Boedromion 23: The final events at Eleusis included the rite of the Plemochoai, top-shaped vases, which were tipped over, one toward the east, the other toward the west, just about at sunset, to pour a libation down into the earth, perhaps into a chasm (See Athenaios 11.496.) It was probably also on this last day, and perhaps as part of the same ritual, that “looking up to the sky they cried `Rain!’ and looking down at the earth they cried... Read more
Boedromion 22 The central event in the Mysteries is the night-long ritual in the Telesterion, the Hall of Initiation. The initiates stand on raised steps around the edges of the Telesterion, and see and hear something like a ritual drama. (That the rituals lasted all night is stated by Clinton, p. 38, citing I.G. II2, 3639; see also Greek Anthology, XI, Epigram 42.) As Plutarch (Moralia, 81d-e) describes, “Just as persons who are being initiated into the Mysteries throng together... Read more
On the day of the 20th and on through the 21st, the mustai are taken blindfolded through a series of purifications and consecrations, one at a time. Each has a guide who had been initiated in a preceding year (referred to by Plutarch, Moralia, 765A), who could now see the procedures and so becomes an Epopt, “witness.” Candidates are seated on a low throne, with left foot on a fleece, veiled and holding a torch, with a priestess holding a winnowing... Read more
At sunset, when the next day begins, torches are lit, and because the Greeks used a 7/8 rhythm (or something similar) for a procession, it turns into a torchlit dance. They proceed not directly into Eleusis, but instead down to the beach, where there is a ritual concerning Aphrodite. (Perhaps this is where the scene of her rising from the sea belongs. Anyway, this is why at this point in our NROOGD Commemoration, we have the Priestess of Demeter take... Read more
Early in the day the mustai, the Eleusinian officials, and all others gather in the main square of Athens, all wearing myrtle wreaths and white robes or other special garb. The priests and priestesses wear red or purple cloaks, and the Hierophant and Dadouches wear a strophion (a twisted piece of cloth, worn like a sash) and have long hair. The statue of Iakkhos (in late classical times thought to be Dionysos as an infant) is brought from the Iakkhaion,... Read more
The mustai remain indoors, preparing the Kykeon, “mixture,” a tea of barley and mint, and baking pastries, probably in the shapes associated with fertility. Outdoors, the uninitiated engage in a procession honoring Asklepios and pour libations to Dionysos. (Aristotle, Athenian Constitution, 56.4; Philostratus, Life of Apollonius, 4.18.) Passages about Mary Magdalene Here I’m going to post some of the most interesting passages about Mary, in order to later use them in a more detailed essay about her actual role in... Read more
Boedromion 17: A sow is officially sacrificed to the Two Goddesses in their temple in Athens. Each initiate sacrifices a sheep, whose fleece is needed for the initiation, as well as the purified piglet. (On all this see Aelian, Animals, 10,16; and Aristophanes, Peace, 373-5). %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% “The Wedding Guests” was the musical comedy that I wrote as my Ph.D. dissertation at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California, finishing up in 1980. It incorporated some songs from the script for the... Read more
Boedromion 16, the sixth day of Full Moon and the second day of the Mysreries, begins at sunset tonight. Note, when we get there, that the full initiation takes place on days 10 and 9 of the Waning Moon (these days were counted down), since chthonian deities, such as Hades, Persephone, and Hekate, were worshipped during the Waning Moon. Today is also the Synoekia, a sacrifice of two oxen to Zeus Phratrios and Athena Phratria, “of the clans.” On this... Read more
Professor Robert Mattheisen has again sent me a link concerning the controversy about the papyrus fragment now labeled “The Gospel of Jesus’ Wife.” This link is to a paper by a Finnish professor demonstrating that Professor Watson’s analysis of the fragment is not logically tenable and that the fragment could be authentic. So enjoy. Please be aware that this sort of argument is the equivalent of Fantasy Football for us ivy-covered intellectuals. http://blue.butler.edu/~jfmcgrat/GJW/Another%20Fake%20Or%20Just%20a%20Problem%20of%20Method%20by%20Timo%20S.%20Paananen.pdf In the meantime, since I have a... Read more
Today preparations for the Eleusinian Mysteries begin. A troop of epheboi, essentially an honor guard of teenage boys, perhaps having been purified at the Nekusia, in their “customary dress,” marches from Athens to Eleusis. Yesterday, after my enthusiastic note about Professor Karen King’s new parchment fragment, which has already been dubbed “The Gospel of Jesus’ Wife,” my friend and colleague Bob Mattheisen at Brown sent me links (available here: http://ntweblog.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/francis-watson-addendum-end-of-line.html) to the excellent scholarship on the subject done immediately by... Read more
Aidan Kelly: Including Paganism
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