THE ALEXANDRIA CENTER FOR HELLENISTIC STUDIES

Hellenistic Religions
Demeter Mystery Cult
HS 137
By:
YASMINE Maher
Supervised by
Dr. Sayed Sadek
May, 2013
 :Preface
?Why did I choose this subject

I chose this subject because I have a great impression

about the subject itself and Demeter legend especially the
philosophy behind this legend

:The problems I faced during writing the search

I didnt face any problems, as the sources were available

.and easy to find

The main references which discussed this subject

Merriam Webster's encyclopedia of world religions, 1999

Fairbanks, a., a handbook of Greek religion, (London 1941)

Corn ford, F.M., Greek religious thought from homer to the age of
alexander, (London and Toronto), 1923

Moore, C.H., the religious thought of the Greeks from homer to the
triumph of Christianity, Harvard, 1916

Martine, James j.clauss, E.D., a companion to Hellenistic literature

Tvoeis Engberg, Pedersen, E.D., Paul in hid Hellenistic context,

continuum international publishing group

Sharonl.james, shella, Dillon, E.D., a companion to women in the

ancient world

Charlotte R.Long, the twelve gods of Greece and Rome

Francois Chamoux, Hellenistic civilization

Daniel Ogden, E.D, a companion to Greek religion

Encyclopedia Mythica, s.v, Demeter, E.D., Ron Leadbetter

1
 :Contents

Introduction

Demeter

Isis as Demeter

Mystery word meaning

Demeter Mystery Cult

Rituals of Demeter Mystery Cult

Demeter Thesmophoros

Demeter mystery cult in Hellenistic period

Demeter mystery cult in Hellenistic Egypt

Philosophy of Demeter Mystery Cult

Mystery Cult of Demeter and Christianity

Conclusion

2
Bibliography

Introduction

Demeter
She was in Greek religion daughter of the deities Cronus and
.Rhea sister consort of Zeus and goddess of agriculture

Demeter was an ancient god, her attributes were connected with

her character as a goddess of agriculture and vegetation ears of
grain , the mystic basket filled with flowers, grain and fruit of all
kinds , the pig was her favorite animal and as chthonian (under
.world) deity, she was accompanied by a snake

In Greek art Demeter resembled Hera, but she was more matronly
and of milder expression, her form was broader and fuller, she was
sometimes riding in a chariot drawn by horses or dragons
sometimes walking or seated upon a throne alone or with her
.1daughter

Demeter as Isis
The ancient Egyptian isis goddess, the rain giving heaven which was
the mother of all things and in particular of the sun as a result of the
prosperity of isis cult , the reception of isis as a form of Demeter was
the more natural because the both of them met at many points

Isis like Demeter had become fertile of the earth and of the grain
which she produced and this is connected to Isis as a fertility

Merriam Webster's encyclopedia of world religions, 1999 1

3
goddess and the symbols of Demeter as cista, baskets, torches and
.serpents early had found a place in Isis cult

Near Hermione, an old center of Demeter worship, it is said that the

mysteries of Demeter were celebrated in the precinct of an Isis
.2temple

Mystery word meaning

A mystery in the Greek sense is a secret ritual to which only those
may be admitted who have first been prepared by some rituals of
purification or probation and as a result of this the initiate comes to
.a relation to divinity and hope in good live in the other world

Demeter mystery cult

Demeter mystery cult at Eleusis was considered a third
.manifestation of the mystic tendency of this age

Eleusis is a town lies fourteen miles North West of Athens between a

fertile plain and the sea lays this town which was the center of
.Demeter mystery cult in Greece

The story of Demeter is about a goddess whose daughter

Persephone was carried off by the god of the underworld hades;
according to the Homeric hymn to Demeter the mother wandered
.fasting in search of her daughter over the earth

Because of her sorrow Demeter held back the seed grain in the
ground and all man's plowing was vain so that the race of men had
nearly perished from the earth so Zeus restored Persephone to her
mother again, moreover hades made Persephone eat a
pomegranate seed to return again to the underworld, Zeus made a
deal with Demeter and hades and Persephone will spend two thirds
of each year on the earth when the ground is planted with flowers
.and returns back to hades before the coming of winter

The myth was developed at Eleusis before it was written by homer,

the date of the mysteries foundation cannot be determined but the
mysteries have existed as early as the eight's century B.C

2 Fairbanks, a., a handbook of Greek religion, (London 1941)

4
 The mysteries were first a religion ceremonies connected with
.agriculture by which the dead grain was called to life in the spring

The mysteries were preceded by the little mysteries a rite of

.3preliminary purification held in spring

In addition to that the promise held out to the initiates was a better
lot in the other world accorded by grace of the two goddesses and
.not conditional upon virtuous conduct

Since the rites were secret no contemporary description of them

exists but the great mysteries included a passion play representing
the myth of Persephone described in the Homeric hymn, which is
.believed to date from 600 b.c

In the worship of Demeter at Eleusis the new conceptions found a

,congenial soil in which they spring up and bore andante fruit

More over the mysteries of Eleusis rites elsewhere in Greece were

based on an old peasant worship of agricultural deities, the gods of
the dead who were buried in the earth and of the grain which
sprang from the earth were not sharply distinguished, but at Eleusis
.the earlier purpose of the rites was to secure abundant crops

We may believe that Eleusis first developed as a priest state

devoted to the worship of the grain goddess and sought to make
.good its claim to be the center and source of their worship

The agricultural festival was gradually transformed into one of

profound meaning by partaking in which one gained an assurance of
future happiness; the wonderful miracle of reviving vegetation of
the grain which dies in the ground and springs a new life has often
.4served as an assurance of people hope in immortality

Rites of great festival at Eleusis

The participants assembled before the painted porch in Athens to
listen to the formal proclamation in which the officials make the
.unclean person to withdraw

3 Cornford ,f.m. ,Greek religious thought from homer to the age of alexander,
(London and Toronto ), 1923

Fairbanks, a., a handbook of Greek religion , (London 1941) 4

5
 In memory of Demeter's bunt from her daughter the initiates
roamed the shore by night carrying lighted torches and finally like
the goddess they broke their fast by drinking a holy potion of meat
.and water

The consummation of the festival was the celebration in the great

hall, what went on in the hall we dont know actually , however
there were some nature of the celebration like things done and
.things said

The Eleusinian rites were one of many forms of initiation but the aim
of which was to set ones right with the gods of the lower world, their
wide spread influence was due to the policy of Peisistratus by
including Eleusis among the cults of the Athenian state, it was given
political sanction to a worship to purely local and at the same time
enabled the state religion to meet the new demand for a soul saving
.worship

There were two degrees of this secret rite in the first the novices
were initiated and became (mystae), in the second they advanced
.to be (epopetae) those to whom were made special revelations

The cult of Demeter mysteries might be hospitable for everyone not

.5like any other cults especially mystery one in all Greece

Demeter thesmophoros
Demeter is characterized by many titles in cult inscriptions and
mythological literature but her epithets generally fall into two
categories those of her two gifts as described by Isocrates: Demeter
moved to kindness towards our ancestors by services which may not
be told by save to her initiates give these two gifts the greatest in
.the world the fruits of the world and the intention

One of these titles is thesmophoria an epithet related to her oldest

festival, the PanHellenic (thesmophoria), the use of the name
thesmophoria for Demeter's sanctuary or for a building with her
sanctuary is attested in almost every city settled by Greeks
.throughout the Mediterranean and black sea coasts

Demeter shared his epithet with her daughter kore-persephone who

is depicted in art as youthful double the two are shown holding
.identical attributes: grain, sheaves, pomegranate or torches

Fairbanks, a., a handbook of Greek religion , (London 1941) 5

6
The most common epithets of Demeter describes her the goddess of
grain agriculture, she is amallophoros (bringer of sheaves),
ahesidora (bringer of gifts), Chloe (the green shoot), dreoanephoros
(sickle bearer). , she is called chthonia and of the earth as the
.goddess of the underground realm from where crops spring up

Demeter most famous epithet eleusinia is derived from the name of

.the deme of Eleusis in Attica

She seems unlikely as the goddess of processions and for one of her
most important festivals to be named characteristic of every deity's
.celebrations would be surprising

The thesmpohoria was the most widespread festival of Demeter in

Greece, Sicily , southern Sicily and Asia minor , only citizens wives
were allowed to participate , it was organized and performed by
.women as men were forbidden to share in it

In Athens the thesmophoria were held in the fall season at the time
.6of sowing of grain and other field crop (October/ November)

:Demeter mystery cult in Hellenistic period

In the Hellenistic period, the cult was taken over and run by the
state and two aristocratic families from Eleusis (the Eumolpidae and
Kerykes)

In this age mystery cults were becoming very popular unlike

classical Greece when the Eleusinian mysteries ere a rare form of
.7worship

:Demeter mystery cult in Hellenistic Egypt

Demeter was introduced in Alexandria probably in the reign of soter;
at least one reason for her introduction was her close connection to
.the Egyptian goddess Isis

6 Stall smith, a.b.,the name of Demeter thesomophoros, Greek and byzantine

studies, vol. 48

Encyclopedia Mythica, s.v, Demeter, E.D., Ron Leadbetter 7

7
Hereditary priests of Demeter were credited with bringing her cult to
.8Alexandria, though some modern scholars reject the stories

There was a sanctuary of Demeter in one of the suburbs of

Alexandria which was called Eleusis and Demeter herself was
equated with Isis. In this district we found coins dating from the
period of Antonines showing the effigy of Triptolemus riding a
serpent drawn chariot and bringing to the world the seed of wheat,
.9Demeter's gift

Ptolemy the first Soter invited Timotheus a member of the ancient

family who have played a part in organizing ceremonies in honor of
.10Alexandrian Demeter

The Eleusinian legend was clearly widespread in Egypt, frescoes

recently discovered in the Komesh-Shaqafa catacomb show in two
parallel registers: the two goddesses Isis and Nephtys lamenting for
.the dead Osiris, and the rape of Persephone by hades

Two images of death and rebirth that clearly indicate the

.coexistence and not the fusion of the cultures

The Tazza Farnese a most beautiful cameo made in Alexandria

toward the end of the second century represents the king in the
guise of Triptolemos resting on the handle of a plow and
accompanied by Demeter Isis as a symbolic of the fertility and the
.11abundance of crops

The Egyptian Hellenistic Eleusis differed in every way from the

austere attic Eleusis, although the seeds of the Alexandrian
development were already present in Greece perhaps at Agrai still
.more than at Eleusis

The temple of Eleusis at Alexandria was situated between the

quarter inhabited by the hertairai and probably the tombs of
Hadra12.

Martine, James J.Clauss, E.D., a companion to Hellenistic literature 8

Charlotte R.Long, the twelve gods of Greece and Rome 9

Francois Chamoux, Hellenistic civilization 10

Daniel Ogden, E.D, a companion to Greek religion 11

8
 The mysteries of Demeter's cult in Alexandria were doubtless not a
.13copy of the Eleusinian one but probably influenced by them

The cult was worshipped not in Alexandria only but also in the
.villages of the Egyptian countryside

In his sixth hymn. Callimachus, the poet librarian describes a women

only celebration in which a ritual basket ( kalathos) is carried in
.procession to a shrine of Demeter

Outside the capital we have found a demotic letter from the temple
.archives of Soknopaiou Neos in Fayoum

The letter is dated to 132 B.C. by the priests of the crocodile god to
nymph priest t3mtr; the divine name t3mtr is that of the goddess
.Demeter

The cult helped to introduce Egyptian wives to the culture of their

.Greek husbands

The active participation of women of her cult in Egypt was a potent

factor in the goddess lasting success and that Egypt because of the
.14favorable position it accorded to women by custom and in law

:Demeter mystery cult in roman period

The roman emperor Theodosius closed the sanctuary in 392 A.D.
and it was abandoned when Alaric king of the Goths invaded Greece
in 396 A.D., this brought Christianity to the region and all cult
.15worship was forbidden

Philosophy of the mystery cult of Demeter

The mystic ritual consisted of only certain simple symbolical
ceremony and representations which each initiate might interpreted
.according to his impressions

12 Karl Kerenyl, Eleusis: archetypal imsge of mother and daughter

Tvoeis Engberg, Pedersen, E.D., Paul in hid Hellenistic context, continuum 13

international publishing group

Sharonl.James, shella, Dillon, E.D., a companion to women in the ancient world 14

Encyclopedia Mythica, s.v, Demeter, E.D., Ron Leadbetter 15

9
Aristotle said about this "the initiates are not to learn anything, but
they are to be affected and put into a certain frame of mind" the
initiates were clearly enjoyed peace of mind and happiness and
.believed that they would be secured in the afterlife

An inscription set up in the third century of our era by an Eleusinian

hierophant: "verily glorious is that mystery Vouchsafed by the
"blessed gods, for death is no ill for mortals but rather a good

There were branches of the Eleusinian mysteries founded in the

Peloponnesus , Samothrace were most important and influential ,
moreover branches were established notably in Thebes as early as
.the middle of the sixth century B.C

Demeter mystery cult and Christianity

One of the main rituals in the mystery cult of Demeter

describing Demeter by the initiates performances as
Demeter mourning Persephone and to that day Greeks
mourn over the dead Christ and this emphasizes the
influence of mystery cults not in pagan cults but even on
16
Christianity (monotheist religions)

Moore, c.h. , the religious thought of the Greeks from homer to the 16
triumph of Christianity , Harvard, 1916

10
 Conclusion
In the Hellenistic period people lost confidence in the Olympian gods
and as a result a number of religious mysteries cult like Demeter
.mystery cult begin to appear and flourish

Demeter mystery cult was actually a hope for every person to go

.through it to live in the future a happy peaceful life in the other life

At the end of the fifth century B.C. the Eleusinian mysteries had
gained a moral significance in giving a hope for its initiates in
.immortality

The mystery cult of Demeter really made a great revolution in the

religion philosophy and developed the Greek religion to make it a
religion who believes in after life and immortality which will make
the people live happy and peaceful and make their own life and
.earth is rewarded with endless happiness

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