myth lecture

1. THE ELEUSINIAN MYSTERIES AND THE AFTERLIFE
WHAT ARE THE RELIGIOUS RITUALS HELD IN HONOR OF DEMETER AND PERSEPHONE, THE
ELEUSINIAN MYSTERIES ABOUT?
WE WILL EXPLORE WHAT IS KNOWN ABOUT THE MYSTERIES AND THE PROMISE THEY
APPARENTLY EXTENDED FOR A HAPPY AFTERLIFE.
WE WILL LOOK AT THE CONTRASTING VIEW OF THE AFTERLIFE FOUND ELSEWHERE IN GREEK
MYTH AND RELIGION, LOOKING AT DEPICTION OF THE UNDERWORLD IN HOMER, AT SUGGESTIONS
OF REINCARNATION, AND AT THE MYTH OF ORPHEUS AND ITS ASSOCIATED CULT ORPHISM.

2. DEMETER’S VISIT TO ELEUSIS IS A CRUCIAL NARRATIVE
ELEMENT IN THE HOMERIC HYMN; IT ALSO HAS
CONNECTIONS TO THE RITUAL OUTSIDE THE STORYLINE
ELEUSIS IS A TOWN NEAR ATHENS, WHERE THE
GREAT “MYSTERIES” IN HONOR OF DEMETER AND
PERSEPHONE WERE CELEBRATED FOR OVER 1000
AND PERHAPS NEARLY 200 YEARS. THEY FELL
INTO DISUSE ABOUT 400 A.D.
“MYSTERIES” IN THIS CONTEXT MEANS “SECRETS”;
THE CEREMONIES WERE OPEN ONLY TO INITIATES.
THE INITIATES WERE FORBIDDEN TO TELL NON-INITIATES
ABOUT THE RITES.
INITIATION WAS AVAILABLE TO MEN AND WOMEN,
TO FREE PEOPLE AND TO SLAVES; THE ONLY
REQUIREMENTS WERE THAT ONE MUST NOT BE A
MURDERER AND THAT ONE MUST SPEAK GREEK.
ONE HAD TO MAKE THE JOURNEY TO ELEUSIS--AND
MAKE A SACRIFICE--TO BE INITIATED.

3. THE REQUIREMENT OF SECRECY MEANS THAT OUR KNOWLEDGE OF THE
MYSTERIES IS BOTH LIMITED AND QUITE PROBABLY BIASED.
ALTHOUGH CERTAINLY SOME INITIATES MUSH HAVE TOLD THE SECRET, THE
SURVIVING WRITTEN REFERENCES OBSERVE THE PROHIBITION. THEY ALLUDE TO
DETAILS OF THE MYSTERIES BUT DO NOT DESCRIBE THEM.
THE ONLY WRITERS WHO DO DESCRIBE THE MYSTERIES ARE EARLY CHRISTIAN
AUTHORS. BECAUSE THEY WROTE WITH THE DESIRE TO PROVE THE MYSTERIES
FALSE, THEIR TESTIMONY MAY NOT BE ACCURATE.

4. THE SOURCES SEEM TO AGREE THAT THE
HIGH POINT OF THE MYSTERIES WAS THE
SHOWING OR REVEALING OF SOMETHING
TO THE INITIATES.
SOME SOURCES IMPLY THAT WHATEVER
WAS REVEALED WAS OBSCENE.
OTHER SOURCES SAY THAT THE
REVELATION CONSISTED OF AN EAR O F
WHAT BEING CUT IN SILENCE.
ALTHOUGH THE DETAILS OF THE
MYSTERIES WILL PROBABLY REMAIN
UNKNOWN, WE KNOW ENOUGH TO
RECOGNIZE MANY DETAILS IN THE
HOMERIC HYMN AS AETIOLOGIES FOR
PARTS OF THE RITUAL OF THE MYSTERIES.

5. DEMETER’S VISIT TO ELEUSIS EXPLAINS WHY THE MYSTERIES ARE CELEBRATED
THERE.
ON A CONCEPTUAL LEVEL, THE CONNECTION WITH DEATH AND THE AFTERLIFE IS
AETIOLOGICAL, BECAUSE INITIATION PROMISED A HAPPY AFTERLIFE.
IF WE HAD MORE INFORMATION, WE MIGHT RECOGNIZE OTHER DETAILS AS
AETIOLOGICAL.
THE ELEUSINIAN MYSTERIES APPARENTLY PROMISED A HAPPY AFTERLIFE.
ELSEWHERE IN SURVIVING LITERATURE, WE FIND LESS PLEASANT VIEWS OF THE
AFTERLIFE.

6. THE STANDARD VIEW SEEMS TO BE THAT THE UNDERWORLD IS A PLACE OF DIM,
SHADOW EXISTENCE, MUCH LESS DESIRABLE THAT LIFE IN THIS WORLD.
THE GHOST IS SOMETIMES CALLED AN EIDOLON, OR ‘IMAGE’ ; IT IS LESS REAL
THAN THE LIVING PERSON.
THE WORD FOR SOUL, PSYCHE, ORIGINALLY SEEMS TO HAVE MEANT ‘BREATH’--
THAT WHICH VISIBLY LEAVE THE BODY AT THE TIME OF DEATH.
IN THE ODYSSEY, THE SPRITS IN TARTAROS ARE DESCRIBED AS BEING
WITLESS, NOT EVENING KNOWING THEMSELVES.

7. SOME EXCEPTIONALLY NOTEWORTHY
SOULS ARE PICKED OUT FOR REWARD OR
PUNISHMENT, BUT OVERALL THERE SEEMS
TO BE LITTLE SENSE THAT ONE’S STATE IN
THE AFTERLIFE WAS DETERMINED BY
ONE’S ACTIONS IN THIS LIFE.
THE CONCEPTION OF THE ELYSIAN FIELDS,
RESERVED FOR A VERY FEW ESPECIALLY
GOOD SOULS, IS ALLUDED TO IN THE
ODYSSEY AND ELSEWHERE.
THE IDEA OF PUNISHMENT FOR THE WICKED
IS MORE CLEARLY DEVELOPED, BUT EVEN
IT DOES NOT APPLY TO THE MAJORITY OF
HUMANITY; PUNISHMENT IS RESTRICTED
TO A FEW FAMOUS WRONGDOER’S, SUCH
AS THE “CARDINAL SINNERS” TANTALOS,
TITYOS, AND SISYPHUS.

8. WE ALSO HAVE SOME EVIDENCE OF A BELIEF IN REINCARNATION.
PYTHAGORAS (6TH B.C.) APPARENTLY TAUGHT A DOCTRINE THAT INCLUDED
REINCARNATION (ALONG WITH VEGETARIANISM).
PLATO DISCUSSES REINCARNATION IN THE SO-CALLED “MYTH OF ER” (IN THE
REPUBLIC).
ONE DIFFICULTY IN USING THIS AS EVIDENCE FOR 4TH CENTURY BELIEF IS THAT
PLATO MAY HAVE INVENTED THIS ‘MYTH’ FOR USE IN THE REPUBLIC.
ELSEWHERE, FOR INSTANCE IN THE APOLOGY OF SOCRATES, PLATO DESCRIBES
A VIEW OF THE AFTERLIFE THAT IS MUCH CLOSER TO THE TRADITIONAL ONE.
VIRGIL (1ST B.C.) COMBINED THE IDEAS OF REWARD AND PUNISHMENT AND THE
IDEA OF REINCARNATION IN BOOK VI OF THE AENEID. AS WITH PLATO, IT IS
DIFFICULT TO KNOW TO WHAT EXTENT THE IDEA WAS A LITERARY DEVICE AND TO
WHAT EXTENT IS MIRRORS ACTUAL BELIEF.

9. ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT MYTHS
CONCERNING THE AFTERLIFE IS THE MYTH
OF ORPHEUS AND EURYDICE. ORPHEUS, A
SON OF APOLLO AND ONE OF THE MUSES,
WAS THE GREATEST POET WHO EVER
LIVED.
ORPHEUS, A HUMAN, SUPPOSEDLY HAD
THE POWER TO CHARM ANIMALS AND
EVEN STONES AND TREES WITH HIS
MUSIC.
WHEN HIS WIFE EURYDICE DIED, ORPHEUS
MADE HIS WAY TO THE UNDERWORLD TO
PLEAD FOR HER RELEASE.
HIS MUSIC WAS SO MOVING THAT HADES
AND PERSEPHONE AGREED TO RELEASE
EURYDICE IF ORPHEUS NOT LOOK BACK AT
HER ON THE WAY OUT.
ORPHEUS DID LOOK BACK, AND
EURYDICE RETURNED TO TARTAROS.

10. THE PURELY MYTHICAL ORPHEUS WAS ASSOCIATED WITH A BODY OF WRITINGS AND A SET OF
RELIGIOUS BELIEFS CALLED “ORPHISM.”
ORPHISM BEGAN TO BE TAUGHT IN THE 6TH CENTURY B.C.
THE ORPHIC WRITING (FEW OF WHICH SURVIVE) SUPPOSEDLY CONTAIN KNOWLEDGE THAT
ORPHEUS GAINED WHILE IN THE UNDERWORLD.
REINCARNATION IS CENTRAL TO THE DOCTRINE;ONLY BY FOLLOWING THE TEACHINGS OF
ORPHEUS TO LEAD AN ASCETIC LIFE CAN THE SOUL EVENTUALLY BE FREED FORM REBIRTH. AS
IN BUDDHISM,INCARNATION IS A BAD THING FROM WHICH ONE SEEKS RELEASE.
SOME ORPHIC WRITINGS CONTAINED PRECISE INSTRUCTIONS ABOUT WHAT ONE SHOULD SAY
AND DO IN THE UNDERWORLD TO AVOID REINCARNATION.
THUS, ORPHISM, LIKE THE ELEUSINIAN MYSTERIES, HELD OUT THE PROMISE OF A HAPPY, OR AT
LEAST HAPPIER, AFTERLIFE.
NO ORTHODOXY ABOUT THE AFTERLIFE EXISTS. IT WAS GENERALLY CONSIDERED BOTH LESS
IMPORTANT AND LESS PLEASANT THAN THIS LIFE. GREEK MYTHOLOGY CONTAINS NO
AETIOLOGY FOR DEATH THROUGH, FOR EXAMPLE, HUMAN SIN OR MISTAKE.