Greece. The most dramatic surge came with Greek refugees from Anatolia following

1309-795: The Greek genocide and later the population exchanges between Greece and Turkey under the Treaty of Lausanne . Today, much of Attica is occupied by urban Athens, encompassing the entirety of the Athenian plain. The modern Greek region of Attica includes classical Attica as well as the Saronic Islands , a small part of the Peloponnese around Troezen , and the Ionian Island of Kythira . Mela, A.; Tousi, E.; Melas, E.; Varelidis, G. Spatial Distribution and Quality of Urban Public Spaces in

1386-565: The Isthmus , and, toward the continent, they extended as far as the heights of Cithaeron and Parnes . The boundary line came down toward the sea, bounded by the district of Oropus on the right and by the river Asopus on the left. During antiquity, the Athenians boasted about being ' autochthonic ', which is to say that they were the original inhabitants of the area and had not moved to Attica from another place. The traditions current in

1463-399: The calathus (open basket). It is widely supposed that the rites inside the Telesterion comprised three elements: Combined, these three elements were known as the aporrheta (unrepeatables); the penalty for divulging them was death. Athenagoras of Athens , Cicero , and other ancient writers cite that it was for this crime (among others) that Diagoras was condemned to death in Athens;

1540-600: The 14th of Boedromion) was the bringing of the sacred objects from Eleusis to the Eleusinion , a temple at the base of the Acropolis of Athens . On the 15th of Boedromion, a day called the Gathering ( Agyrmos ), the priests ( hierophantes , those who show the sacred ones) declared the start of the rites ( prorrhesis ), and carried out the sacrifice ( hiereía deúro, hither the victims). The seawards initiates ( halade mystai ) started out in Athens on 16th Boedromion with

1617-543: The 19th of Boedromion, initiates entered a great hall called Telesterion ; in the center stood the Palace ( Anaktoron ), built of ruins dating back to the Mycenaean Age, which only the hierophants could enter, where sacred objects were stored. Before mystai could enter the Telesterion, they would recite, "I have fasted, I have drunk the kykeon , I have taken from the kiste (box) and after working it have put it back in

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1694-611: The 23rd of Boedromion, the mysteries ended and everyone returned home. In 170 AD, the Temple of Demeter was sacked by the Sarmatians but was rebuilt by Marcus Aurelius . Aurelius was then allowed to become the only lay person ever to enter the anaktoron. As Christianity gained in popularity in the 4th and 5th centuries, Eleusis's prestige began to fade. The last pagan emperor of Rome, Julian , reigned from 361 to 363 after about fifty years of Christian rule. Julian attempted to restore

1771-504: The 4th, 5th and 6th centuries BC, depict Triptolemus holding an ear of corn, sitting on a winged throne or chariot, surrounded by Persephone and Demeter with pine torches. The monumental Protoattic amphora from the middle of the 7th century BC, with the depiction of Medusa's beheading by Perseus and the blinding of Polyphemos by Odysseus and his companions on its neck, is kept in the Archaeological Museum of Eleusis which

1848-637: The Athmoneia games were also celebrated. After the period of antiquity, Attica came under Roman , Byzantine , Venetian , and Ottoman rule. In the Roman period, the Scandinavian Heruli tribe raided Athens and Attica in 267 AD, destroying most of the city and laying waste to the countryside. During the Byzantine period Athens was an important middle size city. In 396 Attica was invaded by

1925-660: The Byzantine period. On the other hand, the buildings built during the 11th and 12th centuries show a greater development that continued during the rule of the Franks, who did not impose strict rule. From the 14th century onwards, the Arvanites came to Attica from what is today southern Albania . They were mostly invited as mercenaries by the local Greek lords. During the Ottoman rule, Athens enjoyed some rights. However, that

2002-438: The Eleusinian Mysteries and was the last emperor to be initiated into them. The closing of the Eleusinian Mysteries in 392 AD by the emperor Theodosius I is reported by Eunapius , a historian and biographer of the Greek philosophers. Eunapius had been initiated by the last legitimate Hierophant , who had been commissioned by the emperor Julian to restore the Mysteries, which had by then fallen into decay. According to Eunapius,

2079-533: The Eleusinian Mysteries became pan-Hellenic , and pilgrims flocked from Greece and beyond to participate. Around 300 BC, the state took over control of the mysteries; they were controlled by two families, the Eumolpidae and the Kerykes . This led to a vast increase in the number of initiates. The only requirements for membership were freedom from "blood guilt", meaning never having committed murder, and not being

2156-580: The Eleusinian Mysteries: The offices of Hierophant, High Priestess, and Dadouchousa priestess were all inherited within the Phileidae or Eumolpidae families, and the Hierophant and the High Priestess were of equal rank. It was the task of the High Priestess to impersonate the roles of the goddesses Demeter and Persephone in the enactment during the mysteries, and at Eleusis events were dated by

2233-595: The Eleusinian rites, likewise display to those who are being admitted to the highest grade at these mysteries, the mighty, and marvellous, and most perfect secret suitable for one initiated into the highest mystic truths: an ear of grain in silence reaped ." There were two Eleusinian Mysteries, the Greater and the Lesser. According to Thomas Taylor , "the dramatic shows of the Lesser Mysteries occultly signified

2310-705: The Ionian tribe and spoke the Ionian dialect of Ancient Greek. Many Ionians later left Attica to colonize the Aegean coast of Asia Minor and to create the twelve cities of Ionia . During the Mycenaean period , the inhabitants of Attica lived in autonomous agricultural societies . The main places where prehistoric remains were found are Marathon , Rafina , Nea Makri , Brauron , Thorikos , Agios Kosmas, Elefsina , Menidi , Markopoulo , Spata , Aphidnae and Athens main city. All of these settlements flourished during

2387-479: The Mycenaean period. According to tradition, Attica comprised twelve small communities during the reign of Cecrops , the legendary Ionian king of Athens. Strabo assigns these the names of Cecropia , Tetrapolis , Epacria , Decelea , Eleusis , Aphidna , Thoricus , Brauron , Cytherus , Sphettus , Cephisia , and possibly Phaleron. These were said to have been later incorporated in an Athenian state during

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2464-485: The Mysteries was an all-night feast ( Pannychis ) accompanied by dancing and merriment. This portion of the festivities was open to the public. The dances took place in the Rharian Field , rumored to be the first spot where grain grew. A bull sacrifice also took place late that night or early the next morning. That day (22nd Boedromion), the initiates honoured the dead by pouring libations from special vessels. On

2541-464: The Mysteries were intended "to elevate man above the human sphere into the divine and to assure his redemption by making him a god and so conferring immortality upon him". Some scholars argued that the Eleusinian cult was a continuation of a Minoan cult, and that Demeter was a poppy goddess who brought the poppy from Crete to Eleusis. Some useful information from the Mycenean period can be taken from

2618-551: The Peloponnesian war, Attica was invaded and raided several times by the Lacedaemonians , while in the war's third phase the fortress of Decelea was captured and fortified by Lacedaemon. During the classical period, Athens was fortified to the north by the fortress of Eleutherae , which is preserved well. Other fortresses are those of Oenoe , Decelea , Phyle and Aphidnae . To protect the mines at Laurium , on

2695-422: The agricultural god Triptolemus. The goddess of nature survived in the mysteries where the following words were uttered: "Mighty Potnia bore a great son". Potnia ( Linear B po-ti-ni-ja  : lady or mistress), is a Mycenaean title applied to goddesses, and probably the translation of a similar title of pre-Greek origin. The high point of the celebration was "an ear of grain cut in silence", which represented

2772-562: The annual birth of the divine child, and she is connected with Enesidaon (The Earth Shaker), who is the chthonic aspect of Poseidon . At Eleusis inscriptions refer to "the Goddesses" accompanied by the agricultural god Triptolemus (probably son of Ge and Oceanus ), and "the God and the Goddess" ( Persephone and Plouton ) accompanied by Eubuleus who probably led the way back from

2849-447: The area between Eleusis and Cape Sounion and the area around the city (ἐσωτερικό-μεσογαία), inhabited by people living on the north of Mount Parnitha , Penteliko and the area east of the mountain of Hymettus on the plain of Mesogeia . Principally, each civic unit would include equal parts of townspeople, seamen, and farmers. A "trittýs" ("third") of each sector constituted a tribe. Consequently, Attica comprised ten tribes. During

2926-520: The celebrants washing themselves in the sea at Phaleron . On the 17th, the participants began the Epidauria , a festival for Asklepios named after his main sanctuary at Epidauros . This "festival within a festival" celebrated the healer's arrival at Athens with his daughter Hygieia , and consisted of a procession leading to the Eleusinion, during which the mystai apparently stayed at home,

3003-497: The city Eleusis is Pre-Greek, and may be related with the name of the goddess Eileithyia . Her name Ἐλυσία ( Elysia ) in Laconia and Messene probably relates her with the month Eleusinios and Eleusis, but this is debated. The ancient Greek word from which English mystery derives, mystḗrion ( μυστήριον ), means "mystery or secret rite" and is related with the verb myéō ( μυέω ), which means "(I) teach, initiate into

3080-714: The classical period recounted that, during the Greek Dark Ages , Attica had become the refuge of the Ionians , who belonged to a tribe from the northern Peloponnese. Supposedly, the Ionians had been forced out of their homeland by the Achaeans , who in turn had been forced out of their homeland by the Dorian invasion . Supposedly, the Ionians integrated with the ancient Atticans, who, afterward, considered themselves part of

3157-495: The coast, Athens was protected by the walls at Rhamnus , Thoricus , Sounion , Anavyssos , Piraeus , and Elefsina . Although these forts and walls had been constructed, Attica did not establish a fortification system until later, in the 4th century BC. Attica's warfare is displayed by piles of rubble from fortresses from the Chremonidean war. Even though archaeological ruins of religious importance are found in nearly

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3234-535: The earth again. In the central foundation document of the mystery, the Homeric Hymn to Demeter line 415, Persephone is said to stay in Hades during winter and return to her mother in the spring of the year: "This was the day [of Persephone's return], at the very beginning of bountiful springtime." Persephone's rebirth is symbolic of the rebirth of all plant life and the symbol of eternity of life that flows from

3311-610: The earth returned to its former verdure and prosperity: the first spring. Zeus, pressed by the cries of the hungry people and by the other deities who also heard their anguish, forced Hades to return Persephone. However, it was a rule of the Fates that whoever consumed food or drink in the Underworld was doomed to spend eternity there. Before Persephone was released to Hermes, who had been sent to retrieve her, Hades tricked her into eating pomegranate seeds (either six or four according to

3388-599: The east of Mount Hymettus and is bound to the north by the foothills of Mount Penteli, to the east by the Euboean Gulf and Mount Myrrhinous, and to the south by the mountains of Lavrio (modern Lavreotiki ), Paneio (Πάνειον Όρος), and Laureotic Olympus (Λαυρεωτικός Όλυμπος). The Lavrio region terminates in Cape Sounion , forming the southeastern tip of the Attic peninsula. Athens' water reservoir, Lake Marathon ,

3465-494: The endless snake, swallowing its own tail, the ouroboros . The circle, band, or ring is also commonly used as a symbol for eternity, as is the mathematical symbol of infinity , ∞ {\displaystyle \infty } . Symbolically these are reminders that eternity has no beginning or end. Attica Attica ( Greek : Αττική , Ancient Greek Attikḗ or Attikī́ , Ancient Greek: [atːikɛ̌ː] or Modern: [atiˈci] ), or

3542-438: The force of the new life. The idea of immortality did not exist in the mysteries at the beginning, but the initiated believed that they would have a better fate in the underworld. Death remained a reality, but at the same time a new beginning like the plant which grows from the buried seed. A depiction from the old palace of Phaistos is very close to the image of the anodos of Persephone. An armless and legless deity grows out of

3619-461: The generations that spring from each other. However, a scholar has proposed a different version, according to which the four months during which Persephone is with Hades correspond to the dry Greek summer, a period during which plants are threatened with drought. The Eleusinian Mysteries are believed to have ancient origins. Some findings in the temple Eleusinion in Attica suggest that their basis

3696-568: The ground, and her head turns to a large flower. According to George Mylonas , the lesser mysteries were held "as a rule once a year in the early spring in the month of flowers, the Anthesterion," while "the Greater Mysteries were held once a year and every fourth year they were celebrated with special splendor in what was known as the penteteris . Kerényi concurs with this assessment: "The Lesser Mysteries were held at Agrai in

3773-426: The hymn, Demeter's daughter Persephone (also referred to as Kore , "maiden") was assigned the task of painting all the flowers of the earth. Before completion, she was seized by Hades , the god of the underworld , who took her to his underworld kingdom. Distraught, Demeter searched high and low for her daughter. Because of her distress, and in an effort to coerce Zeus to allow the return of her daughter, she caused

3850-631: The last Hierophant was a usurper, "the man from Thespiae who held the rank of Father in the mysteries of Mithras ". According to Eunapius, in 396 , during his raiding campaign in Attica , the king of the Goths Alaric I looted the remains of the shrines. According to historian Hans Kloft, despite the destruction of the Eleusinian Mysteries, elements of the cult survived in the Greek countryside. There, local peasants and shepherds partially transferred Demeter's rites and religious duties onto Saint Demetrius of Thessaloniki , who gradually became

3927-457: The local communities lose their independence and succumb to the central government in Athens . As a result of these reforms, Attica was divided into approximately a hundred municipalities, the demes ( dēmoi , δῆμοι), and also into three large sectors: the city (ἄστυ), which comprised the areas of central Athens, Ymittos , Aegaleo and the foot of Mount Parnes , the coast (παράλια), that included

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4004-617: The local patron of agriculture and "heir" to the pagan mother goddess. There are many paintings and pieces of pottery that depict various aspects of the Mysteries. The Eleusinian Relief , from the late 5th century BC, displayed in the National Archaeological Museum of Athens is a representative example. Triptolemus is depicted receiving seeds from Demeter and teaching mankind how to work the fields to grow crops, with Persephone holding her hand over his head to protect him. Vases and other works of relief sculpture, from

4081-632: The loss of her daughter. The procession also shouted "Íakch', O Íakche!", possibly an epithet for Dionysus , or a separate deity Iacchus , son of Persephone or Demeter. Upon reaching Eleusis, there was an all-night vigil ( pannychis ) according to Mylonas and Kerényi . perhaps commemorating Demeter's search for Persephone. At some point, initiates had a special drink ( kykeon ), of barley and pennyroyal , which has led to speculation about its chemicals perhaps having psychotropic effects from ergot (a fungus that grows on barley, containing psychedelic alkaloids similar to LSD). Discovery of fragments of ergot in

4158-403: The miseries of the soul while in subjection to the body, so those of the Greater obscurely intimated, by mystic and splendid visions, the felicity of the soul both here and hereafter, when purified from the defilements of a material nature and constantly elevated to the realities of intellectual [spiritual] vision." According to Plato, "the ultimate design of the Mysteries ... was to lead us back to

4235-696: The month of Anthesterion, our February... The initiates were not even admitted to the epopteia [Greater Mysteries] in the same year, but only in September of the following year." This cycle continued for about two millennia. In the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, King Celeus is said to have been one of the first people to learn the secret rites and mysteries of her cult. He was also one of her original priests, along with Diocles , Eumolpos , Polyxeinus , and Triptolemus, Celeus' son, who had supposedly learned agriculture from Demeter. Under Peisistratos of Athens,

4312-508: The municipality of Troizinia on the Peloponnesian mainland. According to the Roman geographer Pausanias , the place was originally named Actaea, but was later renamed in the honour of Atthis , daughter of king Cranaus of Athens . Attica is a triangular peninsula jutting into the Aegean Sea . It is naturally divided to the north from Boeotia by the 10 mi (16 km) long Cithaeron and Parnes mountain ranges. To

4389-576: The mysteries", and the noun mýstēs ( μύστης ), which means "one initiated". The word mystikós ( μυστικός ), source of the English mystic , means "connected with the mysteries", or "private, secret" (as in Modern Greek ). The Mysteries are related to a myth concerning Demeter , the goddess of agriculture and fertility as recounted in one of the Homeric Hymns (c. 650 BC). According to

4466-595: The name of the reigning High Priestess. The outline below is only a capsule summary; much of the concrete information about the Eleusinian Mysteries was never written down. For example, only initiates knew what the kiste , a sacred chest, and the calathus , a lidded basket, contained. Hippolytus of Rome , one of the Church Fathers writing in the early 3rd century AD, discloses in Refutation of All Heresies that "the Athenians, while initiating people into

4543-447: The natural cosmos in regard to both past and future eternal duration. Boethius defined eternity as "simultaneously full and perfect possession of interminable life". Thomas Aquinas believed that God's eternity does not cease, as it is without either a beginning or an end; the concept of eternity is of divine simplicity , thus incapable of being defined or fully understood by humankind. Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679) and many others in

4620-548: The peninsula, known as Laurion , was an important mining region . The history of Attica is closely linked with that of Athens. In ancient times, Attica corresponded with the Athens city-state. It was the most prominent region in Ancient Greece, specifically during the Golden Age of Athens in the classical period . Ancient Attica (the classical Athens city-state ) was divided into demoi , or municipalities, from

4697-419: The power and longevity of the Eleusinian Mysteries, a consistent set of rites, ceremonies and experiences that spanned two millennia, came from psychedelic drugs . The name of the town, Eleusis, seems to be pre-Greek, and is likely a counterpart with Elysium and the goddess Eileithyia . Eleusinian Mysteries ( Greek : Ἐλευσίνια Μυστήρια ) was the name of the mysteries of the city Eleusis . The name of

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4774-448: The principles from which we descended, ... a perfect enjoyment of intellectual [spiritual] good." The Lesser Mysteries took place in the month of Anthesterion – the eighth month of the Attic calendar , falling in mid winter around February or March – under the direction of Athens' archon basileus . In order to qualify for initiation, participants would sacrifice a piglet to Demeter and Persephone, and then ritually purify themselves in

4851-439: The reform of Cleisthenes in 508/7 BC, grouped into three zones: urban ( astu ) in the region of Athens main town, and Piraeus (the port), coastal ( paralia ) along the coastline, and inland ( mesogeia ) in the interior. The modern administrative region of Attica is more extensive than the historical region, and includes Megaris as part of the regional unit of West Attica , the Saronic Islands and Cythera , as well as

4928-431: The reign of Theseus , the mythical king of Athens. Modern historians consider it more likely that the communities were progressively incorporated into an Athenian state during the 8th and the 7th centuries BC. Until the 6th century BC, aristocratic families lived independent lives in the suburbs of Athens, such as Hippios Kolonos . Only after Peisistratos 's tyranny and the reforms implemented by Cleisthenes did

5005-444: The river Illisos. Upon completion of the Lesser Mysteries, participants were deemed mystai (initiates) worthy of witnessing the Greater Mysteries. For among the many excellent and indeed divine institutions which your Athens has brought forth and contributed to human life, none, in my opinion, is better than those mysteries. For by their means we have been brought out of our barbarous and savage mode of life and educated and refined to

5082-473: The study of the cult of Despoina (the precursor goddess of Persephone ) and the cult of Eileithyia , who was the goddess of childbirth. The megaron of Despoina at Lycosura is quite similar to the Telesterion of Eleusis, and Demeter is united with the god Poseidon , bearing a daughter, the unnamable Despoina (the mistress). In the cave of Amnisos at Crete , the goddess Eileithyia is related with

5159-452: The suburban towns of Kifisia , Melissia and Marousi is home to the sole remaining natural forest in the Athenian plain. The Kifisos is the longest river in Attica, which starts from the foothills of mount Parnitha near Varibobi, crosses the Athenian plain and empties into the delta of Faliro east of the port of Piraeus. According to Plato , Attica's ancient boundaries were fixed by

5236-429: The telling), which forced her to return to the underworld for some months each year. She was obliged to remain with Hades for six or four months (one month per seed) and lived above ground with her mother for the rest of the year. This left a long period of time when Demeter was unhappy due to Persephone's absence, neglecting to cultivate the earth. When Persephone returned to the surface, Demeter became joyful and cared for

5313-413: The tragic playwright Aeschylus was allegedly tried for revealing secrets of the mysteries in some of his plays, but was acquitted. The ban on divulging the core ritual of the mysteries was thus absolute, which is probably why almost nothing is known about what transpired there. Climax As to the climax of the mysteries, there are two modern theories. Some hold that the priests were the ones to reveal

5390-408: The underworld. The myth was represented in a cycle with three phases: the "descent", the "search", and the "ascent" (Greek anodos ) with contrasted emotions from sorrow to joy which roused the mystae to exultation. The main theme was the ascent of Persephone and the reunion with her mother Demeter. At the beginning of the feast, the priests filled two special vessels and poured them out, one towards

5467-434: The visions of the holy night, consisting of a fire that represented the possibility of life after death, and various sacred objects. Others hold this explanation to be insufficient to account for the power and longevity of the mysteries, and that the experiences must have been internal and mediated by a powerful psychoactive ingredient contained in the kykeon drink (see Entheogenic theories below). Following this section of

5544-455: The west and the other towards the east. The people looking both to the sky and the earth shouted in a magical rhyme "rain and conceive". In a ritual, a child was initiated from the hearth (the divine fire). The name pais (child) appears in the Mycenean inscriptions, it was the ritual of the "divine child" who originally was Ploutos . In the Homeric hymn the ritual is connected with the myth of

5621-655: The west of Eleusis , the Greek mainland narrows into Megaris , connecting to the Peloponnese at the Isthmus of Corinth . The southwestern coast of Attica, also known as the Athens Riviera , forms the eastern coastline of the Saronic Gulf . Mountains separate the peninsula into the plains of Pedias, Mesogeia , and the Thriasian Plain . The mountains of Attica are the Hymettus , the eastern portion of

5698-537: The whole area of Attica, the most important are those found in Eleusis . The worship of the goddesses Demeter and Cora , beginning in the Mycenaean period, continued until the late years of antiquity. Many other types of worship can be traced to the prehistory . For example, the worship of Pan and the Nymphs was common in many areas of Attica such as Marathon , Parnes and Ymittos . The god of wine, Dionysus ,

5775-522: Was an old agrarian cult. Some practices of the mysteries seem to have been influenced by the religious practices of the Mycenaean period, thus predating the Greek Dark Ages . Excavations showed that a private building existed under the Telesterion in the Mycenean period, and it seems that originally the cult of Demeter was private. In the Homeric Hymn is mentioned the palace of the king Keleos . One line of thought by modern scholars has been that

5852-492: Was not the case for the villages of Attica. Great areas were possessed by the Turks , who terrorized the population with the help of sipahis . The monasteries of Attica played a crucial role in preserving the Greek element of the villages. In spite of its conquerors, Attica managed to maintain its traditions. This fact is proved by the preservation of ancient toponyms such as Oropos , Dionysus , Eleusis , and Marathon . During

5929-575: Was worshipped mainly in the area of Icaria , now the suburb of Dionysus . Iphigeneia and Artemis were worshipped in Brauron , Artemis in Rafina , Athena on Sounion , Aphrodite on Iera Odos, and Apollo in Daphne . The festival of Chalceia was celebrated every autumn in Attica. The festival honored the gods Hephaestus and Athena Ergane . In the deme of Athmonon , in modern-day Marousi ,

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