This week's term to learn was a geographical toss-up. Do I work on Argolid, which a forum poster describes in a lengthy essay on Moses, Hermes, Prometheus, and Io, or do I write about the home of the Eleusinian Mysteries, Chapter II of a soon-to-be-released book I'm reading on mystery cults? It was a close call. Not until the hyphen after "learn" did I decide. If you'd rather read about Argolis and more, you are welcome to read the essay, The Hebrew Origin of Greek Mythology and comment.
Eleusis is almost 14 miles west of Athens and has been occupied since the Bronze Age, but it was abandoned around 1200 B.C. only to be reoccupied in the 8th century B.C., according to Hugh Bowden, in Mystery Cults of the Ancient World (PUP: April 2010). Athens incorporated Eleusis into Attica in the 7th century. The Concise Oxford Companion to Classical Literature says after Athens and Piraeus, Eleusis was the most important town in Attica. It adds that the myths about Erechtheus may deal with the conquest of Eleusis by Athens. After the Peloponnesian War, Eleusis was temporarily separated off by the 30 Tyrants. Later, it became part of the Roman Empire. It was sacked in A.D. 395 by Alaric and the Goths.
Eleusis is the place where Demeter worked as a nurse when she was still mourning over her missing daughter (Persephone/Kore). She tried to make her charge, Demophoon, immortal by tempering him in a fire, but was caught in the act by his distraught mother, Metaneira. Enraged by the intrusion, Demeter told the people of Eleusis to build her a temple and to perform rites she would show in order to appease her. These are the secret rites of the Eleusinian mysteries.
More on Eleusis and Demeter: The Homeric Hymn to Demeter.
Comments
NS,
You wrote, “She tried to make her charge, Demophoon, immortal by tempering him in a fire.” Nice turn of a phrase and great way to explain what Demeter was trying to do.
Bill