e initiation ceremonies and the entire initiation process were very important to members of the mystery cults. “By initiation into the mysteries of Demeter the Earth-mother and her daughter Persephone (Kore), their worshippers believed that they could be actually adopted into the family of the gods, and by this adoption secure for themselves not mere survival-but a far better and happier fate in the life to come” (Guthrie 197). All classes, including slaves, were admitted into the Eleusinian mystery cults. However, a distinction was made according to participation between the initiates (mustes) and the fully initiated viewers (epoptes). The initiation ceremonies were divided into two sections: 1) Lesser Mysteries, 2) Greater Mysteries. The Lesser Mysteries at Agrai took place annually in February and were regarded as a preliminary stage leading to the Greater Mysteries held at Eleusis in September. The initiation ceremonies were always directed by a hierophant, who from time immemorial had been a member of the Eumolpides, a noble family that had held the kingship of old, and the Kerukes family filled the other offices (Encyclopedia of Religion Vol. #10 pg. 233). “Sacrifices, libations, baths, ablutions, fasts, processions (especially bringing the “holy things,” the cult symbols, to Eleusis), and torches all played an important role in both feasts. The center of all activity was the ceremony that was not public” (Encyclopedia of Religion Vol. #10 pg. 233). These “secret” ceremonies were held in a place of consecration known as the telesterion. “The main Eleusinian practices involved two steps-purification and revelation, the ritualistic sea-bathing by boys undergoing initiation and the dramatic exhibition in a dark room of the sacred grain stalk in a flash of light” (Wheelwright 201). The Pythagoreans initiated in much the same way as the Eleusinian initiates did. T...
