# What Are the Eleusinian Mysteries

An episode of [Human History ASMR](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/6793196842), 9 Oct 2026, 55 min.

Audio: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/75561048/what_are_the_eleusinian_mysteries_human_voiced_no_ads.mp3

Journey into the secretive world of ancient Greece and uncover the mysteries surrounding the Eleusinian Mysteries, one of the most important and enduring religious traditions of the ancient Mediterranean. For nearly two thousand years, initiates traveled to the sanctuary of Eleusis to participate in sacred ceremonies whose most important details were deliberately kept secret. Explore the origins of the Eleusinian Mysteries and their connection to the ancient myth of Demeter and Persephone. Discover how the story of loss, descent, return, and renewal became the foundation of a religious tradition promising initiates a deeper understanding of life, death, and what might lie beyond it. What actually happened during the mysterious initiation ceremonies? Examine the evidence surrounding the process of initiation, the sacred procession from Athens to Eleusis, fasting, ritual preparations, sacred objects, prayers, and the famous final stages of the ceremonies. Because initiates were forbidden from revealing what they experienced, historians must piece together the story from inscriptions, archaeological discoveries, ancient authors, and later references. This episode also explores who participated in the Mysteries, from ordinary citizens to wealthy aristocrats and powerful political figures. Discover why the sanctuary at Eleusis became one of the most significant religious centers in the Greek world, and how the cult survived political upheaval, changing empires, and centuries of religious transformation. Separate historical evidence from later speculation as we examine some of the most controversial theories surrounding the Mysteries, including claims about secret teachings, altered states of consciousness, and the possible use of sacred substances. Learn what historians can reasonably establish and where the surviving evidence leaves us with unanswered questions. Narrated with a calm, human voice, this immersive journey is perfect for history enthusiasts, ancient Greece lovers, mythology fans, documentary listeners, relaxation, or listening before sleep. Step beyond the silence of the ancient initiates and explore one of antiquity's greatest religious mysteries.

## Transcript

[0:01] Speaker 1: It is a warm autumn night in ancient Greece. The
[0:05] Speaker 1: year is 340 BC, and a procession of men and women,
[0:10] Speaker 1: holding torches aloft, snakes down from a dusty road from
[0:14] Speaker 1: Athens to the small town of Eleusis by the sea.
[0:20] Speaker 1: The air is thick with anticipation, and the scent of
[0:23] Speaker 1: burning herbs. For nine days they've purified themselves. fasting, bathing
[0:30] Speaker 1: in the sea, and sacrificing a little piglet in honor
[0:35] Speaker 1: of the gods. And tonight, beneath a moonless sky, they
[0:40] Speaker 1: finally cross the threshold into the Telestereon, the great hall
[0:45] Speaker 1: of initiation, where a secretive rite is about to unfold.
[0:51] Speaker 1: But what mystery is so powerful that it draws pilgrims
[0:55] Speaker 1: from across the known world? What sacred story could be
[1:00] Speaker 1: so profound that the initiates swear oaths of silence under
[1:05] Speaker 1: pain of death. Even in antiquity, that allure of Eleusis
[1:13] Speaker 1: was legendary. The Eleusinian Mysteries, sacred rituals honoring the goddess
[1:20] Speaker 1: Demeter and her daughter Persephone, regarded with reverence for nearly
[1:26] Speaker 1: two millennia. the Roman orator Cicero put it bluntly, much
[1:33] Speaker 1: that is excellent and divine, does Athens seem to me
[1:38] Speaker 1: to have produced and added for our life, but nothing
[1:42] Speaker 1: better than those mysteries by which we are formed from
[1:46] Speaker 1: a rude and savage life to a state of civilization,
[1:49] Speaker 1: and indeed, in the mysteries we perceive the real principles
[1:54] Speaker 1: of life, and learn not only to live happily, but
[2:00] Speaker 1: to die with a fairer hope. Cicero's testimony, echoed by
[2:07] Speaker 1: many ancient writers, hints at why these rites were so treasured.
[2:13] Speaker 1: They offered wisdom, communal bonding, and even a hope for
[2:18] Speaker 1: something beyond the grave. But what exactly were the Eleusinian Mysteries?
[2:25] Speaker 1: And what happened in these secret ceremonies? that could inspire
[2:30] Speaker 1: such awe? And more to the point, how could a
[2:35] Speaker 1: tradition so venerable come to an end? We'll talk about
[2:41] Speaker 1: these sorts of questions. We'll begin by talking about the
[2:46] Speaker 1: mythic origins of the mysteries and how the sorrow of
[2:50] Speaker 1: Demeter birthed the ritual. Then we will reconstruct what we
[2:56] Speaker 1: can at least of the initiation process, the journey of
[3:01] Speaker 1: the initiates from Athens to Eleusis, the fasting and the
[3:05] Speaker 1: sacramental drink, the climactic revelation inside the Telesterion. And along
[3:14] Speaker 1: the way, you'll hear a few familiar names. We're drawing
[3:19] Speaker 1: from some voices of the past, like Plato, Sophocles, Cicero,
[3:25] Speaker 1: and even early Christian critics like Clement of Alexandria, who
[3:30] Speaker 1: spilled some of the secrets. We'll also share in a
[3:34] Speaker 1: few anecdotes, like the scandalous Athenian trial, to an emperor's initiation,
[3:41] Speaker 1: that bring the mysteries to life. And I think that
[3:44] Speaker 1: by the end, we'll explore the twilight of the Eleusinian mysteries,
[3:50] Speaker 1: and figure out why they ended, even though their legacy
[3:53] Speaker 1: long endures. So, come back in time with me. Walk
[4:00] Speaker 1: in the footsteps of those ancient initiates. And perhaps you
[4:05] Speaker 1: might not become an initiate yourself, but that is an
[4:09] Speaker 1: honour lost to history. But you will understand why the
[4:13] Speaker 1: Rites of Losers were counted among the greatest treasures of
[4:17] Speaker 1: that fascinating ancient world. Welcome to the channel. Perhaps I
[4:24] Speaker 1: can initiate you To click that subscribe button. Well, if
[4:29] Speaker 1: you feel the need to. For those new to the channel.
[4:32] Speaker 1: I hope you'll enjoy. For those returning, thank you for
[4:37] Speaker 1: coming back. And the ones supporting on the Patreon. And
[4:41] Speaker 1: checking out the merch store. You have my thanks. Now
[4:46] Speaker 1: let us begin. Nice and relaxed, nice and slow. And
[4:53] Speaker 1: of course, the best place to begin... is right at
[4:56] Speaker 1: their core. A tale of loss and return, despair and renewal.
[5:02] Speaker 1: That is exactly the legend of Demeter and Persephone, a
[5:07] Speaker 1: mother and daughter whose story was re-enacted and honoured at Eleusis.
[5:13] Speaker 1: Where do we get this from? Well, the primary source
[5:16] Speaker 1: for the myth is the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, an
[5:20] Speaker 1: ancient Greek poem likely composed around the 7th century B.C.,
[5:25] Speaker 1: In these verses, we hear of how Persephone, the daughter
[5:28] Speaker 1: of Demeter, goddess of agriculture and fertility, was abducted by Hades,
[5:34] Speaker 1: the lord of the underworld himself, plunging Demeter into the
[5:39] Speaker 1: most extreme grief. Her sorrow so profound that she wandered
[5:45] Speaker 1: the earth with a torch, refusing to let anything grow
[5:49] Speaker 1: until her beloved daughter was finally returned to her. According
[5:55] Speaker 1: to the hymn, Demeter eventually arrived at Eleusis in disguise,
[6:00] Speaker 1: and was received kindly by the local rulers. In gratitude,
[6:04] Speaker 1: she decided to impart a great gift to humankind. She
[6:09] Speaker 1: revealed her true identity in a blaze of divine glory,
[6:13] Speaker 1: and commanded the people of Eleusis to build a temple
[6:17] Speaker 1: in her honor. It was there that she promised to
[6:20] Speaker 1: teach them the sacred rites and rituals. As the hymn recounts,
[6:28] Speaker 1: after Demeter and Persephone were reunited, for Persephone would henceforth
[6:32] Speaker 1: spend part of each year with her mother and part
[6:36] Speaker 1: in Hades, causing the seasons to change, Demeter kept her word.
[6:42] Speaker 1: She taught the Eleusians her mysteries, awful mysteries, which no
[6:49] Speaker 1: one may ever transgress or pry into or utter, for
[6:53] Speaker 1: deep awe of the gods checks the voice. The hymn
[6:58] Speaker 1: then proclaims, Happy is he among men upon earth who
[7:03] Speaker 1: has seen these mysteries, but he who is uninitiated and
[7:08] Speaker 1: who has no part in them never has a lot
[7:11] Speaker 1: of like good things, once he is dead down in
[7:14] Speaker 1: the darkness and gloom. Now that is a powerful declaration.
[7:22] Speaker 1: The initiated will reap rewards in the afterlife, sure, while
[7:28] Speaker 1: the uninitiated, there's not much for them. That's the beating
[7:33] Speaker 1: heart of the Eleusinian mysteries. That certainly makes you want
[7:37] Speaker 1: to check it out, huh? In the mythic imagination, Demeter's
[7:41] Speaker 1: rites at Eleusis established a pact between the gods and
[7:45] Speaker 1: the mortals. Those who honour the goddesses and partake in
[7:49] Speaker 1: their mystery ritual gained hope for a blessed existence after death.
[7:53] Speaker 1: The mysteries thus offered not just a religious pageant, but
[7:57] Speaker 1: a promise, spiritual insight, and eternal benefit. The Eleusinian legend,
[8:07] Speaker 1: encapsulated in the story of Demeter, was commemorated in cult practice. Persephone,
[8:15] Speaker 1: also called Cor, the Maiden, symbolized life's renewal, her annual
[8:20] Speaker 1: return from Hades each spring, mirroring the sprouting of new grain. Demeter,
[8:28] Speaker 1: the grieving and then rejoicing mother, embodied the earth's fertility
[8:33] Speaker 1: and the cycle of the seasons. At Eleusis, the mother
[8:38] Speaker 1: and daughter were worshipped together as the two goddesses. In fact,
[8:43] Speaker 1: the very name Eleusis was linked to this holy and
[8:46] Speaker 1: sacred narrative. In Greek, Eleusis means coming or advent, possibly
[8:53] Speaker 1: reflecting the coming of the goddesses. or the coming of
[8:57] Speaker 1: the initiates to understanding. Eleusis is about twenty-one kilometres north-west
[9:04] Speaker 1: of Athens. It has thus become a sacred setting of
[9:08] Speaker 1: Demeter's myth, and the site of a mystery cult. Archaeological
[9:13] Speaker 1: evidence indicates that Eleusis had been a place of worship
[9:16] Speaker 1: since the Mycenaean era, as the second millennium BCE, well
[9:21] Speaker 1: and truly into the Bronze Age. suggesting that agrarian fertility
[9:26] Speaker 1: rituals here predate the classical form of the Mysteries. But
[9:32] Speaker 1: by the 6th century BC, the Athenians had incorporated Eleusis
[9:37] Speaker 1: and its rites into the Athenian state religion, elevating the
[9:41] Speaker 1: local cult to Pan-Hellenic prominence. Thus, for the next 900 years,
[9:48] Speaker 1: or perhaps even more, people from all over Greece, and
[9:52] Speaker 1: later from Rome and beyond, would make the long trek
[9:56] Speaker 1: to Eleusis, to be initiated, into Demeter's fascinating secrets. Now
[10:06] Speaker 1: I really do wish that I could give you a
[10:09] Speaker 1: step one, step two, step three, but describing the actual
[10:14] Speaker 1: rituals of the Eleusinian Mysteries is a bit of a challenge.
[10:18] Speaker 1: And when I say a bit of a challenge, I
[10:20] Speaker 1: mean an excruciating challenge, for all of these rites were
[10:25] Speaker 1: shrouded in intentional secrecy. The very fact that we're talking
[10:30] Speaker 1: about them now certainly would annoy a lot of the
[10:34] Speaker 1: people who perhaps look down upon us as we do it.
[10:39] Speaker 1: But oh well. All initiates swore a sacred oath never
[10:44] Speaker 1: to reveal what transpired in the telestereon that in a
[10:48] Speaker 1: sanctuary at Eleusis where the final ceremonies took place. But remarkably,
[10:54] Speaker 1: throughout antiquity, this oath was largely kept. No ancient author
[11:00] Speaker 1: gives a full eyewitness account of the secret rites, which
[11:05] Speaker 1: is in one way incredibly fascinating, in another way incredibly disappointing.
[11:12] Speaker 1: But don't write it off just yet. Don't click off
[11:14] Speaker 1: the video. We... do have some sources, including hints from
[11:20] Speaker 1: those who participated, and some criticisms of earlier Christians who
[11:24] Speaker 1: later opposed the Mysteries. It's allowed us to piece together
[11:28] Speaker 1: a general outline of what actually happened. So, the Mysteries
[11:35] Speaker 1: had two stages, the Lesser and the Greater. The Lesser
[11:40] Speaker 1: Mysteries were an introductory rite, held in early spring traditionally,
[11:46] Speaker 1: in the month of Anthesterion, at a site in Athens
[11:50] Speaker 1: called Agrae. This preliminary initiation was required before one could
[11:56] Speaker 1: proceed to that coveted main event. A legend recounted by
[12:00] Speaker 1: later writers claims that the lesser mysteries were instituted to
[12:04] Speaker 1: allow the hero Heracles who, as a foreigner by the way, non-Athenian,
[12:09] Speaker 1: initially was not eligible Well, he was to be initiated
[12:15] Speaker 1: after he was adopted as an Athenian citizen. Whether historically
[12:21] Speaker 1: true or not, the story shows that anyone, Greek or
[12:25] Speaker 1: later Roman, who sought initiation, first underwent a smaller purification
[12:29] Speaker 1: and sacrifice months beforehand, symbolically preparing them for the greater
[12:36] Speaker 1: secrets that they are about to encounter. Of course, the
[12:40] Speaker 1: greater mysteries took place annually in late summer or early fall,
[12:46] Speaker 1: the month of Boadromion, around September. They lasted about nine days.
[12:51] Speaker 1: These were the famous rites at Eleusis itself. But remember,
[12:56] Speaker 1: you couldn't get to them without fulfilling the requirements of
[13:00] Speaker 1: the lesser mysteries. The festival followed a structured sequence, blending
[13:05] Speaker 1: public celebrations with these secret rites. Day one, the gathering
[13:12] Speaker 1: at Athens. On the 14th of Boidromeon, initiates known as
[13:17] Speaker 1: mystiae assembled in Athens, the priestly herald would announce the
[13:22] Speaker 1: start of the mysteries and instruct the participants to cleanse
[13:25] Speaker 1: themselves for the sacred tasks ahead. He would cry that
[13:30] Speaker 1: all that are not pure should go away to the sea,
[13:35] Speaker 1: as later sources tell us, an invitation for the unclean
[13:38] Speaker 1: to depart. and for the rest to proceed to purification.
[13:43] Speaker 1: Day 2 The initiates, carrying small piglets, that is a
[13:48] Speaker 1: traditional offering, went in procession to the sea, at Valeron Beach,
[13:54] Speaker 1: to bathe. Each person, along with their piglet, ritually washed
[13:59] Speaker 1: in the salt water, to purify the body and the soul.
[14:05] Speaker 1: The piglets were then sacrificed to Demeter and Persephone, This
[14:09] Speaker 1: cleansing rite was essential. In the words of Plato, it
[14:13] Speaker 1: was believed that the one who arrives in Hades uninitiated
[14:17] Speaker 1: and impure will lie in mud, but he who arrives
[14:21] Speaker 1: purified and initiated would dwell with the gods. That's from
[14:25] Speaker 1: Plato's work, Phaedo, 69c-d. The idea of all this was
[14:33] Speaker 1: that only a purified soul, symbolically washed of all of
[14:37] Speaker 1: its past, defilements and impurities, could approach the goddess and
[14:41] Speaker 1: hope for a blessed fate after death. Days three to four.
[14:49] Speaker 1: These days likely involved prayers, further sacrifices, preparatory rites in Athens.
[14:55] Speaker 1: The exact activities are not well documented, sorry to disappoint you,
[15:01] Speaker 1: but it's thought that initiates spent time at the Eleusinion,
[15:05] Speaker 1: that is the temple of Demeter in Athens, and made
[15:08] Speaker 1: offerings while mentally and spiritually girding themselves. Fasting may have
[15:14] Speaker 1: begun in this period, as Demeter herself in the myth
[15:17] Speaker 1: refused to eat while she was grieving. Day 5 Now
[15:24] Speaker 1: this was the climactic public event when the procession to
[15:27] Speaker 1: Eleusis would begin. In the morning, a grand procession would
[15:31] Speaker 1: set out from Athens to walk what was called the
[15:34] Speaker 1: Sacred Way to Eleusis. It's about a twenty kilometre walk.
[15:40] Speaker 1: Leading the way was the statue of Iarchus, a divine
[15:44] Speaker 1: figure associated with Dionysus, a companion of Demeter's worship. This
[15:49] Speaker 1: was carried by priests. As thousands of participants wound along
[15:54] Speaker 1: the road, they sung hymns to Iarchus and shouted in joy.
[15:58] Speaker 1: Ancient accounts describe how the atmosphere alternated between solemnity and merriment.
[16:04] Speaker 1: Along the route, Locals would set up refreshments, too. Some
[16:08] Speaker 1: would even hurl good-natured taunts at the marchers, a tradition
[16:12] Speaker 1: of jests called the Geferismus, at the bridge over the
[16:16] Speaker 1: river of Cephisus, said to mimic a moment when an
[16:20] Speaker 1: old woman jested with Demeter to make the grieving goddess smile.
[16:26] Speaker 1: It was a rare moment where ritual allowed for bawdy
[16:29] Speaker 1: humour amid the holiness. By evening, the torchlight procession arrived
[16:34] Speaker 1: at Lucis, And just imagine what a sight that could
[16:37] Speaker 1: have been. Thousands entering that great ancient sanctuary, chanting O
[16:43] Speaker 1: Iacus in exultation. I hope it puts an interesting view
[16:50] Speaker 1: into your mind. Well, this would end day five. And
[16:57] Speaker 1: day six was more about fasting and something called the Kikéon.
[17:04] Speaker 1: Now once it loses, the initiates would likely continue to
[17:08] Speaker 1: fast in emulation of Demeter's sorrow. But at night, perhaps
[17:12] Speaker 1: the very hour when Persephone was said to have been
[17:15] Speaker 1: returned to her mother, they broke their fast by drinking
[17:19] Speaker 1: the kikéon, a sacred potion of barley, water, and mint.
[17:24] Speaker 1: In Demeter's myth, the goddess asked for this simple drink
[17:28] Speaker 1: when she was wandering in disguise, and it became kind
[17:31] Speaker 1: of a ritual libation. participants would have downed the Kikéon
[17:38] Speaker 1: to prepare for the revelation to come. And we do
[17:42] Speaker 1: have direct evidence of this in a curious place. The
[17:45] Speaker 1: aforementioned Christian scholar Clement of Alexandria rather sneeringly revealed the
[17:54] Speaker 1: secret password, as he called it, of the mysteries in
[17:57] Speaker 1: order to discredit them. What a killjoy. Well, he wrote,
[18:05] Speaker 1: I have fasted, I have drank the kikéon, I have
[18:08] Speaker 1: taken from the sacred chest after working it, I have
[18:11] Speaker 1: deposited it in the basket, and from the basket into
[18:14] Speaker 1: the chest. That's from Clement of Alexandra's Exhortation to the Greeks, 218.
[18:20] Speaker 1: It's a bit of a cryptic declaration, isn't it? For
[18:25] Speaker 1: he claims that that was exactly what was uttered by
[18:28] Speaker 1: the initiates. It confirms the sequence though, doesn't it? Fasting
[18:33] Speaker 1: and then drinking the kikéon, performing some ritual transfer of
[18:37] Speaker 1: sacred holy objects. Well, Clement's tone is a little bit
[18:43] Speaker 1: mocking throughout his work describing it. He calls these fine
[18:48] Speaker 1: sights truly suitable for a goddess, but inadvertently he preserves
[18:53] Speaker 1: the precious details about the ritual actions, which ironically people
[18:58] Speaker 1: have used to re-enact the mysteries. So, Sure Clement did
[19:04] Speaker 1: not appreciate that. Now on to day seven. This is
[19:09] Speaker 1: the night in the Telestereon. At last the initiates would
[19:14] Speaker 1: enter the great hall of initiation, the Telestereon for the
[19:19] Speaker 1: secret rites. It was a huge rectangular building, supported by
[19:24] Speaker 1: many great columns, with adhered seats on all sides where
[19:28] Speaker 1: the misty eye could sit or stand. In the centre
[19:32] Speaker 1: of the hall stood the the palace or the inner
[19:36] Speaker 1: sanctum a small chamber where only the hierophant chief priest
[19:41] Speaker 1: could enter it was here that the most sacred objects
[19:45] Speaker 1: heirlooms related to demeter perhaps maybe we don't quite know
[19:50] Speaker 1: were stored and which revelations would emerge. But what exactly
[19:55] Speaker 1: happened on this night, in this place, that is the
[20:00] Speaker 1: deepest secret of Eleusis, that is the true mystery. By
[20:06] Speaker 1: ancient lore it was forbidden to describe the scene and
[20:10] Speaker 1: the initiates kept their vows. However, several ancient writers did not.
[20:16] Speaker 1: They dropped a few tantalizing hints for us. First, we
[20:19] Speaker 1: have Plutarch, writing in the 1st to 2nd century CE.
[20:23] Speaker 1: He wrote about the climax of the mysteries. The initiate
[20:27] Speaker 1: experiences a wondrous moment. He has beheld a great light,
[20:32] Speaker 1: as when the Anakdoron opens. And in amazement and silent,
[20:37] Speaker 1: he hears and sees the sacred things. That is from
[20:41] Speaker 1: his work On Progress in Virtue, section 81. Now this
[20:46] Speaker 1: does suggest that in the darkness of the Telestereon, perhaps
[20:48] Speaker 1: after midnight, the doors of the Anachteron suddenly flung open,
[20:54] Speaker 1: and a great light, whether that be real or metaphorical,
[20:58] Speaker 1: burst forth, revealing something quite awe-inspiring to the crowd. Other
[21:05] Speaker 1: sources indicate certain sacred objects were shown by the hierophant.
[21:10] Speaker 1: The Greek word for the highest grade of initiation was epopteia,
[21:15] Speaker 1: meaning the viewing or the sight. That implies that a
[21:19] Speaker 1: vision was beheld. But I know what you're thinking. What vision? Well,
[21:28] Speaker 1: the sources somewhat diverge at this point. Hippolytus of Rome.
[21:33] Speaker 1: A third-century Christian wrote that the Hierophant revealed, I quote,
[21:38] Speaker 1: an ear of grain reaped in silence as the ultimate symbol,
[21:42] Speaker 1: a simple yet profound emblem of renewed life in the
[21:45] Speaker 1: agricultural cycle. But Tertullian, another early Christian writer, sneered, perhaps falsely,
[21:54] Speaker 1: that the object was displayed in the likeness of a
[21:57] Speaker 1: male organ, which wouldn't be terribly surprising, but a lot
[22:02] Speaker 1: of people doubt that claim. suspecting that it is either
[22:05] Speaker 1: a confusion with the Dionysian rites or a deliberate attempt
[22:09] Speaker 1: to malign the ear of grain, on the other hand.
[22:14] Speaker 1: Somewhat fits the agricultural theme of Demeter. It would be
[22:19] Speaker 1: quite poetic, though. The grand secret of life and death
[22:22] Speaker 1: represented is a humble stalk of wheat, life's rebirth from
[22:27] Speaker 1: the earth. Some accounts also speak of a dramatic reenactment,
[22:32] Speaker 1: possibly the Hierophant and Priestess, perhaps the Hierophantisa, according to
[22:38] Speaker 1: playing the role of Persephone, engaged in a symbolic sacred magic,
[22:44] Speaker 1: a marriage rather, or the moment of Persephone's reunion with Demeter,
[22:49] Speaker 1: theatrically presented to the initiates, ensuring that not only they
[22:54] Speaker 1: heard the myth, but felt part of it. And there
[22:58] Speaker 1: were likely chants, incense, perhaps a solemn hymn sung. All
[23:04] Speaker 1: the senses were engaged, darkness and light, noise and silence,
[23:10] Speaker 1: and the taste of the gigaeon, the scent of myrtle
[23:14] Speaker 1: and burning offerings. We can imagine the emotional impact on
[23:20] Speaker 1: the initiates, of course, many of whom would have experienced
[23:23] Speaker 1: this moment for months or years. Greek writers often liken
[23:28] Speaker 1: the experience to a thrilling transformation. The second century orator,
[23:33] Speaker 1: Aelius Aristides, wrote that initiates were overcome by alternating waves
[23:38] Speaker 1: of terror and bliss. At one instance trembling with fear,
[23:42] Speaker 1: the next filled with wondrous light and joy. Aristotle is
[23:47] Speaker 1: credited with a telling comment, the initiates are not supposed
[23:51] Speaker 1: to learn anything in the mysteries, but to experience and
[23:57] Speaker 1: feel something ineffable. In other words, the mysteries were less
[24:02] Speaker 1: about doctrinal teaching, but rather about inducing a profound spiritual experience,
[24:08] Speaker 1: a direct encounter with the sacred, that defied all rational explanation.
[24:19] Speaker 1: Day 7 All done Day 8 The triumph or the
[24:27] Speaker 1: conclusion After the intense night of initiation, daybreak likely brought celebration.
[24:34] Speaker 1: Ancient sources mention dances and playing of flutes. Sacrifices were performed, including,
[24:41] Speaker 1: it is said, a bull whose meat likely fed the
[24:44] Speaker 1: celebrants in a joyous feast. Because you've got to have
[24:49] Speaker 1: food at a party, don't you? Two special vessels, called
[24:53] Speaker 1: plemachoi or plemakoi, were filled with liquid, either be water
[25:00] Speaker 1: or wine, we're not sure, probably wine though, I hope
[25:03] Speaker 1: it was wine, and poured out as libations, one toward
[25:07] Speaker 1: the east and one toward the west, while the officiants
[25:11] Speaker 1: uttered a mystic cry, Reign, conceive, a prayer for the
[25:17] Speaker 1: next season's fertility, and a ritual farewell to the powers
[25:22] Speaker 1: of the earth and sky. And then, the ninth day,
[25:29] Speaker 1: the initiates begin to disperse. Having now been Misty Eye
[25:33] Speaker 1: of Eleusis, they would forever carry that title. The bucket
[25:38] Speaker 1: list was ticked off. Many might return in future years
[25:43] Speaker 1: for renewal or to advance to higher degrees of initiation.
[25:47] Speaker 1: Some sources suggest a two-stage initiation. First as Misty Eyes.
[25:53] Speaker 1: the second time as epoptes or witnesses of the highest secrets.
[25:58] Speaker 1: They likely carried home sprigs of myrtle and perhaps a
[26:01] Speaker 1: bit of the sacred grain, symbols of Demeter's blessing, as
[26:05] Speaker 1: mementos of their initiation. Throughout these proceedings, the officials of
[26:13] Speaker 1: the Mysteries overstored every single step. The Hierophant, literally, If
[26:19] Speaker 1: we're going to translate it, he who shows the sacred things.
[26:23] Speaker 1: Sounds pretty cool, isn't it? Well, he was the high priest,
[26:27] Speaker 1: drawn from the ancient family of Emolpidae. It was said
[26:32] Speaker 1: that he had to symbolically renounce all earthly pleasure, and
[26:36] Speaker 1: even his personal identity during his tenure, embodying an almost
[26:41] Speaker 1: otherworldly role. There was also the didocus, the torchbearer, who
[26:49] Speaker 1: led many rites with blazing torches, the Hydrokerix, sacred herald
[26:54] Speaker 1: who made these proclamations, and the priestess of Demeter and Persephone,
[26:59] Speaker 1: among others. These officials kept order and performed the ritual actions,
[27:04] Speaker 1: but the focus was always on guiding the massive initiates
[27:07] Speaker 1: toward the ultimate vision. Given the secrecy maintained, it's both
[27:12] Speaker 1: remarkable and fortunate that these outlines have survived at all.
[27:18] Speaker 1: The mysteries evidently left a profound mark on the participants,
[27:22] Speaker 1: yet nearly all of them respected the rules. A few
[27:27] Speaker 1: breaches did occur, and these were famously met with outrage.
[27:32] Speaker 1: In 415 BC, the Athenian nobleman Alcibiades and some compatriots
[27:38] Speaker 1: were accused of profaning the mysteries by staging a parody
[27:41] Speaker 1: of the sacred ceremony in a private house after a
[27:44] Speaker 1: drunken dinner. certainly sounds like something Alcibiades would do. This
[27:50] Speaker 1: scandal rocked Athens. Alcibiades was charged with impiety, a serious crime.
[27:57] Speaker 1: And though he fled into exile to avoid trial, the
[28:00] Speaker 1: incident shows how sacrilegious it was to even pretend to
[28:04] Speaker 1: reveal the mysteries outside of the proper context. The Athenians,
[28:11] Speaker 1: on the eve of launching the Sicilian expedition, feared divine wrath,
[28:16] Speaker 1: if such blasphemy went unpunished. The playwright Aeschylus, according to
[28:22] Speaker 1: later biographies, was once suspected of having divulged secret rites
[28:25] Speaker 1: on stage, some say in one of his tragedies. A
[28:29] Speaker 1: mob supposedly tried to stone him for this, which is
[28:34] Speaker 1: pretty serious, until he proved that he had actually never
[28:38] Speaker 1: been initiated in the first place. Thus he knew absolutely
[28:42] Speaker 1: nothing about the secrets. So how could he reveal them?
[28:47] Speaker 1: Whether this tale is historical or not, its circulation shows
[28:50] Speaker 1: how tightly the mystery's content was guarded. And then finally,
[28:56] Speaker 1: there was a man named Diagoras of Melos. In the
[29:00] Speaker 1: late 5th century, that's B.C., 5th century, he allegedly revealed
[29:05] Speaker 1: details of the mysteries, perhaps out of cynicism or spite,
[29:09] Speaker 1: and was hence dubbed Diogoras, the atheist. Athens is said
[29:15] Speaker 1: to have offered a reward for his death. The intensity
[29:19] Speaker 1: of these reactions speaks to the reverence and fear that
[29:22] Speaker 1: the mysteries commanded, sacred, protected by human and divine laws. But,
[29:30] Speaker 1: having sketched out what they likely entailed, let's now turn
[29:34] Speaker 1: to our next section, on why they were so celebrated
[29:39] Speaker 1: in antiquity. the meaning and significance of the mysteries themselves. Well,
[29:48] Speaker 1: by now it's pretty clear that the Eleusinian Mysteries were
[29:51] Speaker 1: more than just some ritual. They were an experience. The
[29:57] Speaker 1: province of Eleusis was intimately tied to what initiates felt
[30:01] Speaker 1: and realized during those rites. So what made them so significant? Well,
[30:07] Speaker 1: first and foremost, the mysteries provided spiritual solace and a
[30:12] Speaker 1: little bit of hope in a way that public state
[30:15] Speaker 1: cults rarely could. Most Greek religion involved offering sacrifices to
[30:21] Speaker 1: the gods in exchange for favors in this life. Health. Victory,
[30:26] Speaker 1: good harvests, things like that. But Eleusis? That offered a
[30:32] Speaker 1: glimpse of life after death. The sources consistently emphasise that
[30:38] Speaker 1: those who participated in the mysteries were promised a happier
[30:40] Speaker 1: lot in the underworld. It's hard to pass up that opportunity,
[30:45] Speaker 1: isn't it? We saw in the Homeric Hymns declaration that
[30:50] Speaker 1: initiates are blessed. and the uninitiated will never enjoy the
[30:54] Speaker 1: good fortune in Hades. We find the same idea echoed
[30:58] Speaker 1: by later authors. The tragic poet Sophocles wrote, Thrice blessed
[31:04] Speaker 1: are the mortals who, having seen the rites depart for Hades,
[31:08] Speaker 1: for to them alone is given to have the true
[31:11] Speaker 1: life there. To all others evil awaits. This fragment is
[31:16] Speaker 1: preserved in Plutarch, by the way. In other words, to
[31:19] Speaker 1: have it make sense, initiation conferred a kind of spiritual salvation.
[31:25] Speaker 1: And the great lyric poet Pindar similarly sung of the mysteries.
[31:31] Speaker 1: Blessed is he who has seen these rites before going
[31:35] Speaker 1: beneath the earth, for he knows the end of life
[31:39] Speaker 1: and its God-given beginning. Initiation gave meaning to both death
[31:45] Speaker 1: and life. revealing that mortal life has a beginning and
[31:48] Speaker 1: renewal in the divine. In essence, it confronted that eternal
[31:54] Speaker 1: human question. I suppose two questions. One, what happens when
[32:00] Speaker 1: we die? And two, how can we make the most
[32:04] Speaker 1: before we die? What can we do with our mortal lives?
[32:10] Speaker 1: So by tying these questions to a shared sacred experience,
[32:15] Speaker 1: and offering an answer to them. The mysteries offered a
[32:18] Speaker 1: sort of enlightenment, not an intellectual revelation of doctrine, but
[32:22] Speaker 1: an emotional realization that life, death, and rebirth are simply
[32:27] Speaker 1: all woven together in a divine cycle, as shown by
[32:31] Speaker 1: Persephone's return and regrowth of the grain. This accounts for
[32:38] Speaker 1: many ancient testimonies that initiation banished the fear of death,
[32:43] Speaker 1: Cicero's quote, which we did hear earlier, explicitly states that
[32:47] Speaker 1: through the Mysteries people learned not only to live happily,
[32:50] Speaker 1: but to die with a fairer hope. Such personal transformation
[32:55] Speaker 1: would indeed make the Mysteries something nothing better, as he
[32:59] Speaker 1: puts it among Athens' contributions to human civilization. Secondly, the
[33:05] Speaker 1: Mysteries were a major social and cultural event. Attending them
[33:10] Speaker 1: was both a personal honor and a communal bond. For
[33:14] Speaker 1: the Greeks, Eleusis was a unifying pan-Hellenic institution, much like
[33:21] Speaker 1: the Olympic Games or the Oracle of Delphi. People of
[33:27] Speaker 1: any Greek city, man or woman, rich or poor, it
[33:32] Speaker 1: didn't matter. As long as you spoke Greek and hadn't
[33:35] Speaker 1: killed anyone, you could be initiated. In an age of
[33:39] Speaker 1: city-state rivalries, the mysteries stood apart as in inclusive religious festival,
[33:46] Speaker 1: fostering a sense of a shared Greek identity under the
[33:49] Speaker 1: patronage of Demeter and Persephone. But during the Roman era,
[33:55] Speaker 1: the mysteries became even more cosmopolitan. Roman emperors and senators
[34:00] Speaker 1: took part in them. We know, for example, that the
[34:03] Speaker 1: emperor Augustus was initiated, as were Hadrian, Marcus Aurelius, and
[34:09] Speaker 1: even that debauched Commodus. who, by the way, it is
[34:13] Speaker 1: said attended as a boy and nearly disrupted the ceremony
[34:16] Speaker 1: by drawing his sword in fright. Yes, you're not meant
[34:21] Speaker 1: to do that. Who invited him? Either way, the fact
[34:26] Speaker 1: that mighty emperors humbled themselves to be initiated by the
[34:30] Speaker 1: priests of Eleusis, that certainly speaks volumes. By Cicero's time
[34:35] Speaker 1: in the late Republic, inhabitants of the most distant regions
[34:40] Speaker 1: flocked to Eleusis to be initiated. Thus, the Mysteries also
[34:45] Speaker 1: served as a kind of diplomatic and cultural bridge. During
[34:49] Speaker 1: the festival, warfare was also forbidden, a sacred truce protected travellers.
[34:56] Speaker 1: Same for the Olympics, too, if you didn't know. So,
[35:01] Speaker 1: at Eleusis, you could show up and you could find
[35:04] Speaker 1: Greeks from Asia Minor, Romans from Italy, maybe even seekers
[35:08] Speaker 1: from Egypt or beyond. all sitting side by side, rubbing
[35:13] Speaker 1: elbows in the telestereon, equal in the eyes of the
[35:17] Speaker 1: two goddesses, from the lowliest farmer to the highest emperor.
[35:23] Speaker 1: And this egalitarian aspect, something that's rarely seen, that initiation-level
[35:30] Speaker 1: social distinctions, that's definitely something unique in antiquity. The statesman
[35:37] Speaker 1: Themistocles said, reportedly remarked that at Eleusis, people learned to
[35:42] Speaker 1: view themselves not just as individuals of this or that city,
[35:47] Speaker 1: but just as fellow Greeks, sharing in a profound religious heritage.
[35:52] Speaker 1: Another dimension of the mystery's significance was ethical and psychological
[35:57] Speaker 1: in a sense. Many ancient commentators imply that initiates left
[36:02] Speaker 1: Eleusis as changed persons, morally or emotionally improved, the process
[36:09] Speaker 1: of purification, the endurance of some hardship, his fasting, a
[36:14] Speaker 1: long night of vigil, perhaps a controlled scare doing the rites,
[36:19] Speaker 1: followed by the euphoria of revelation. It all had a
[36:23] Speaker 1: lifelong impact. Plutarch, in one of his writings, compared the
[36:27] Speaker 1: soul's journey after death to the experience of being initiated.
[36:32] Speaker 1: At first, one gropes in darkness with fear and confusion,
[36:36] Speaker 1: and then a marvellous light appears, and one is welcomed
[36:40] Speaker 1: into the pure meadows and company of the blessed. By
[36:44] Speaker 1: linking afterlife expectations to the initiation ordeal, the mysteries functioned
[36:49] Speaker 1: as a kind of drama of personal rebirth, helping initiates
[36:54] Speaker 1: come to terms with their own mortality. It was a
[36:57] Speaker 1: powerful draw in a world without much promises of later
[37:01] Speaker 1: organized religions. But they also left a mark on philosophy
[37:06] Speaker 1: and literature— Philosophers like Plato frequently employed the language and
[37:12] Speaker 1: imagery of the mysteries to describe the journey to true knowledge.
[37:16] Speaker 1: In the dialogue Phaedrus, Plato speaks of the soul remembering
[37:21] Speaker 1: divine visions as if they had been initiated into the
[37:23] Speaker 1: final and highest mystery. In the Phaedo work, as we
[37:29] Speaker 1: have already seen, he approvingly cites the idea that the
[37:33] Speaker 1: uninitiated soul wallows in mud. while the initiate soul dwells
[37:38] Speaker 1: with the gods. A pretty clear distinction. Such references show
[37:44] Speaker 1: that the conceptual framework of Lucis, purification, revelation, salvation, had
[37:50] Speaker 1: completely permeated Greek thought. Later, the Neoplatonist philosophers, as the
[37:56] Speaker 1: 3rd to 4th centuries CE, interpreted the mysteries in a
[38:00] Speaker 1: metaphysical light. They saw the rites as symbolic allegories of
[38:04] Speaker 1: the soul's ascent to the divine, Some, like Proclus, even
[38:09] Speaker 1: claimed mystical visions of Persephone, or souls being purified in light,
[38:15] Speaker 1: clearly borrowing from Eleusinian motives. Poets and playwrights, too, they
[38:22] Speaker 1: were heavily inspired by Eleusis. We find references to Iarchus
[38:27] Speaker 1: and the joy of the mysteries in Aristophanes' comedy The Frogs,
[38:32] Speaker 1: where a chorus of initiates in the underworld sings and dances,
[38:36] Speaker 1: declaring their status as blessed. Euripides in one fragment calls
[38:41] Speaker 1: upon Holy Demeter, who has given mortals the lush green
[38:46] Speaker 1: and the mysteries, those rites of surpassing awe. In short,
[38:53] Speaker 1: to be initiated at Eleusis was to partake in one
[38:56] Speaker 1: of the most meaningful experiences available in the ancient world.
[39:01] Speaker 1: Little wonder that the mysteries endured generation after generation, But
[39:07] Speaker 1: as with all things, before you Google where you can
[39:12] Speaker 1: do it in Greece in our modern day, well, they
[39:17] Speaker 1: had to meet their end. But understanding when and why
[39:22] Speaker 1: this happened, well, that will reveal much about the changing
[39:26] Speaker 1: world of late antiquity. And that's what we're going to
[39:29] Speaker 1: talk about next. And so, after a very impressive run
[39:36] Speaker 1: of nearly 1,800 years, the Mysteries saw their twilight in
[39:43] Speaker 1: the late Roman Empire. The decline and cessation of these
[39:47] Speaker 1: ancient rites did not happen overnight, however. Don't get confused.
[39:52] Speaker 1: It was a result of religious and political transformations, most
[39:57] Speaker 1: prominently the rise of Christianity as the dominant religion of
[40:00] Speaker 1: the Roman Empire, and eventually the suppression of traditional pagan gods.
[40:07] Speaker 1: By the 4th century, the Roman Empire was officially Christianizing.
[40:12] Speaker 1: Emperor Constantine in the late 300s early 300s rather, had
[40:17] Speaker 1: legalized Christianity, and subsequent emperors, with the notable exception of
[40:22] Speaker 1: Julian the Apostate, increasingly promoted Christianity, while discouraging old polytheistic practices.
[40:31] Speaker 1: For his part, Emperor Julian, reigning 361 to 363 CE,
[40:36] Speaker 1: a devoutly pagan person, not only underwent initiation at Eleusis himself,
[40:43] Speaker 1: but even consulted the Eleusinian Hierophant for guidance in his
[40:46] Speaker 1: quest to restore the old religion. Julian's reverence gave the
[40:51] Speaker 1: Mysteries a brief imperial reprieve, but his premature death meant
[40:56] Speaker 1: no lasting revival could really take root. However, in general,
[41:02] Speaker 1: imperial tolerance for the Mysteries was waning. The critical turning
[41:06] Speaker 1: point came during the reign of Emperor Theodosius I. In
[41:10] Speaker 1: 392 CE, Theodosius, determined to uproot paganism, issued a series
[41:18] Speaker 1: of edicts effectively banning every single traditional religious ritual, and
[41:24] Speaker 1: of course that includes the Eleusinian Mysteries. The exact wording
[41:30] Speaker 1: of his laws forbade public sacrifices and, quote, profane ceremonies.
[41:36] Speaker 1: With that decree, the Mysteries had lost their official protection
[41:38] Speaker 1: and support. The Sanctuary at Eleusis which had long been
[41:43] Speaker 1: maintained by state funds and guarded by the authority of
[41:46] Speaker 1: the Athenian polis and later Roman authorities, was now vulnerable.
[41:53] Speaker 1: The priests at Eleusis did not immediately give up, however.
[41:57] Speaker 1: It appears they attempted to continue the rites, just quietly.
[42:02] Speaker 1: We hear a fascinating account from Eunapius, a fourth-century Greek historian,
[42:07] Speaker 1: who was himself a devotee of the old gods. Eunapius
[42:11] Speaker 1: knew Eunapius, the last Hierophant personally, and he records that
[42:16] Speaker 1: the aged Hierophant of his youth, a descent of Eumolpidae,
[42:21] Speaker 1: foretold the doom of the sanctuary. This Hierophant prophesied to
[42:26] Speaker 1: his inner circle that the sanctuaries would soon be destroyed,
[42:29] Speaker 1: and the worship of the two goddesses would cease. He
[42:34] Speaker 1: even predicted that after his death, a certain man, not
[42:38] Speaker 1: even of Athenian birth, would unlawfully assume the title of
[42:42] Speaker 1: Hierophant and preside over the final days of the cult,
[42:46] Speaker 1: only to see it extinguished. And guess what? So it
[42:51] Speaker 1: came to pass, a man named Nestorius of Thespiae, reportedly
[42:56] Speaker 1: a Christian in background, who had also been initiated into
[43:00] Speaker 1: the cult of Mithras, somehow became the Hierophant around 394 CE,
[43:05] Speaker 1: not long after. In 395-396, the Visigoths under King Alaric
[43:14] Speaker 1: invaded Greece. Alaric's forces, abetted by some local Christian zealots,
[43:22] Speaker 1: who Eunapius bitterly calls the Black-Robed Men, began to sweep
[43:27] Speaker 1: through the region of Attica. Along the way, they sacked
[43:32] Speaker 1: the Sanctuary of Eleusis. The ancient temple of Demeter was
[43:35] Speaker 1: likely torched or just torn down, As for the Telestrion,
[43:41] Speaker 1: it was wrecked. The last Hierophant Nestorius survived to see
[43:45] Speaker 1: this desecration, but any hope of continuing the Mysteries was gone.
[43:52] Speaker 1: It was just too hard. Thus, within a few years
[43:58] Speaker 1: of the ban of Theodosius, the Mysteries had effectively ended.
[44:05] Speaker 1: And by the early 5th century, the ancient rites were
[44:09] Speaker 1: no longer celebrated. The knowledge of the secret rituals presumably
[44:14] Speaker 1: died with the last priests and initiates. The Christian church
[44:19] Speaker 1: might have been built nearby in subsequent decades, as often
[44:22] Speaker 1: happened at former pagan holy sites, symbolically supplanting the old
[44:29] Speaker 1: worship with the new. And the sanctuary of Demeter at
[44:34] Speaker 1: Lucius fell into ruin and silence. Its columns toppled, and
[44:40] Speaker 1: its sacred chambers opened to the sky. Its poignant end
[44:45] Speaker 1: never loses, and it was recorded by those who loved it.
[44:51] Speaker 1: Eunapius laments that after the destruction, the life of the
[44:54] Speaker 1: last hierophant, quote, was no longer that of a hierophant,
[44:59] Speaker 1: and that the mystical law had come to an end.
[45:04] Speaker 1: Some later pagan thinkers, looking back, tried to find consolation.
[45:08] Speaker 1: by suggesting that the Mysteries died only to be reborn
[45:11] Speaker 1: in another form. For example, the Neoplatonist Cinesius, who interestingly
[45:18] Speaker 1: became a Christian bishop, by the way, ironic, hinted that
[45:22] Speaker 1: the spiritual truths of Eleusis lived on in the sacraments
[45:27] Speaker 1: of the new Christian faith. Well, it's arguable. Early Christianity
[45:33] Speaker 1: did adopt the term Mystery for its own rights. but
[45:37] Speaker 1: as an actual religious institution, no one was really arguing
[45:41] Speaker 1: that the Eleusinian Mysteries were anything but no more. The
[45:48] Speaker 1: Sanctuary at Eleusis would never again host the festival that
[45:53] Speaker 1: for centuries had defined it. The marble steps of the Telestereon,
[45:57] Speaker 1: worn by countless pilgrims, now walked only over by occasional
[46:02] Speaker 1: locals or curious travellers, In time, soil and grass covered
[46:07] Speaker 1: that sacred ground. The memory of what had transpired there
[46:11] Speaker 1: grew dim and began to enter the realm of folklore.
[46:16] Speaker 1: Only the writings of ancient authors survived to tell the
[46:19] Speaker 1: future generations that such things as the Eleusinian Mysteries had
[46:25] Speaker 1: once existed. So what were they? They were a journey. physical, emotional, spiritual,
[46:37] Speaker 1: undertaken by countless individuals of nearly two thousand years, all
[46:44] Speaker 1: seeking a profound encounter with the divine. In that cool
[46:48] Speaker 1: darkness of the Delisterion, amid flickering torchlight and sacred chants,
[46:53] Speaker 1: initiates felt the presence of Demeter and Persephone, and came
[46:57] Speaker 1: away convinced that death was not the end, but just
[47:02] Speaker 1: another beginning. They took a simple agricultural cycle, seed to
[47:09] Speaker 1: harvest to seed again, and elevated it to a cosmic truth,
[47:13] Speaker 1: instilling hope that human souls too would find a new
[47:17] Speaker 1: life in the dark soils of the beyond. And so
[47:20] Speaker 1: we see how myth and ritual intertwined. The grief of
[47:25] Speaker 1: a mother goddess became the rite of fasting and searching.
[47:28] Speaker 1: The joyous reunion became a dazzling revelation. A humble drink
[47:33] Speaker 1: of barley became a sacrament. A stalk of grain might
[47:37] Speaker 1: have revealed the secret of eternity. We also saw how
[47:41] Speaker 1: these rites bound a community together, from peasants to emperors,
[47:47] Speaker 1: in shared reverence and confidentiality. So the mysteries managed to
[47:52] Speaker 1: be simultaneously esoteric, but also universal. Esoteric known only to
[48:00] Speaker 1: the initiates, but universal being virtually open to anyone, resonant
[48:07] Speaker 1: across cultures. Their end, when it eventually came, was bought
[48:14] Speaker 1: by a dramatic shift of worldviews, yet even as the
[48:17] Speaker 1: mysteries dimmed, their memory influenced the religious imaginations of later ages.
[48:24] Speaker 1: The very word mystery, in a spiritual sense, used by
[48:28] Speaker 1: Christians to describe sacraments and divine truths, owes a debt
[48:33] Speaker 1: to Eleusis and all those other ancient mystery cults. And
[48:38] Speaker 1: to this day, the phrase Eleusinian mysteries evokes a sense
[48:42] Speaker 1: of something unfathomable and sacred, a fascinating secret of the
[48:48] Speaker 1: universe that's just slightly beyond our grasp. And so to close,
[48:55] Speaker 1: consider the reflection of the Athenian orator Isocrates on Demeter's
[48:59] Speaker 1: gifts to humanity. He praised the goddess for bestowing upon
[49:04] Speaker 1: the means to survive, and the means of hope. Demeter
[49:09] Speaker 1: bestowed on us two gifts, the greatest in the world. First,
[49:14] Speaker 1: the fruits of the earth, which have enabled us to
[49:16] Speaker 1: rise above life and beasts, and second, the mystification. of Eleusis,
[49:21] Speaker 1: which continue to inspire in those who partake of them
[49:25] Speaker 1: sweeter hopes regarding both life and the end of all eternity.
[49:31] Speaker 1: Grain and hope, one for our bodies, the other for
[49:36] Speaker 1: our souls. In Eleusis, Demeter gives both. And that is why,
[49:43] Speaker 1: for those who were initiated, and for those who study
[49:48] Speaker 1: these rites even now, they remain a shining example of
[49:52] Speaker 1: the human search for meaning at that threshold of life
[49:56] Speaker 1: and death. And that's where we end it for today.
[50:03] Speaker 1: I hope you enjoyed. I enjoyed it. So I'm going
[50:07] Speaker 1: to thank the top dear patrons and supporters, both on
[50:10] Speaker 1: YouTube and Patreon. Scott, Stock Factory, Shell, Wendy, Josie, Sarah, Ryan, Thor, Cameron, Stefan,
[50:37] Speaker 1: Given the HMSHH, Crystal and Dalvery. Thank you. And thank
[50:43] Speaker 1: you for listening so far. Oh, it's been a nice video.
[50:48] Speaker 1: And I hope to see you again. Whenever you feel
[50:51] Speaker 1: like returning, you know I'll always be here. Good night, everyone.
[50:57] Speaker 1: Lots of love to you all.

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