lesson 1- individual experience and the divine

Question 1

What evidence do we have for gods being worshipped at a purely local level?

Answer 1

sacrificial calendars

Question 2

How were gods and heroes worshipped on a very personal level?

Answer 2

Through mystery cults, healing cults or oracular consultation

Question 3

What might attract a Greek to a mystery cult, hero cult or particular oracle that was different from public worship?

Answer 3

It was much more personal than a public worship, and you could pray for something much more specific towards you, guidance and communication- Mystery cults also served more personal, individualistic attitudes towards death and the afterlife that other forms of worship couldn’t offer

Question 4

What was the difference between public worship and the worship at cult shrines?

Answer 4

public worship meant worshipping a god in thanks for what they can done for their community, or praying/asking for something specific for a community, such as praying that a disease outbreak in the city would end, or more yield of crops in the city

Question 5

What category of ritual does Mystery Cult fall into?

Answer 5

rights of passage

Question 6

what modern examples of right of passage do we have?

Answer 6

weddings and funerals

Question 7

What did you undergo as part of the Mystery Cult rituals and why?

Answer 7

Most mystery cults were based on sacred stories that often involved a ritual re-enactment of death of a particular divinity. Because mystery cults involved a re-enactment of death, the first part of the ritual meant you had to undergo death as a rehearsal for your real death in the future

Question 8

What was the first part of the ritual?

Answer 8

You are subjected to experiences which are terrifying and you have no clue what might happen to you- feelings of fear, suffering and undergoing a rehearsal for your death.

Question 9

What did you then transition to/experience as you went through the ritual?

Answer 9

Ignorance and suffering to feelings of well being and community when the person undergoing the ritual finally considered that death was a blessing and a good thing

Question 10

What realisation did mystery cults give people in the ancient world?

Answer 10

death is not a bad thing, but a good thing

Question 11

What two forms of Mystery Cult were there?

Answer 11

Eleusinian mysteries and dionysian mysteries

Question 12

Where did the word ‘mystery’ likely come from?

Answer 12

Might be related to the Greek word for an initiate- Mystes

Question 13

Where could Mysteries be held?

Answer 13

at a public festival in the city

Question 14

Why did not everyone become a “Mystes’’ automatically?

Answer 14

They had to have undergone a ceremonial initiation into the cult

Question 15

What did the initiates have to keep a secret?

Answer 15

what they experienced during the ceremony

Question 16

What did the initiation at Eleusis entail?

Answer 16

Preparation that involved ritual cleansing and fasting, and an individual experience which ended with the revelation of the secret

Question 17

What does “epopteia” mean?

Answer 17

Revelation of the secret at the end of the Eleusinian mysteries

Question 18

What promise did the initiation at Eleusis offer to its initiates?

Answer 18

The offer of eternal life in the elysian fields after the initiates death

Question 19

What was the earliest and most famous example of Mystery Cult?

Answer 19

eleusis

Question 20

Why are Mystery Cults so hard to summarise and interpret?

Answer 20

The amount of sources about the actual rituals involved

Question 21

which mystery cult do we have the most information/ evidence on?

Answer 21

the eleusinian mysteries

Question 22

What were the benefits of mystery cults?

Answer 22

Following the ritual which involved a rehearsal for the individuals death, mystery cults promised a better afterlife (For example the Eleusinian mysteries promised eternal life in the Elysian fields in the underworld- an area in the underworld where only souls of virtuous, distinguished people could reside). Mystery cults also fostered social bonds between participants

Question 23

what would happen in the second part of the ritual in a mystery cult?

Answer 23

In the second stage of mystery cult rituals, the initiates would be taken out of the tombs that they were buried in to re-enact death and brought back to life again. This was symbolic of how they could now live forever with the god or hero they had been initiated into (such as Demeter or Dionysus)

Question 24

what was the Greek word for mystery cult?

Answer 24

‘Mysterion’- if a person went through an initiation they could become a ‘mystes’ meaning initiate