A ploutonion ( Ancient Greek : Πλουτώνιον , lit. "Place of Plouton") is a sanctuary specially dedicated to the ancient Greek god Plouton (i.e., Hades ). Only a few such shrines are known from classical sources, usually at locations that produce poisonous emissions and were considered to represent an entrance to the underworld .
108-542: At Eleusis , the ploutonion was near the north entrance to the sacred district ( temenos ). It was built by Peisistratos in the 6th century BC and rebuilt two centuries later, when the Eleusinian mysteries were at the height of their influence. The cave was the traditional site of the birth of the Divine Child Ploutos . The Greek geographer Strabo mentioned three sites as having a ploutonion. One
216-533: A "purely literary work", written by a scholar as an exercise, others such as Albrecht Dieterich argued that the Hymns were liturgical in function, designed for ritual performance by a cult community, a perspective almost universally accepted by modern scholars. Kern argued that this group existed at the temenos in Pergamon itself, a view with which some have subsequently agreed. Scholars have at times stated that
324-510: A belief that there was a hope for life after death for those who were initiated. Such a belief was cultivated from the introduction ceremony in which the hopeful initiates were shown a number of things including the seed of life in a stalk of grain. The central myth of the Mysteries was Demeter's quest for her lost daughter (Kore the Maiden, or Persephone ) who had been abducted by Hades . It
432-529: A dream forbade me to describe. Under the Romans Eleusis enjoyed great prosperity, as initiation into its mysteries became fashionable among the Roman nobles. Hadrian was initiated into the Mysteries in about 125 and raised embankments in the plain of the river in consequence of a flood which occurred while he was spending the winter at Athens. To the same emperor most likely Eleusis was indebted for
540-495: A forbiddenness around eating beans, both of which could suggest an Orphic way of life. In addition, the idea of purity holds significance in the Hymns , with the hymn to Eros asking the god to come to the initiates and "banish from them vile impulses", which potentially indicates adherence to some form of "sexual ethics". One of the most salient characteristics of the Orphic Hymns is the strings of epithets which comprise
648-524: A goddess associated with birth, while the last is dedicated to Thanatos (Death), and ends in the word γῆρας ("old age"). The collection is also arranged in such a way that the earliest primordial deities appear in the first hymns, while later gods are found further on. As such, the earliest hymns are addressed to deities who feature in Orphic cosmogony, such as Nyx ( OH 3), Uranus ( OH 4), Aether ( OH 5), and Protogonos ( OH 6). There often exists
756-494: A goddess in the Hymns associated with Hecate and seemingly considered the daughter of Zeus and Persephone, who is also mentioned on a bronze tablet from Pergamon. According to Morand, this epigraphic evidence, which is roughly contemporaneous with the Orphic Hymns , indicates deities such as Mise and Hipta were not invented by the author of the Hymns . There exist no references to the Orphic Hymns in antiquity; though hymns attributed to Orpheus are mentioned in works such as
864-479: A link between adjacent hymns—such as the shared "allness" of Pan ( OH 11) and Heracles ( OH 12)—and a "logic of cosmogonies" is present in, for example, the placement of the hymns to Cronus ( OH 13) and Rhea ( OH 14) ahead of those to their children ( OH 15–8). Fritz Graf also sees religious significance in the ordering of the hymns. Friend, use it to good fortune. Learn now Mousaios, a mystical and most holy rite,
972-403: A monotheistic bent to the Hymns has been rejected by more recent scholars. A notable instance of identification in the collection is that of the Orphic god Protogonos-Phanes with Dionysus, the latter of whom is referred to under several names of the former, such as Eubuleus and Protogonos. Other examples of deities who are identified in the Hymns include Artemis and Hecate , Rhea and
1080-700: A natural opening along a wall of travertine , leading to a grotto in which streams of hot water gushed forth to release a noxious exhalation". This site was also associated with a dream oracle; the Neoplatonist Damascius dreamed that he was Attis in the company of the Great Mother . Strabo further records that Lake Avernus in Italy had been taken as a ploutonion because the gases it produced were so noxious that they overwhelmed birds flying overhead. According to earlier sources, he says, this
1188-557: A prayer which surely excels all others. — Proem, "Orpheus to Musaeus", lines 1–2, translated by Apostolos Athanassakis and Benjamin Wolkow The collection begins with a poem entitled "Orpheus to Musaeus", often referred to as the proem, proemium, or prologue, in which Orpheus speaks to Musaeus (who is usually described as his student or son in Greek literature). The proem has 54 lines, including
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#17327723872011296-753: A privilege possessed by no other town in Attica, except Athens. The history of Eleusis is part of the history of Athens. Once a year the great Eleusinian procession travelled from Athens to Eleusis, along the Sacred Way . Eleusis was the site of the Eleusinian Mysteries , or the Mysteries of Demeter and Kore , which became popular in the Greek-speaking world as early as 600 BC, and attracted initiates during Roman Empire before declining mid-late 4th century AD. These Mysteries revolved around
1404-450: A significant portion of the hymns' content, and are designed to summon the powers of the god. Most of the deities addressed in the Hymns are derived from mainstream Greek mythology , with the notable exception of Protogonos , a decidedly Orphic deity. The most prominent god in the collection is Dionysus , who is the recipient of around eight hymns, and is mentioned throughout the collection, under various names. Several deities addressed in
1512-465: A significant portion of their content. In contrast to the Homeric Hymns , where the middle part of individual hymns often presents a narrative involving the god, in the Orphic Hymns the development section consists mostly of these concatenations of epithets, which themselves serve as the primary vehicle of mythic content in the collection. The purpose of these chains of epithets is to acquire
1620-565: A supply of good water by means of the aqueduct, completed in about 160 AD. Apart from satisfying the need for drinking water, it also enabled the construction of public fountains and baths. It was fed by springs in Mount Parnitha and used mainly underground tunnels. It crossed the Thriasian Plain and turned abruptly towards the south at the outskirts of Eleusis. The best visible remains are on the east side of Dimitros Street. It
1728-403: A unique offering to be given to the deity, such as torches to Nyx, saffron to Aether, poppies to Hypnos , and grain (excluding beans or herbs) to Earth; Orphic Hymn 53 to Amphietes asks for a libation of milk in addition to an offering. While in a few cases there is a recognisable link between a deity and their offering, as with poppies for Hypnos, or grain for Earth, for most of the hymns there
1836-604: Is a suburban city and municipality in Athens metropolitan area. It belongs to West Attica regional unit of Greece . It is located in the Thriasio Plain , at the northernmost end of the Saronic Gulf . North of Elefsina are Mandra and Magoula , while Aspropyrgos is to the northeast. It is the site of the Eleusinian Mysteries and the birthplace of Aeschylus . Today, Elefsina is a major industrial centre, with
1944-422: Is also associated in various ways with a number of other deities. Also prominent in the Hymns is Zeus, who receives four hymns, and is depicted in a manner largely in line with his characterisation in the standard Greek tradition; other major Greek gods of importance in the collection include Demeter and Persephone. Certain deities are portrayed quite differently from traditional depictions, such as Heracles, who
2052-594: Is also mentioned in the Homeric Hymn to Artemis ; it appears to have been in the neighbourhood of the city; but its site cannot be determined. It appears to have derived its name from the supposed advent (ἔλευσις) of Demeter, though some traced its name from an eponymous hero Eleusis. It was one of the 12 independent states into which Attica was said to have been originally divided. "When Athens had only just become Athens, it went to war with another city built thirteen miles away: Eleusis," Roberto Calasso wrote of
2160-415: Is connected to Orpheus in some contexts. The use of the word βουκόλος and the prominence of Dionysus in the collection indicate that he was the central god of the cult which used the Hymns . Within the collection itself, Morand sees a number of different members of the group's religious hierarchy as being mentioned: the μύσται , the regular members of the cult (and the group mentioned most frequently);
2268-518: Is descended from φ. This was followed shortly afterwards by the publication of an edition by the Aldine Press in 1517, and the first printing of a translation (in Latin) of the collection in 1519, written by Marcus Musurus ; by the end of the 16th century, a total of six editions had been published. Editions of the Hymns published over the following two centuries are surpassed by the version of
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#17327723872012376-536: Is made both a Titan and a solar deity. The Hymns also mention various personifications whose names are common words, such as the Sea, the Sun, Sleep, and Death; in addition, the collection contains several references to known non-Greek gods, such as Isis and Men . Several gods addressed in the Orphic Hymns have little or no literary attestation outside of the collection; three of these deities previously unknown outside of
2484-415: Is no clear reasoning behind the choice of offering. The absence of animals from the offerings may be related to the supposed prohibition of animal sacrifice in Orphic belief. The ceremony in which the Hymns played a role was the τελετή , a term which usually refers to a rite of initiation into mysteries. Within the Hymns , there are numerous references to the τελετή , including several mentions of
2592-583: Is organized in honor of Aeschylus , who was born in Eleusis, from whom it derives its name. It includes stage productions, art exhibitions and installations, concerts, and dance events. Elefsina has a hot-summer Mediterranean climate ( Csa ), bordering on a hot semi-arid climate ( BSh ) for the 1958-2010 period, according to the meteorological station operated by the Hellenic National Meteorological Service . Elefsina
2700-467: Is particularly hot during the summer, with an average July maximum of 33.2 °C (91.8 °F). According to Kassomenos and Katsoulis (2006), based on 12 years of data (1990–2001), the industrialization of west Attica , where at least 40% of the industrial activity of the country is concentrated, could be the cause of the warm climate of the zone. On June 4, 2024 the WMO station in the port of Elefsina broke
2808-532: Is relatively likely that Galenos was in possession of a full copy of the collection. In the early Middle Ages (or perhaps late antiquity), the Orphic Hymns were collected into a single codex, which also contained the Homeric Hymns , the Orphic Argonautica , and the Hymns of Callimachus and Proclus . The earliest known codex containing the Orphic Hymns to arrive in Western Europe
2916-480: Is sometimes swollen to such an extent as to spread itself over a large part of the plain. Demosthenes (384 – 322 BC) alludes to inundations at Eleusis; Pausanias ( c. 110 – c. 180 AD ) has left us only a very brief description of Eleusis; The Eleusinians have a temple of Triptolemus , another of Artemis Propylaea, and a third of Poseidon the Father, and a well called Callichorum, where
3024-470: The Orphic Argonautica , and other Greek hymns such as the Homeric Hymns . The first codex containing the Orphic Hymns to reach Western Europe seems to have arrived in Italy in the early 15th century, and may be the codex from which all surviving manuscripts descend. Following the arrival of the Orphic Hymns in Renaissance Italy, the collection seems to have been relatively popular amongst
3132-579: The Derveni papyrus and Pausanias 's Description of Greece , these almost certainly do not refer to the collection of eight-seven hymns. The earliest definite reference to the Hymns comes from the Byzantine writer Johannes Galenos, who mentions the collection thrice in his scholium on Hesiod 's Theogony . He refers to epithets from the hymns to Helios and Selene , and quotes lines from those to Helios and Hecate; according to Rance Hunsucker, it
3240-529: The Homeric Hymns , the Orphic Argonautica , Hesiodic works, or the Hymns of Callimachus or Proclus. All of the extant codices descend from the archetype Ψ, which may have been the manuscript transported by Aurispa to Venice. From this manuscript are derived four apographs—φ, θ, A, and B (in chronological order of transcription)—which resulted from the gradual degeneration of
3348-462: The Hymns and similar evidence such as the gold lamellae, ultimately concluding that this information is "reconcilable with Orphism" (" conciliable avec l'orphisme "). Throughout the collection, however, there is no explicit mention of any major Orphic myth, including the story of the dismemberment of Dionysus by the Titans , which has often been considered the central myth of Orphism; one element of
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3456-541: The Hymns find a "distant model" in the works of Hesiod and Homer , but also contain a number of words and forms from later literature, spanning up to the imperial period. In particular, the language of the collection bears similarity to that of late works such as Nonnus 's Dionysiaca , the Greek Magical Papyri , and several poems from the Greek Anthology . The most distinctive feature of
3564-445: The Hymns is their use of concatenations of epithets, which make up a large part of their content. They also contain a number of language devices, such as anaphora , alliteration, assonance, and repetition, as well as forms of wordplay, such as etymologies on the names of gods. Other notable stylistic elements include the frequent use of compound adjectives as epithets, the tendency to juxtapose contrasting descriptions of deities, and
3672-575: The Hymns themselves, there are a few traces of Orpheus as their composer: Orphic Hymn 76 to the Muses mentions "mother Calliope ", and Orphic Hymn 24 to the Nereids refers to "mother Calliope and lord Apollo ", alluding to the parentage of Orpheus (whose father was sometimes considered to be Apollo). The collection can be seen as an example of the broader genre of hymns in Orphic literature, of which there are examples dating back at least as far as
3780-546: The Hymns — Mise , Hipta , and Melinoe —have since been discovered in inscriptions in Asia Minor , leading scholars to consider the region to be the collection's place of origin. In the Hymns , Mise is depicted as an androgynous deity, identified with Dionysus, and described as the daughter of the Egyptian goddess Isis , and mention of her in inscriptions around Pergamon indicate that she featured in cult in
3888-512: The Hymns — Mise , Hipta , and Melinoe —previously known only though the collection, have since been discovered in inscriptions in Asia Minor. The Orphic Hymms seem to have belonged to a cult community in Asia Minor, which used the collection in ritual. The Hymns themselves appear to reference various members of this cult, and employ the word βουκόλος , which is often used to refer to worshippers of Dionysus. The rite in which
3996-464: The Hymns . As a whole, the collection shows little concern for the afterlife, and at no point references the idea of metempsychosis , which is often associated with Orphism; according to Paul Veyne , the Hymns are essentially uninterested in what happens after death, being concerned only with "this world". Morand, however, points to, within the collection, the references to souls, and the roles played by memory and purity, as well as parallels between
4104-403: The Hymns . In the 20th century, the critical edition by Willhelm Quandt, first published in 1941, and revised in 1955 with additions, sought to provide an accurate reconstruction of Ψ, with the exception of a number of what Quandt perceived to be spelling errors in the archetype, which he corrects. Recent renderings of the Hymns include the 1977 English translation by Apostolos Athanassakis ,
4212-420: The Orphic Hymns featured was the τελετή (a term which usually refers to a rite of initiation into mysteries), and this ceremony appears to have taken place at nighttime. In addition, most hymns specify an offering to be made to the deity, which was probably burned during the performance of the hymn. Scholars have noted the apparent lack of Orphic doctrines in the collection, including the paucity of interest in
4320-401: The paratactic clusters of epithets in the Hymns may seem to indicate "rudimentary thought", within them is contained a sort of syntax, where adjacent terms bear relation to each other in subtle ways. A number of the gods featured in the Hymns are identified with one another. On the basis of shared attributes or associations, two deities in the collection may be brought closer together to
4428-405: The νεομύσται , the "new initiates"; the μυστιπόλοι , who were likely members involved in initiations and ritual activity; and the ὀργιοφάνται , who seem to have been members involved in initiation rites (similarly to the μυστιπόλοι ), and who may also have been responsible for displaying holy objects. Most of the hymns in the collection contain a specification of an offering to be made to
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4536-420: The πάνθειος τελετή , an initiation rite to all of the gods. This rite appears to have occurred at nighttime, and may have included the playing of a tambourine at points. The Hymns also contain several instances of the term ὄργιον , which may refer to sacred objects which featured in the rite. According to Fritz Graf, the placement of the hymn to Hecate ( OH 1) at the beginning of the collection may reflect
4644-399: The 5th century BC; though some scholars have brought into question how "Orphic" the collection can be considered, partly due to the apparent lack of Orphic narratives and eschatological ideas, there are several places in which the language bears similarity to other works of Orphic literature. W. K. C. Guthrie , who placed the Hymns at the temenos in Pergamon, went so far as to state that
4752-575: The Eleusinian women first instituted a dance and sang in honour of the goddess. They say that the Rharian plain was the first place in which corn was sown and first produced a harvest, and that hence barley from this plain is employed for making sacrificial cakes. There the so-called threshing-floor and altar of Triptolemus are shown. The things within the wall of the Hierum [i.e., the temple of Demeter]
4860-512: The Grecian mysteries down to the fall of paganism. Eleusis stood upon a height at a short distance from the sea, and opposite the island of Salamis . Its situation possessed three natural advantages. It was on the road from Athens to the Isthmus of Corinth ; it was in a very fertile plain; and it was at the head of an extensive bay, formed on three sides by the coast of Attica, and shut in on
4968-586: The Hellenistic and mainly Roman eras the road was used for the exhibition of wealth and social power, with costly burial monuments being erected all along it. The road was in use until at least the 6th century AD. It is indicative that writers of the Byzantine era refer to it as a "small village", and shortly before the Ottoman domination the area was deserted by wars, raids and captives. During this period
5076-548: The Mother of the gods, and Demeter and the Mother Antaia . Scholars have also noted the similarity between how deities are identified in the Hymns and other works of Orphic literature, with the collection seeming to follow an existing Orphic tradition in linking certain pairs of gods. Most of the gods mentioned in the Orphic Hymns are known within mainstream Greek mythology . The only definitively Orphic deity in
5184-620: The Thriassio General Hospital, located 3.9 km north of the city centre. Elefsina hosts the multi-sport club Panelefsiniakos with successful sections in football and basketball. Another historical club of Elefsina is Iraklis Eleusis , founded in 1928. Elefsina is twinned with: [REDACTED] This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain : Smith, William , ed. (1854–1857). "Eleusis". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography . London: John Murray. *Not included
5292-482: The afterlife, and the absence of explicit mentions of known Orphic myths; certain themes and references, however, have been interpreted as pointing to the presence of Orphic thought in the Hymns . The are no references to the Orphic Hymns in antiquity, with their earliest mention coming from the Byzantine writer Johannes Galenos. In the Middle Ages, the Orphic Hymns were preserved in a codex which also included
5400-525: The ancient Sacred Way over the Kephissus river is visible about 1 km from the Sanctuary of Demeter. The bridge is in very good condition and is an outstanding example of ancient bridge building. It consists of a central 30 m-long main bridge with 4 arches and 10 m-long sloping access on either side. The Sacred Way was the main road from Athens and led to Demeter's sanctuary, and was also the road used by
5508-495: The ancient provenance of the relationship between temple-city and the Attic seat of power. "It was a war usually described as mythical, since it has no date. And it was a theological war, since Athens belonged to Athena and Eleusis to Poseidon . Eumolpus and Erechtheus , the founding kings of the two cities, both died in it." It is related that in the reign of Eumolpus , king of Eleusis, and Erechtheus , king of Athens, there
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#17327723872015616-430: The annual Aeschylia Festival is held in honor of the great tragic poet Aeschylus. Elefsis Shipyards is located here. There is a military airport a few kilometers east of Elefsina. Elefsina Airfield played a crucial role in the final British evacuation during the 1941 Battle of Greece , as recounted by Roald Dahl in his autobiography Going Solo . Elefsina is home to the football club Panelefsiniakos F.C. , and
5724-432: The archetype. The hyparchetypes φ and θ themselves sit at the head of stemmata, with both manuscripts being recoverable only from their descendants, while A and B, which omit the Homeric Hymns (and in the latter case the Hymns of Callimachus also), are preserved in surviving editions. Another manuscript, h, of less clear origin, was likely also an apograph of Ψ, though it may not have been an immediate descendant. In
5832-432: The attention of the god and to summon their powers; to this end, and to gain the goodwill of their addressee, a variety of appellations are used, each of which serves to highlight an aspect of the deity, such as elements of their power, locations of worship, or their part in myths. In addition, a significant portion of the epithets used are applied to more than one deity, contributing to the broader syncretistic tendencies of
5940-410: The attention of the hymn's addressee. It names the deity (sometimes using an epiclesis), and usually calls upon them with a verb, which may be in the imperative , though sometimes no such verb is present, in which case the god is simply named. The development (also referred to as the amplification) makes up the main, central portion of the hymn, and is the longest section; it follows immediately from
6048-611: The basketball club Panelefsiniakos B.C. Established in 1975, the Aeschylia Festival in Eleusis in Western Attica is the currently the longest standing cultural event organized by an Attica Municipality . It is held annually at Palaio Elaiourgeio, a former soap factory by the seafront that functions as an open theatre. The festival usually is running at the end of August and during all of the September. The event
6156-490: The central portion of the collection ( OH 30–8). He appears throughout the collection, being explicitly mentioned in twenty-two of the eight-seven hymns, under a myriad of epithets. Across various hymns, he is described as the son of Zeus and either Semele or Persephone , as having been stitched into the thigh of Sabazius before his birth, and as having been nursed by nymphs or other figures as an infant; in addition, he
6264-529: The collection is Protogonos, the "first-born god" who emerges from an egg, also referred to as Ericepaios, Phanes, Priapus and Antauges; he is addressed in Orphic Hymn 6, a hymn which scholars see as congruent with earlier Orphic literature. Of all the deities featured in the Hymns , however, the most prominent is Dionysus, the recipient of around eight separate hymns, more than any other god; these hymns address him in various manifestations, and comprise
6372-485: The collection of eighty-seven hymns comes from the Byzantine writer Johannes Galenos. It is possible that they were composed at an early date without being mentioned, though it is more likely that they were produced somewhere from the 1st to 4th centuries AD. Christian Petersen, who saw the influence of Stoicism in the Hymns , posited that they must have been composed after the flourishing of Stoic thought, though others have instead seen Platonic or Neoplatonic influence in
6480-432: The collection was the product of a single author, though it has also been questioned whether or not the proem was composed separately. The Orphic Hymns are one of the few extant works of Orphic literature . The collection is attributed to Orpheus in the manuscripts in which it survives, and is written in the voice of Orpheus, opening with the dedication "Orpheus to Musaeus ", in which the poet addresses his pupil. In
6588-437: The collection. On the basis of the language and meter of the Hymns , Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff judged that they can not have been composed before the 2nd century AD, but were earlier than Nonnus , and L. van Liempt saw their language as the same used in 3rd and 4th-century AD poetry. More recently, most scholars have dated the collection to around the 2nd or 3rd centuries AD, with Gabriella Ricciardelli pointing to
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#17327723872016696-400: The deity, which is given as part of the title of the hymn; only eight hymns lack such an offering in the title. During the reciting of a hymn, its specified offering would likely have been burned. For most of the hymns, the offering specified is an aromatic, incense (or incense powder or granules), storax, or myrrh. In some cases a combination of offerings is asked for. Several hymns specify
6804-420: The educated, and in 1500 the first edition of the Hymns was published. Other notable editions from the following centuries include those by Johann Gottfried Jakob Hermann , Jenő Ábel [ de ] , and Wilhelm Quandt. Estimates for the date of the Orphic Hymns' composition vary widely. While there are several Greek authors who mention hymns attributed to Orpheus , the earliest certain reference to
6912-425: The final ten which make up the hymn to Hecate (which is attached without separation or a title). It opens with a two-line dedication in which Orpheus asks Musaeus to learn the rite ( θυηπολίη ) and prayer ( εὐχή ), the latter of these referring to the address which follows from lines three to fourty-four, in which around seventy different deities are called upon to attend the rite in question (which would go alongside
7020-400: The fire in order to endow him with immortality, until Metaneira found out and insulted her. Demeter arose insulted, and casting off her disguise, and, in all her glory, instructed Meteneira to build a temple to her. Keleos, informed the next morning by Metaneira, ordered the citizens to build a rich shrine to Demeter, where she sat in her temple until the lot of the world prayed to Zeus to make
7128-488: The god, such as asking the Clouds to bring rain, or Hygieia to ward off illnesses. The hymns in the collection are similar to each other in their style and language (with several exceptions, which Ricciardelli suggests may not have been part of the original collection). They are written in dactylic hexameter , and also display a consistency in metrical composition. According to Rudhardt, in terms of vocabulary and grammar,
7236-423: The group to whom they belonged was an "Orphic society"; Ivan Linforth , however, contests that it is equally likely that the name of Orpheus was simply stamped upon the work for its "prestige". More recently, scholars such as Jean Rudhardt [ fr ] and Anne-France Morand have seen the Hymns as markedly Orphic in nature, and in line with the preceding tradition of Orphic literature. In addition to
7344-460: The industries in the region. Industrial activity, however, developed anarchically on the antiquities and next to the residential area. Environmental pollution has taken on large dimensions. During the 20th century, at the time of sustainable development, archaeological discoveries and industrial formation shaped the image of contemporary Eleusis. In 1962, a large house of priests from the Roman era
7452-485: The invocation, with the point at which it begins often being difficult to distinguish. It consists mostly of descriptions of the deity, particularly in the form of numerous epithets, and may discuss different features or aspects of the god, as well as include information such as their familial relations, or locations in which they are worshipped; the purpose of this section is to gratify the deity so that they choose to make themselves present. The request (also referred to as
7560-825: The largest oil refinery in Greece as well as the home of the Aeschylia Festival , the longest-lived arts event in the Attica Region. On 11 November 2016, Elefsina was named the European Capital of Culture for 2021, which became effective in 2023 due to the COVID-19 pandemic postponement. The word Eleusis first appears in the Orphic Hymn to Eleusinian Demeter : «Δήμητρος Ελευσινίας, θυμίαμα στύρακα ». Also Hesychius of Alexandria reports that
7668-560: The main industrial centers of the Modern Greek state with concrete factory TITAN , Charilaou Soap Factory as well as the distilleries of Botrys and Kronos being established in the area. Arvanitika is still spoken in the village, with the locals qualifying their dialect more "noble" and "refined" than those of rural Arvanites. Many Greek families of Asia Minor settled in Elefsina after the 1922 Asia Minor Catastrophe and created
7776-562: The manuscript h may have had its origins with Plethon. In the latter part of the 15th century, the Neoplatonist Marsilio Ficino translated the Orphic Hymns into Latin during his youth, seemingly the first translation of the collection, though it remained unpublished. The editio princeps of the Hymns was produced in Florence in 1500 by Filippo Giunta; this codex, denoted in the manuscript tradition by Iunt,
7884-426: The mid 15th century, following the arrival of the codex brought by Aurispa to Renaissance Italy, the Orphic Hymns seem to have attained a level of popularity amongst the educated. This attention around the work, however, may have been due to the Greek scholar and Neoplatonist Gemistos Plethon , who visited Florence around this time, and seems to have known of the collection; Rudolf Keydell has even postulated that
7992-450: The most parts of Athens urban area Orphic Hymn The Orphic Hymns are a collection of eighty-seven ancient Greek hymns addressed to various deities, which are among the few extant works of Orphic literature . They were composed in Asia Minor , most likely around the time of the 2nd or 3rd centuries AD, and were used in the rites of a religious community which existed in the region. The Hymns were in antiquity attributed to
8100-466: The municipal unit has an area of 18.455 km (7.126 sq mi). Eleusis was a deme of ancient Attica , belonging to the phyle Hippothoöntis . It owed its celebrity to its being the chief seat of the worship of Demeter and Persephone , and to the mysteries celebrated in honour of these goddesses, which were called the Eleusinia , and continued to be regarded as the most sacred of all
8208-468: The myth, however, the so-called " Orphic anthropogony ", may be alluded to in the hymn to the Titans, which calls its addressees the "ancestors of our fathers". The Hymns also make no concrete prescriptions as to a certain way of life, though the absence of meat in the offerings could imply a prohibition of animal sacrifice, and the explicit disallowing of beans in the offering to Gaia may similarly indicate
8316-560: The mythical poet Orpheus , and modern scholarship has mostly continued to see the collection as being situated in the Orphic tradition. The Orphic Hymns open with a proem, in which Orpheus addresses his student Musaeus , calling upon various deities to attend the recitation of the hymns. The individual hymns in the collection, which are all very brief, typically gain the attention of the deity they address, before describing them, and highlighting aspects of their divinity. These descriptions primarily consist of strings of epithets, which make up
8424-464: The names of deities such as Mise , Hipta , and Melinoe , otherwise known only through the Hymns , have been found in inscriptions in the region. In 1910, a number of such inscriptions were discovered in a temenos of Demeter in Pergamon , which led Otto Kern to postulate that the city was the location in which the collection was composed. While Christian Lobeck conceived of the collection as
8532-463: The older name for Eleusis was Saesara (Σαισάρια). Saesara was the mythic daughter of Celeus (king of Eleusis when Demeter arrived for the first time) and granddaughter of Eleusinus, the first settler of Eleusis. The municipality of Elefsina was formed at the 2011 local government reform by the merger of the following two former municipalities, that became municipal units: The municipality has an area of 36.589 km (14.127 sq mi), and
8640-421: The performance of the text). The purpose of this prayer is seemingly to name and devote a hymn to "all" the gods, though it addresses numerous deities not mentioned in the collection itself, and omits others who are subjects of hymns. Partly on the basis of this difference in the deities mentioned, as well as the presence of the word θυηπολίη ("a ritual usually linked with sacrifice"), which does not appear in
8748-411: The placement of a hekataion at the entry to the building in which the rite took place, which participants would have walked past before its commencement. Graf also argues that the presence of the hymn to Nyx ( OH 3) early on is an indication that the Hymns accompanied a nocturnal ritual, which began at dusk and lasted through the night. Scholars have noted the apparent dearth of Orphic doctrines in
8856-400: The point of coalescing, partially or fully; these linkings of pairs of gods are not complete assimilations, however, as each deity, while adopting features of the other god, still retains their own individual characteristics. Though earlier scholars such as Jane Ellen Harrison saw this identifying tendency as conferring upon the collection an "atmosphere of mystical monotheism", this idea of
8964-534: The prayer) generally finishes the hymn, and is usually only around one or two lines in length. It opens with several verbs which typically ask for the god to listen to what the speaker has to say, and for them to be present. The content of the request varies across the collection: some hymns ask the deity to come favourably, some ask for their presence at the mystery, or to accept a sacrifice, while others ask for certain outcomes, such as health, prosperity, or wealth, with this outcome in some instances being specific to
9072-501: The procession every year of the celebration of the Great Mysteries escorting the sacred objects back to Eleusis. Its course is visible in some places and has been accurately traced by rescue excavations and ran parallel to its namesake in the modern city only a few metres to the south. Roadside cemeteries from different periods throughout antiquity are found next to it and prehistoric graves witness its existence by 1600 BC. During
9180-413: The proem, the Orphic Hymns consist of eighty-seven very brief poems, which range from six to thirty lines in length. In the surviving manuscripts, the hymn addressed to Hecate is appended to the proem, though modern editions present it separately, as the first hymn of the collection. In the order of the hymns there occurs a progression from life to death: the second hymn is addressed to Prothyraia ,
9288-466: The prominence of Dionysism at that time in Asia Minor. A number of early scholars believed that the Hymns were produced in Egypt, primarily on the basis of stylistic similarities to Egyptian magical hymns, and the mention of deities which are found elsewhere in Egyptian literature. Modern scholarship, however, now essentially unanimously agrees upon Asia Minor as the place of composition; in particular,
9396-710: The record for the highest temperature ever recorded in Greece for the first 10 days of June from the National Observatory of Athens network. Until 2021, Elefsina was one of the areas in the Athens Metropolitan Area (the other one was Tatoi ) which held the record of the highest ever officially recorded temperature in Europe for 44 years with a reading of 48.0 °C (118.4 °F) on 10 July 1977. Elefsina has only one general hospital
9504-400: The region. Hipta is portrayed by the collection as the nurse of the infant Dionysus, and described as "glorifying" the mysteries of Sabazios; inscriptions near Lydian Philadelphia , dating between the 1st and 4th centuries AD, similarly associate her with Sabazios, and evince that she was the subject of cult in the area (and perhaps indicate that she had her own sanctuary there). Melinoe is
9612-452: The rest of the collection, at the beginning and end of the proem, M. L. West argues that the proem was originally a separate Orphic poem, and that this poem was called Θυηπολικόν (a title listed among the works of Orpheus in the Suda ). Morand, however, argues for the common authorship of the proem and the rest of the collection, pointing to the similarities in the usage of epithets, and in
9720-561: The right Persephone, clad in chiton and mantle and holding a torch, blesses Triptolemos with her right hand. The original marble relief was found at the sanctuary of Demeter, the site of the Eleusinian mysteries. A number of Roman copies also survive. During the Greco-Persian Wars , the ancient temple of Demeter was burnt down by the Persians in 484 BC; and it was not until the administration of Pericles that an attempt
9828-539: The settlement of Upper Elefsina, doubling its total population and enriching the region culturally and economically. During the Axis occupation of Greece (1941–1945), strong resistance developed within the city, the factories and the military airport, which once stationed Squadron 80, the squadron that Roald Dahl was assigned to in the RAF. After World War II , workers from all parts of Greece moved to Elefsina to work in
9936-432: The south by the island of Salamis. The town itself dates from the most ancient times. The caves on the coast of Eleusis are home to a mythological place for the Greek world. There is a cave said to be the very spot where Persephone was abducted by Hades himself and the cave was considered a gateway to Tartarus. At the spot of this abduction was a sanctuary ( Ploutonion ) dedicated to Hades and Persephone. The Rharian plain
10044-493: The temple underwent subsequent building phases. Much of that visible today is of the Classical era (5th century BC). Its portico of 12 columns was added in the time of Demetrius Phalereus , about 318 BC, by the architect Philo . When finished, it was considered one of the four finest examples of Grecian architecture in marble. Modifications were also carried out in Roman times (2nd c. AD). The Roman bridge that carried
10152-571: The text in the voluminous 1805 collection of Orphic literature by Gottfried Hermann . Around this time also came the first complete English translation of the collection, produced in 1792 by the Neoplatonist Thomas Taylor , and the first complete German translation, by David Karl Philipp Dietsch, published in 1822. Hermann's edition was followed by Jenő Ábel [ de ] 's 1885 collection of Orphic literature, which has been heavily criticised, including his rendering of
10260-428: The text. While a number of the epithets in the collection are hapax legomena , quite a few are derived from earlier literature, especially the works of Homer and Hesiod , while others, though without prior attestation, are references to the deity's role in an existing myth; others still are allusions to known cult titles of the god, which were utilised in certain geographical locations. According to Rudhardt, while
10368-430: The use of asyndeton . It is largely accepted in modern scholarship that the Orphic Hymns were liturgical in function, and were used in religious rites by a cult which existed in Asia Minor. According to Morand, this group performed initiations into some form of mysteries. The term βουκόλος ("cowherd") is found in the Hymns , a religious title which is often used elsewhere to refer to worshippers of Dionysus , and
10476-402: The way deities are characterised between the two. Each individual hymn in the collection has three internal parts: the invocation, the development, and the request. In some hymns, however, especially those shorter in length, these three parts can be difficult to distinguish, and may not occur in order. The invocation is brief, typically appears at the start of the hymn, and is designed to gain
10584-454: The world provide food again. The Great Eleusian relief which was famous in antiquity and was copied in the Roman period, is the largest and most important votive relief found and dates to 440-430 BC. It represents the Eleusinian deities in a scene depicting a mysterious ritual. On the left Demeter, clad in a peplos and holding a sceptre in her left hand, offers ears of wheat to Triptolemos, son of Eleusinian king Keleos, to bestow on mankind. On
10692-475: Was a war between the two states, in which the Eleusinians were defeated, whereupon they agreed to acknowledge the supremacy of Athens in everything except the celebration of the mysteries, of which they were to continue to have the management. Eleusis afterwards became an Attic deme, but in consequence of its sacred character it was allowed to retain the title of polis (πόλις) and to coin its own money,
10800-433: Was brought to Venice from Constantinople by Giovanni Aurispa in 1423 —a manuscript which likely dated to the 12th or 13th century —and shortly afterwards, in 1427, Francesco Filelfo brought to Italy another codex containing the collection; both of these manuscripts are among those which are now lost. The surviving codices, of which there are thirty-seven, all date roughly between 1450 and 1550, and often include
10908-535: Was connected to the local cult of Cybele . Inhaling its vapors was said to be lethal to all living things except the Galli , the goddess's eunuch priests. During the Roman Imperial era , the cult of Apollo subsumed existing religious sites there, including the ploutonion. Archaeological excavations in the 1960s showed that the ploutonion had been located within the sacred precinct of Apollo : "it consisted of
11016-556: Was destroyed by Alaric I in 396 AD, and from that time disappears from history. The Telesterion , or temple of Demeter, was the largest in all Greece, and is described by Strabo as capable of containing as many persons as a theatre. The building was initially designed by Ictinus , the architect of the Parthenon at Athens; but it was many years before it was completed, and the names of several architects are preserved who were employed in building it. During its long history,
11124-455: Was discovered. Pollution thanks to citizens' struggles gradually has fallen. Today, the city has become a suburb of Athens , to which it is linked by the A6 motorway and Greek National Road 8 . Eleusis is nowadays a major industrial area, and the place where the majority of crude oil in Greece is imported and refined. The largest refinery is located on the west side of town, right beside where
11232-475: Was here that Demeter, disguised as an old lady who was abducted by pirates in Crete , came to an old well where the four daughters of the local king Keleos and his queen Metaneira ( Kallidike , Kleisidike , Demo and Kallithoe ) found her and took her to their palace to nurse the son of Keleos and Metaneira, Demophoon . Demeter raised Demophoon, anointing him with nectar and ambrosia and placing him at night in
11340-531: Was made to rebuild it. When the power of the Thirty Tyrants was overthrown after the Peloponnesian War , they retired to Eleusis, which they had secured beforehand, but where they maintained themselves for only a short time. The town of Eleusis and its immediate neighbourhood were exposed to inundations from the river Cephissus , which, though almost dry during the greater part of the year,
11448-555: Was on a hill between Tralleis and Nysa . Its precinct encompassed a sacred grove , a temple dedicated to Plouton and Persephone , and an adjoining cave called the Charonion, after the ferryman of the dead . According to Strabo, it "possesses some singular physical properties" and served as a shrine for healing and a dream oracle ( incubation ). Pluto's Gate , the ploutonion at Phrygian Hierapolis (modern Pamukkale in Turkey),
11556-524: Was settled by Arvanites . European travelers during the Ottoman domination described Eleusis as having few inhabitants and many ancient ruins. In 1829, after the Greek War of Independence , Elefsina was a small settlement of about 250 inhabitants. By the late 19th century Elefsina changed drastically as new buildings were erected by the new merchant settlers. Also during that period Eleusis became one of
11664-545: Was the oracle of the dead ( nekumanteion ) sought by Odysseus in Book 11 of the Odyssey ; Strabo, however, seems not to have himself regarded Avernus as a ploutonion. There was a Ploutonion at Acharaca . Eleusis Elefsina ( Greek : Ελευσίνα , romanized : Elefsína ) or Eleusis ( / ɪ ˈ l j uː s ɪ s / ih- LEW -siss ; Ancient Greek : Ἐλευσίς , romanized : Eleusís )
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