Personal: Eleusinian Literary Sources Flashcards
Why is Aristophanes Frogs useful for our understanding ?
- The chorus described the procession in a fanciful way
- however, the chorus eschew any secretaries information about the mysteries
Why is Herodotus useful ?
Two individuals witness the ghost precession of Eleusis and the Akos song during the most dangerous time
The festival celebrated itself
- the communal importance transcends human involvement
Why is book 11 Odyssey important to our understanding of the view of the underworld ?
Achilles says he would rather be the lowest peasant on earth rather than the king of the underworld
- it’s ghostly and unwelcoming
Therefore some form of enjoyable afterlife would be sought after
What is Bremmers arguement ?
By 500BC people were dissatisfied by the afterlife portrayed by Homer and the growth in the cult is an influx of members joining
The traditional view of gods is falling out of favour guiding individuals to explore different forms of Greek worship
How is the religious playfield levelled out by the mysteries ?
Personal thusia meant more affluent individuals could buy more expensive animals and therefore get more from the gods
However this is not the case at Eleusis who have an egalitarian approach of only sacrificing one pig being the requirement
What does Aristophanes assemblywomen tell us about the mysteries ?
Women were invoked as Chremes states the women did not disclose the secret
What does Alcophrons letter IV show ?
Women could be apart of the mysteries
Cosmetically individuals may have had white lead on their faces to appear ghostly ‘having the face of a ghost’ ‘ white lead plastered on’
Why is Pausanias important for our understanding of the mysteries and their secrecy ?
He took the secrets so seriously that he refrained from describing the buildings in the sanctuary and claimed he was prevented from doing so by a vision in his dream
What was the charge Athens put in place for the mysteries ?
Anyone who divulged the secret is put to death
- The politician Alkibiades was condemned in absentia for having mocked the mysteries
How is the Homeric description useful in comparison to the Sophocles description of a cult members experience ?
Tie this into Garlands arguement.
Odyssey book 11: Hercules says he would rather be the lowest mortal on earth than king of the dead
- Homeric underworld is bleak and uninviting
Garland argues that death is pathetic
- therefore mystery cult provided an alternate experience to this
Sophoclean fragment: ‘three times blessed are those mortals who after seeing these rites fo to the realm of Hades’ + ‘the rest have every kind of evil’
- a far more inviting and welcoming after life giving the individual reassurance of a positive life after death
What does the homer hymn to Demeter say about those who have not been initiated compared to those who have ?
Prosperous is the initiated however anyone not initiated will not have a ‘like destiny once he has perished and gone beneath the misty darkness’
What is Garland’s argument about what all our sources in the mysteries and their experience after death imply ?
The mysteries promised eternal bliss purely on ritualistic grounds
- it did not require a good morale code of conduct
- ethical considerations are not take into account
