Personal Experience Of The Devine Flashcards
An example of a mystery cult
Eleusinian Mysteries
An example of a healing cult
Cult of Asclepius
An example of an oracular cult
Cult at Dodona
What does the word ‘mystery’ relate to?
The Greek word for initiate ‘mystes’
Word meaning the revelation of the secret
Epopteia
What was the benefit an eleusinian member would receive after death?
Granted eternal life in the Eleusinian Fields
What are the Eleusinian Fields?
A type of paradise initially reserved for gods, heroes and mortals related to them
Where is Eleusis? (2)
15 miles west of Athens, over looking the island of Salamis
What is the site most famous for?
Hosting the mysteries of Demeter and Persephone
What evidence provides the myth of Persephone’s abduction?
Homeric Hymn to Demeter
What piece of literature recounts the tale of the destruction of the Herms and the revelation of the mystery’s secret?
Thucydides: Rhetoric and History
Who is the Athenian general that Thucydides blames?
Alcibiades
What play takes a humours approach to the mystery’s and who wrote it?
Aristophanes’s Frogs
What information does the play Frogs give on mystery’s? (6)
Holding torches- Night Singing dancing and drinking Feasting and sacrifices Travel along the sacred way Wore wreath leaves Led by Iacchus- God assimilated with Dionysus
PRESCRIBED SOURCE: Ninnion Tablet
What are the two alternative interpretations? (2)
OCR: Shows the climax of the procession
Kevin Clifton: shows the beginning and the end of the procession with Demeter and Persephone reunited
PRESCRIBED SOURCE: Ninnion Tablet
Who gave the tablet?
Where was it found?
What date is the tablet? (3)
A woman named Ninnion
Attica- Within the temple complex
400-300 BC
Who could join the Eleusinian mystery?
Anyone- as long as they hadn’t committed murder and spoke Greek
(This was unique for a Greek festival)
How long did the events of the Eleusinia take place?
What time of year?
9 days
Autumn
Approximately how many gathered in the agora on the first day?
3,000
What is a mystagog?
An initiated member
What is a mystes?
Uninitiated member
What was the role of the Archon Basileus?
Looked after religious affairs within the state
What is a hierophant?
A head priest
What was normally sacrificed on day 7?
Piglets
What was the name of the special brew drank on the last day?
Kykeōn
How could others be excluded for the Eleusinian cult? (2)
The initiates had to pay a fee as well as being able to pay for an animal sacrifice
Why was secrecy so important to the Eleusinian mystery?
To keep the cult exclusive and to keep the fear factor when simulating death
What did Plutarch say concerning the Eleusinian mystery?
“The soul at death has the same experience as those initiated into the mysteries”
What was offered at the Mysteries that might be lacking in other cults? (3)
Revelation of death
Deals with the issue of the afterlife
A way to elevate status
Which statue may of been an initiate of the mysteries or Persephone?
Berlin Standing Goddess (570-560)
What defines Asclepius as a hero?
Trained by Chiron in the Iliad and heals wounded soldiers in the battle of Troy
What defines Asclepius as a God
Son of Apollo, ascended to Olympus after his death
Has the same epithet of Apollo ‘Paean’ (the healer)
Children of Asclepius
Hygieia-goddess of sanitation
Iaso- goddess of recuperation
Aceso-the goddess of healing
Aegle-the goddess of the glow of good health
Where were the two biggest sanctuaries to Asclepius
Epidauros and Kos
Why would Greeks visit the healing sanctuaries?
Some came to thank the gods for cures received while others came seeking a cure at the sanctuary
Why and when did the Athenians erect a new Asclepieon?
420 BC- a few years after a plague devastated the city of Athens
What was incubation
Sleeping in the stoa of the sanctuary or under the open sky until the individual had the required dream and was healed
Extra credit tablet: Asclepius
The Healing of Archinus at Oropos
370 BC
Asclepius healing Archinus
A man participating in incubation
How else could people be healed at the healing sanctuaries?
They could be operated on by the temple physicians or through prescribed medicine
The snakes of the gods venom were also considered healing
PRESCRIBED SOURCE: Tyche
4
Anatomical votive offering (leg)
Given by Tyche
Inscribed to Asclepius and Hygeia
Found on a shrine to Asclepius on the island of Melos
What did the Greeks blame when the healing failed? (2)
Human error
That they hadn’t prayed or given enough sacrifice/libations to the gods
Examples of healing inscriptions found in sanctuaries to Asclepius (2)
Cleo- pregnant for 5 years healed by incubation
Aristagora of Troezen- tapeworm/beheaded then healed by Asclepius in a dream
What might be the historical truth behind Cleo’s 5 year pregnancy?
A phantom pregnancy
Why were tablets displayed at sanctuaries?
To show others entering the sanctuary that the incubation treatment works?
What is an Oracle? (3)
The institution of an oracle
A person/item that gives a prophecy
The ocular vision
Which piece of epic text refers to the sanctuary of Zeus at Dodona
The Odyssey- Odysseus claimed to have gone to Dodona in order to hear Zeus will from the lofty oak
How did priestess at Dodona interpret the words of Zeus?
Through the rustling of leaves and
doves
What was an alternative method to receiving a prophecy through the priestesses?
Divination by lot
What were the most common questions asked by people at Dodona?
Travelling, family and which gods to pray to
What kind of people were more likely to go to Dodona and why?
Individuals- larger sanctities such as the one at Delphi were often meant for city states/kings (Delphi open 9 days a year)
Give examples examples of tablets found at Dodona (3)
Ariston- whether to sail to the colony of Syracuse at a later time
Paramenides- whether he’ll fare better at home
Kleanor- how many offspring he will have with his wife Gonthe
Who could go to Dodona?
Anyone- including women and slaves
How many tablets were found at Dodona?
Approximately 4,000
