Reproduced by permission of the Encyclopædia Britannica. PLAN OF THE SACRED BUILDINGS OF ELEUSIS. 1. Temple of Artemis Propylæa. 2. Outer Propylæon. 3. Inner Propylæon. 4. Temple of Demeter. 5. Outer Enclosure of the Sacred Buildings. 6. Inner Enclosure....

At one time the Mysteries of the various nations were the only vehicle of religion throughout the world, and it is not impossible that the very name of religion might have become obsolete but for the support of the periodical celebrations which preserved all the forms and ceremonials, rites and practices of sacred worship. With regard to the connection, supposed or real, between Freemasonry and the Mysteries, it is a remarkable coincidence that there is scarcely a single ceremony in the former t

Few aspects of the history of the human spirit are more fascinating than the story of the Mysteries of antiquity, one chapter of which is told in the following pages with accuracy, insight, and charm. Like all human institutions, they had their foundation in a real need, to which they ministered by dramatizing the faiths and hopes and longings of humanity, and evoking that eternal mysticism which is at once the joy and solace of man as he marches or creeps or crowds through the welter of doubts,

The legend which formed the basis of the Mysteries of Eleusis, presence at and participation in which demanded an elaborate form or ceremony of initiation, was as follows:— Persephone (sometimes described as Proserpine and as Cora or Kore), when gathering flowers, was abducted by Pluto, the god of Hades, and carried off by him to his gloomy abode; Zeus, the brother of Pluto and the father of Persephone, giving his consent. Demeter (or Ceres), her mother, arrived too late to assist her child, or

The Eleusinian Mysteries, observed by nearly all Greeks, but particularly by the Athenians, were celebrated yearly at Eleusis, though in the earlier annals of their history they were celebrated once in every three years only, and once in every four years by the Celeans, Cretans, Parrhasians, Pheneteans, Phliasians, and Spartans. It was the most celebrated of all the religious ceremonies of Greece at any period of the country's history, and was regarded as of such importance that the Festival is

The following is the programme of the "Greater Mysteries," which extended over a period of ten days. The various functions were characterized by the greatest possible solemnity and decorum, and the ceremonies were regarded as "religious" in the highest interpretation of that term. FIRST DAY.—The first day was known as the "Gathering," or the "Assembly," when all who had passed through the Lesser Mysteries assembled to assist in the celebration of the Greater Mysteries. On this day the Archon Bas

Two important facts must be set down with regard to the Mysteries: first, the general custom of all Athenian citizens, and afterwards of all Greeks generally, and eventually of many foreigners, to seek admission into the Eleusinian Mysteries in the only possible manner—viz. by initiation; and, second, the scrupulous care exercised by the Eumolpides to ensure that only persons duly qualified, of irreproachable—or, at any rate, of circumspect, character passed the portals. In the earlier days of t

Life, as we know it, was looked upon by the ancient philosophers as death. Plato considered the body as the sepulchre of the soul, and in the Cratylus acquiesces in the doctrine of Orpheus that the soul is punished through its union with the body. Empedocles, lamenting his connection with this corporeal world, pathetically exclaimed:— For this I weep, for this indulge my woe, That e'er my soul such novel realms should know. He also calls this material abode, or the realms of generation, a joyles

Andocides. De Mysteriis. Antiquities of Ionia. Apollodorus. Aristides. Aristophanes. Aristotle. Nico. Ethics. Arnobius. Disputationes adversus Gentes. Barthelemy. Voyage du Jeune Anacharsis en Grèce. Blackwood's Magazine , 1853. Chandler. Travels in Greece. Cheetham, S. Mysteries, Pagan and Christian. Cicero. Clement of Alexandria. Contemporary Review ,1880. Cornutus. Theologies Græca Compendium. Corpus inscript. Attic. Corpus inscript. Gr. d'Aliviella. Eleusinia. Decharme. Mythologie de la Grèc