What happened during the Eleusinian Mysteries?
Eleusinian Mysteries, most famous of the secret religious rites of ancient Greece. According to the myth told in the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, the earth goddess Demeter (q.v.) went to Eleusis in search of her daughter Kore (Persephone), who had been abducted by Hades (Pluto), god of the underworld.
What ended the Eleusinian Mysteries?
The last remnants of the Mysteries were wiped out in 396 AD, when Arian Christians under Alaric, King of the Goths, destroyed and desecrated the old sacred sites. The closing of the Eleusinian Mysteries in the 4th century is reported by Eunapius, a historian and biographer of the Greek philosophers.
Who could join the Eleusinian Mysteries?
Eleusis was an egalitarian ritual. In its heyday, up to 3,000 initiates could be received at a time. And anyone could participate: men, women, slaves and even children. There were two conditions of entry: First, each initiate had to understand Greek.
How are Demeter and Dionysus different from the other gods and goddesses?
How were Demeter and Dionysus different from the other gods and goddesses? They were the only ones who knew suffering, as the mortals did.
Who are Dionysus parents?
Dionysus was the son of Zeus and Semele, a daughter of Cadmus (king of Thebes). Out of jealousy, Hera, the wife of Zeus, persuaded the pregnant Semele to prove her lover’s divinity by requesting that he appear in his real person.
Who destroyed Eleusis?
leader Alaric
The Gothic leader Alaric destroyed Eleusis in ad 395, and the site remained deserted until the 18th century, when it was revived as the modern town of Eleusis (Greek Lepsina), now an industrial suburb of Athens.
What was Persephone doing when Hades abducted her?
Persephone was gathering flowers with the Oceanids along with Artemis and Pallas, daughter of Triton, as the Homeric Hymn says, in a field when Hades came to abduct her, bursting through a cleft in the earth.
Why was it natural to worship both Demeter and Dionysus together?
Demeter and Dionysus are both gods of the earth and also the gods that understand human emotion the best, Demeter because she understands a mother’s frantic love and protection for her child, and the grief of a lost one, and Dionysus because he used to be half human, and he also understands the powerful mood swings …