Mysteries of Eleusis

View of the sanctuary of Demeter and Kore and the Telesterion, the Initiation Hall, which formed the centre of the Eleusinian mystery site. Most of the ruins, however, are of Roman structures built mainly under the emperors Hadrian and Marcus Aurelius.

The Mysteries of Eleusis were initiation and consecration rites centred around the mystery god Iacchus (i.e. Dionysus, see Dionysus cult), and named after the Demeter sanctuary in Eleusis about 30 km northwest of Athens. The Mysteries belonged to the state cult of the Athenians, but in late antiquity they were also visited by travellers from all countries.

Pausanias reports in his travelogues Book X, 31:

„The older Greeks, in fact, held the celebration at Eleusis in so much higher esteem than everything else that belongs to piety ...“

The participants in the mystery celebrations had to keep the events secret on pain of death and were thus united in an exclusive circle. They believed that this would enable them to participate in divine power and to benefit from it in the afterlife. Despite the obligation of secrecy, it has been possible to reconstruct the course of the celebrations to a large extent from archaeological finds and surviving texts.

The Mysteries consisted of extensive cultic preparations, followed by a procession of up to 3,000 participants on the sacred road from Athens to Eleusis (Greek for "arrival"; today it is called Elefsis in Modern Greek). During the procession, scenes were re-enacted depicting the stories of Demeter, Persephone and Dionysus. The Sacred Drama of Eleusis, reconstructed by Édouard Schuré and translated by Marie von Sivers, was linguistically arranged by Rudolf Steiner and performed for the first time at the Munich Congress 1907.

Literature

• O. A.: Herder Lexikon. Griechische und römische Mythologie. Götter, Helden, Ereignisse, Schauplätze. Freiburg im Breisgau 2001 (1981)
• Preka Alexandri: Eleusis 1991
• J. N. Bremmer: Götter, Mythen und Heiligtümer im antiken Griechenland. 1996
• Walter Burkert: Antike Mysterien: Funktionen und Gehalt, 5. Auflage, Verlag C.H.Beck 2013, ISBN 978-3406643682
• K. Clinton: Myth and Cult. The Iconography of the Eleusian Mysteries. 1992
• K. Clinton: Stages of initiation in the Eleusinian and Samothracian Mysteries; In: Greek Mysteries. The Archaeology and Ritual of Ancient Greek Secret Cult. 2002, S. 50-78.
• Mircea Eliade: Schamanen, Götter und Mysterien. Die Welt der alten Griechen. 1992
• H. Gsänger: Mysterienstätten der Menschheit – Eleusis. 1961
• Carl Kerenyi: Eleusis: archetypal image of mother and daughter, (in seiner Reihe Archetypal Images in Greek religion) 1967
• Karl Kerenyi: Die Mysterien von Eleusis, Rhein-Verlag 1962, ASIN B0000BK3VR
• Hans Kloft: Mysterienkulte der Antike. Götter – Menschen – Rituale. München 1999
• K. Kourouniotes: Eleusis. A guide to the Excavations and the Museum 1936
• Diether Lauenstein: "Die Mysterien von Eleusis", Urachhaus 1987, ISBN 978-3878384984
• George E. Mylonas.: Eleusis and the eleusinian Mysteries. Princeton 1961
• F. Noack: Eleusis. Die Baugeschichtliche Entwicklung des Heiligtums. 1927
• Carl Schneider: Die antiken Mysterien in ihrer Einheit und Vielfalt. Wesen und Wirkung der Einweihung. Hamburg 1979
• Wasson, Ruck, Hofmann: "Der Weg nach Eleusis. Das Geheimnis der Mysterien" Insel-Verlag, Frankfurt/M. 1984
• Woldemar von Uxkull: Die Eleusinischen Mysterien, Büdingen-Gettenbach: Avalon o. J. [1956]
  • Neuauflage: Woldemar von Uxkull: Die Eleusinischen Mysterien. Eine Rekonstruktion. Mit einer Einleitung: Das Wesen der Einweihungen im Altertum, Edition Geheimes Wissen 2013, ISBN 978-3-902881-61-8
• Rudolf Steiner: Lucifer – Gnosis, GA 34 (1987), ISBN 3-7274-0340-3 English: rsarchive.org German: pdf pdf(2) html mobi epub archive.org
• Rudolf Steiner: Weltenwunder, Seelenprüfungen und Geistesoffenbarungen, GA 129 (1992), ISBN 3-7274-1290-9 English: rsarchive.org German: pdf pdf(2) html mobi epub archive.org
• Rudolf Steiner: Bausteine zu einer Erkenntnis des Mysteriums von Golgatha, GA 175 (1996), ISBN 3-7274-1750-1 English: rsarchive.org German: pdf pdf(2) html mobi epub archive.org
• Rudolf Steiner: Drei Perspektiven der Anthroposophie. Kulturphänomene, geisteswissenschaftlich betrachtet., GA 225 (1990), ISBN 3-7274-2252-1 English: rsarchive.org German: pdf pdf(2) html mobi epub archive.org

References to the work of Rudolf Steiner follow Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works (CW or GA), Rudolf Steiner Verlag, Dornach/Switzerland, unless otherwise stated. Email: verlag@steinerverlag.com URL: www.steinerverlag.com. Index to the Complete Works of Rudolf Steiner - Aelzina Books A complete list by Volume Number and a full list of known English translations you may also find at Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works Rudolf Steiner Archive - The largest online collection of Rudolf Steiner's books, lectures and articles in English. Rudolf Steiner Audio - Recorded and Read by Dale Brunsvold steinerbooks.org - Anthroposophic Press Inc. (USA) Rudolf Steiner Handbook - Christian Karl's proven standard work for orientation in Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works for free download as PDF.