Epiphany in the Eleusinian Mysteries

Author(s): KEVIN CLINTON

Source: Illinois Classical Studies, Vol. 29, Divine Epiphanies in the Ancient World (2004), pp.
85-109
Published by: University of Illinois Press
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 5

Epiphany in the Eleusinian Mysteries

KEVIN CLINTON

In the secret part of the Eleusinian Mysteries the initiates beheld

extraordinary light that they would never forget for the rest of their liv
What else they saw is the subject of modern controversy. The prie
responsible for their extraordinary vision was the hierophantes.

I. 'kpoc <5aiv€iv

The hierophant's task was of course lepa halvav, which could mean
show sacred objects" or "to make the sacred appear." In the latter case h
did more than show sacred objects, i.e. made gods appear in addition
objects, or perhaps was mainly associated with an appearance of the god
Making gods appear was a feature of the Mysteries; it is attested perha
most clearly for the Mysteries at Andania, where the local sacred l
implies the appearance of goddesses, in mentioning that some of the H
Women were dressed as goddesses:1
öoa<;> õe 6iaoKei)a(eo0ai ei.; 0€wv õidOeoiv, exovtu xõv eluaiio^iõi'
Ka0' o äv oi Upol õiam^outL.
Those women who must be dressed for the representation of gods are to
have the dress that the Sacred Men prescribe.

At Andania it was presumably the hierophantes who was responsible fo

the showing of the goddesses.
Lobeck in his Aglaophamus was so confident that lepa (jmvciv
indicated only the display of luminous statues (lepa <j)aa|iaTa) that
concluded that the Hiera that Alcibiades showed to his friends in his famo
parody of the Mysteria were not sacred objects: Alcibiades merely imitat
the "dress and performance (häbitum gestumque)" of the hierophan
Aglaophamus was published in 1829. However, a decree found toward th
end of the nineteenth century, from the year 422 B.C.E., concerning a bri
over the Rheitos on the Sacred Way to Eleusis, contained the informati

1 Sokolowski 1969: no. 65.24-25; on its interpretation, Sauppe 1860:231, adloc.

2 Lobeck 1829: 48-62.

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86 Illinois Classical Studies 29 (2004)

that during the procession to Eleusis "priestesses carried the sacred o

across the bridge (IG I3 81.5-14):

töv 'Petõv töv mxpa tõ a

ot(o<; ye^upõoai . . hoq a
v Ta hiepa 4>epooiu hai hifpeai a
0<|>aA.60TaT(x. trXdvot; 6k holovtov
irtvtenoõa, hiva [i€ hap.axoai 6le
ÄauvovToa äXla vole; lõoii* ei fia
6i(ev enl ta hispa.

They are to build a bridge across the Rheitos which is next to the City
so that the priestesses may carry the sacred things most safely. They are
make it five feet in width so that wagons may not cross it but that it ma
be possible for those in the procession to walk behind the sacred things.

The bridge was to be built in such a way that the priestesses and
following them could cross it only by walking. There were only
significant priestesses of the Mysteries—the priestess of Demeter an
and the two hierophantides? Given the plurality, the priestesses men
here who carry the sacred objects must include the hierophantides. T
titles of these two priestesses were: hierophantis of the Elder Godd
hierophantis of the Younger Goddess. We actually have images
hierophantides, namely statues (Figure 1) that were set up in the Pro
dedicated by Appius Claudius Pulcher around 50 B.C.E., now known
Lesser Propylaea. Olga Palagia has shown that the dress of these wo
which is paralleled in the dress of priestesses, is also found on godd
The fact that these women carry kistai, which contained the sacred
suggests that they are the same priestesses who are referred to in the
Decree, and their duality of course implies that they are the hieropha
At any rate, as Paul Foucart pointed out from the information in the
Decree, namely the fact that the priestesses carrying the sacred objec
across the bridge, we can infer that the sacred objects that they carr
not include full-scale statues in stone or metal.5 This is confirmed
images of the priestesses with kistai. Nilsson thought that the
hierophantides might be a Hellenistic invention.6 But a highly probable
restoration in a law dated ca. 460 B.C.E. informs us that they are in fact
early (IG I3 6.C [= I. Eleusis 19]):7

5 [ ] dpoXJov irocpa t]

3 Clinton 1974: 68-76, 86-88.

4 Palagia 1997.
5Foucart 1914:410-11.
6 Nilsson 1961: 349.
7 I. Eleusis refers to my forthcoming edition of the Eleusinian inscriptions.

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 Kevin Clinton

[õ hÜcjto heKaot]o : hieploijxnm]

[õe Aappävev he]piopf[Xiou hf]
[KaT]€pav [napa t]ö puoto [he]Ka[a]
[to'] -rev hiep[€a]v zkv Ae^ietpoi;
10 [A.]a^[P]aytv ny[0i]epL0L<; i[oJi<; o
[A.]€(oolv irapa [xõ h]uoto h[6K]ao
[t]o 6poA.õv Kai [xot<; p]eif[oaiv]
[nJuatepLOi? o[poA.öv irapä tõ |i]
[üo]to heicäoTq'

... an obol from each initiate. The two hierophantides are to receive each
of them a half obol from each initiate. The priestess of Demeter is to
receive at the Lesser Mysteries an obol from each initiate and at the
Greater Mysteries an obol from each initiate.

At any rate, if the "sacred things" included full-scale statues, the

statues must have remained at Eleusis.
With regard to what the hierophantides did at Eleusis we have a
precious clue in an honorary verse inscription of the imperial period. It
concerns the hierophantis Publia Aelia Herennia, who served around the
end of the second century C.E. (IG IP 3764):
il teXeta? dve^aive ©eoiv irap' avaKTopa Ar|oOg.

She who revealed the leletai of the Two Goddesses beside the Anaktora of
Demeter.

Before evaluating it we need to know what the Anaktoron was.

II. Anaktoron

It is unnecessary to review here all the testimonia concerning the Anaktoron

that are treated in my monograph Myth and Cult, where I concluded,
following Deubner, that the term "Anaktoron" signified the entire building
in which the sacred rites took place, i.e. the Telesterion.8 "Anaktoron" is a
common enough word for "temple," and the Telesterion (this term is
attested for Eleusis only in Plutarch but never in inscriptions) was in fact
occasionally called a "temple" in Athenian documents of the Classical
period.9 There is not a single unambiguous reference in a sound text to
"Anaktoron" as meaning "interior structure" or "inner sanctum," at Eleusis
or anywhere else.10 In fact, there are several unambiguous passages in

8 Clinton 1992: 126-32; Deubner 1932: 87-90; Deubner 1948.

9/GI3 79.8; 386.103 (=387.113).
10 Burkert 1983: 276 n. 8, argues that it can indicate either an inner sanctum or the entire
building, depending on the context, but such a range of meaning is otherwise unparalleled for
this word.

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88 Illinois Classical Studies 29 (2004)

which "Anaktoron" indicates the entire Telesterion.11 The Anaktoron of the

Samothracian Mysteries, the most famous mystery cult after the Eleusinian,
has always been regarded by modern scholars as a building; no one to my
knowledge has argued that it was an inner sanctum. It is now clear that it
should be the Hall of the Choral Dancers.12

III. Performance of the Hierophantides

The hierophantides, as we have seen, revealed the teletai beside the

Anaktora of Demeter. Unlike the hierophantes each of them is attached to a
single god: their full titles are the hierophantis of the Elder Goddess and the
hierophantis of the Younger Goddess. In view of the fact that their statues
show them suitably dressed to impersonate goddesses, presumably each
played the role of the goddess she served. They engaged in a dramatic
display, not within but "next to" the Telesterion (the interior with its
numerous columns was hardly a suitable place for theatrical performance).
Theirs was presumably a rather restricted drama, a celebration of the Return
of Kore from the time she approached Demeter sitting on the Mirthless
Rock.13 This drama would have begun within the precinct of the Mirthless
Rock. Then, as they in their divine guise would have walked together in the
dark from the precinct up the processional path to the Telesterion (trap'
dvctKTopa), accompanied presumably by Eubouleus (in the person of the
Dadouchos), the reunited goddesses could be seen by epoptai ("viewers")
outside the Telesterion, but not by the mystai ("blinded ones") until their
blindfolds were removed.14

" Sourvinou-Inwood 2003: 46 n. 14, disputes this interpretation, and takes these references
as metonymies, the part standing for the whole, but this is very unlikely in some cases. See
especially the passages in Sopater discussed below, which refer to initiates entering the
Anaktoron and cannot be understood as metonymies. This is not the place to discuss fully
Sourvinou-Inwood's objections (nor did I have an opportunity in Clinton 2003); suffice it to
say that the full range of evidence given in my discussion (Clinton 1992: 126-32) weighs
heavily against it. A fundamental flaw in her discussion of the problem is her insistence that
the "revelation of the teletai would have taken place within the Telesterion." We do not know
for a fact that it occurred there in its entirety. It certainly took place within the sanctuary, and if
the evidence suggests that it did not take place entirely within the Telesterion, then we must
follow the evidence and not a modem assumption.
12 For a description of the building, see Lehmann 1998: 73-78; on its name and function,
ibid. 35, and Clinton 2003: 61-62; it is not to be confused with the building formerly called
"Anaktoron," which must have had a different name and function.
13 For a hypothetical reconstruction, see Clinton 1992: 87-89.
14 On blindfoding the initiates, see Clinton 1992: 86; idem 2003: 50. Precisely when the
blindfolds of the mystai were removed we cannot know, but presumably at some moment
before they entered the Anaktoron, at which point they too may have watched Demeter and
Kore enter the building.

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 Kevin Clinton 89

IV. The Hierophantes and Triptolemus

In the sacred drama this reconstruction would account for the roles of
Demeter, Kore, and Eubouleus, played respectively by the Hierophantis of
the Elder Goddess, the Hierophantis of the Younger Goddess, and the
Dadouchos. In art Eubouleus is often paired with Triptolemus, and we see
both deities present in many scenes in which Kore is reunited with
Demeter; this fact led me in 1992 to suggest that Triptolemus must also
have been represented in the Mysteries, though it was not clear which priest
would have represented him.15 A recently published epigram of Posidippus
now provides more information:"
iiA.0€v eir' ebot(3f(jy NiKOOTpaTT) Upä nuqicõv
öpyLDC Kai KaGapõv nyp enl TpiirToA.€[nou.

Nikostrate went to the sacred rites of reverent initiates17 and the pure fire
ofTriptolemos.

The "fire" of the Mysteries is primarily associated with the hierophantes

(see below), and this urges us to consider whether the hierophantes could
have played the role of Triptolemus. As a torchbearer it would have been
natural for the Dadouchos to represent Eubouleus. In theory it would not
seem inappropriate for a scepter-bearing priest such as the hierophantes to
represent the royal Triptolemus who in art is often depicted holding a
scepter, and in local myth, with Eubouleus, informed Demeter of the
whereabouts of Kore.18 Triptolemus, as is well known, announced the
Mysteries to the world; the scepter-bearing hierophantes introduced them to
the initiates: opyia iräaiv ecfxuve Ppoiolq.19 In myth Triptolemus too
showed (eõei^e) the secret rites to mythical initiates, Heracles and the
Dioscuri, as the dadouchos Callias mentioned in a speech to the Spartans
(Xen., Hell. 6. 3.2-6):
ÖLKaiov fiev oijy fli> |j.r|6e önXa 6Hi4>€p6iv aXl^Xon r|(iäc, euel XcyeTai
p.ev TpLTiToXfuoq õ ^||i€Tepo5 npöyovoi; ta Aiyr)Tpo<; Kai Kopric apprjta
Upä irputou; ijevoK; 6et£ai 'HpaK^et te tü üpetepa) apxtiyerr) Kai
AiooKoüpoiv Tolv uneTcpoii' itoKraiv, Kai töö Aipritpoi; Õ€ KaplTOÖ elq
upoSxriu tt[v ne^oiTÖvwioov oireppa öup-poaoGai..

So it was justified that we should not bear arms against each other, since it
is said that Triptoiemus our ancestor showed the secret rites of Demeter

15 Clinton 1992:89.
16 Bastianini and Galazzi 2001: col. VII. 14—15.
17 The editors, p. 160, considered this translation, but were reluctant to take eiioepaov with
yen tõy and assumed an omitted noun, such as x"P0c; they did not note that euoepifc is a
common epithet of initiates in Samothrace and elsewhere; IG XII.8 173-78,184,186, etc.
18 Paus. 1.14. 3 (= Kern, Orph.frag. 51); Richardson 1974: 81-82.
19 See further below in section V.

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 90 Illinois Classical Studies 29 (2004)

and Kore to foreigners first to Heracles your archegete and to the Dioscuri
your citizens, and gave the gift of the produce of Demeter first to the
Peloponnese.

Considering this mythic role of Triptolemus, his iconography, and the

association of him with the "fire" of Eleusis, it would not be surprising if
the hierophantes at some point in the Mysteries played the role of this royal
figure.20

V. The Hierophantes and the Anaktoron

The hierophant's emergence from the Anaktoron at a climactic point was

seen as such an important moment of his activity that it became emblematic
of his priesthood, as is evident in honorary epigrams, such as this one in
honor of the hierophantes Apollonius of the early third century C.E. (IG II2
3811 [=/. Eleusis 637]):
ü5 liüotai., totc eiõei' waKTÖpou €K irpo^auevia
vvQv kv dpyevvatc, uöv 5e ...

"O Initiates, you saw me then appearing from the Anaktoron in the bright
nights, but now..."

Another important act performed by this hierophantes involved his voice,

heard coming forth from the Anaktoron. Philostratus, in describing the
various offices, political and religious, that Apollonius held during his
lifetime, does not call Apollonius a hierophantes; he refers to his priesthood
with a periphrasis, "the voice(s) from the Anaktoron," tag avaKtopou
<t>wva<; (VS 103). A melodious singing voice was an important qualification
for a hierophant, as we know also from other evidence.21 But what is
striking in this passage of Philostratus is that "the voice from the
Anaktoron" was such a central act that it was synonymous with the office of
hierophant.
The other central act of Apollonius—appearing out of the Anaktoron—
recurs in a poetic title of a hierophantes who served a few years later,
Glaukos, "the hierophantes from the radiant Anaktoron" (IG II2 3709 [= I.
Eleusis 659]): t(3 au' aly^evTog ccyctKtõpou lepocj)[avTr|]. In another
epigram this hierophant's role is described in more general terms (IG II2
3661 [=7. Eleusis 646]):
opyia maiv glaive ppotot? <j)aeoi|iPpoTO ArpOi;.

He revealed to all mankind the rites of Deo that bring light to mortals.

20 I was therefore too hasty in Clinton 1994: 171 n. 29, in denying a hierophantic role to
Triptolemus. The connection of the hierophant and Triptolemus I hope to examine more
closely in a future publication.
21 Clinton 1974:46.

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 Kevin Clinton 91

Note that he revealed the rites; he was not limited to revealing objects.

Singing within the Anaktoron, being heard by initiates outside the

Anaktoron, and emerging from the Anaktoron were, it is clear, central ritual
acts of the hierophantes.
All this is hard to reconcile with possible emergence from the inner
structure that was excavated within the Telesterion and often identified in
modern scholarship as the Anaktoron.22 The structure is not centrally
located. As is clear from Travlos' reconstruction (Figures 2-3), if a priest
emerged from this structure, he would not be seen, at the moment he
emerged, by the vast majority of the people in the building: both the
structure and the columns would block their view. This problem does not
exist, on the other hand, if the Anaktoron, as in Samothrace and elsewhere,
was the entire building, i.e. if the hierophantes emerged from one of the
doors of the building and appeared to the assembled initiates in the court
next to the building, announcing that Kore has returned and giving them the
signal to enter the building, now blazing with an extraordinary light.
This activity of the hierophant, illustrated in the epigrams and in
Philostratus, namely singing within the Telesterion so clearly that he could
be heard (by initiates) outside and emerging from the Telesterion in a bright
light, is given more of a context by a passage of Plutarch, De prof. virt.
81D-E:

õSonep yap oi te Ao uneven Kat' äp^ct; jiev kv OopuPca Kai fSofj auinaoi
irpõg aXX^Xoui; toGou^ei/oi, öpconevcoi1 6c Kai õeiKvuncwjv xü>v Upüv
TTpoacxouaiv f^ÕTi (Jem 4>6pou Kai oicoirf}?, oikco Kai 4>iXooo(t)iaq tv apxrj
Kai TT€pl Güpat; tioä.üv Göpupov öv)/6L Kai XaXmv kai Öpaauxrixa,
(j0ou|^6vcof npõe tt)v halav eviuv aypoiKtoc te Kai (kaiuc o 6' cvxoc,
yey6p.«yoc Kai \iiya <t>w<; töuv, olov avaKtöpcov dvoiyo^evoji', txtpov
Aapwv oxf|(ia Kai okoht)v Kai Säjxpog woirep 0ecp x(J Xoyw Taueiyöc;
OUV61T6Tai Kai K6KOOHr)H€VOi;.

Just as initiands at first push against one another noisily and shout, but
when the sacred matters are enacted and displayed, pay attention,
awestruck and in silence, so too at the very entrance to philosophy you
will notice considerable noise and bold conversation, as some push rudely
and forcefully toward repute, but once inside (i.e. gaining mastery [of
philosophy]) and beholding a great light, just as when the Anaktoron is
opened, one adopts a different attitude, silence and awe, and with humility
and control follows the argument as if a god.

The simile, comparing initiation in the Mysteria to initiation in philsophy,

illustrates the eagerness of the initiates as they impatiently await the

22Travlos 1951.

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92 Illinois Classical Studies 29 (2004)

revelation, which occurs when the Anaktoron (Telesterion) is opened.23 The

elements of the simile that apply specifically to initiates are:24

Just as initiands at first push against one another noisily and shout, but
when the sacred matters are enacted and displayed, pay attention,
awestruck and in silence, ... and beholding a great light, just as when the
Anaktoron is opened, one adopts a different attitude, silence and awe...

Sopater the rhetor mentions the process of entering the Anaktoron in

the instructions he gives for writing a speech in defense of a man accused of
impiety. This man's alleged impiety consisted in nodding affirmatively
when asked by someone whether an initiation he experienced in a dream
corresponded to the real thing. At one point in these instructions Sopater
compares actual initiation with the initiation experienced in the dream, and
maintains that the dream must have come from Demeter and Kore:

T)näg [J.6V yap lepo<j>dvTT|<; a^a Kai õaõoüxoi; doio tcSv avaKTÖpcov
tlOTiYaye- toutovl öe xf|g ae\ivf\c, airoAaOooa xauTTpl teXstfii; Armriirip
Kai Kopr) napaoK€UCt(ouor

The hierophantes and the dadouchos together led us inside the Anaktoron,
but in the case of this man Demeter and Kore arrange to have him
experience this solemn telete,25

Leading the initiates within the Anaktoron of course is impossible to

reconcile with the notion that the Anaktoron is an inner sanctum: it would
have been physically impossible for the hierophantes and dadouchos to
lead all the initiates ("us") within that structure, nor would it make any
sense to bring hundreds of initiates within that diminutive structure even in
small groups. Sopater gives the interesting additional piece of information
that both the hierophantes and dadouchos led the initiates within the
building, whereas the epigrams quoted above concerning hierophants
naturally tell us only about the actions of the hierophantes. At another point
the rhetor tells us about the feelings of an initiate after viewing the telete
and leaving the Anaktoron:

aAV soomai 6ia rr)i> TeA.€Tr]v irpoi; maw apetriv etOLHOTaTO?- 4itel ouv
dou twv auaKiopuw yeyfitmaL, Kai [iuotrig uv Upo4>äi'Tr|i' afia Kai
õaSoGxov TC0Ea(iai, Kai tt]v T€XeTT)v 4k€IVT|V elõov, r|V ot (i6(iur||a.fyoi
navree fTiioxaoÖe, ktfew Cnro tcjv ai/aKtoptov en' lnautQ E,tvi(6\xtvo<;...

On account of the telete I will be most disposed toward every virtue. After
I came inside the Anaktoron, and as an initiate I gazed upon both the

23 Full discussion and interpretation in Clinton 1992: 129-30, no. 9.

24 This passage is sometimes taken to mean that the Anaktoron was opened after the
initiates were inside, but the present participle dfoiyoneviov does not provide such specificity.
The initiates get inside and see the great light as the Anaktoron is opened.
25 Auupeoic Ziyntyufcui', 121.24-27, ed.Walz.

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 Kevin Clinton 93

hierophantes and dadouchos and saw that telete which all you initiates
know, I exited from the Anaktoron surprised at myself...26

According to Plutarch, the initiates, when the Anaktoron is opened and

upon entering, see a (icya cficõc (De prof. virt. 8IE, quoted above). In the
treatise On the Soul, fr. 178 (Greek text below in section IX), he speaks of
an "extraordinary light":
But then one encounters an extraordinary light (<t>ok; tl
Gccundaiov), and pure regions and meadows offer welcome, with
voices and dances and majesties of sacred sounds and holy
sights (cj)dofiaTa ayia).

Bright light must have flooded the interior of the building, and blazed forth
when the doors were opened. Of course Plutarch's description is generic for
mystery cults and is not specific to Eleusis. We now know that also at
Samothrace light was a very important element in the Mysteries.27 The light
at Eleusis was sometimes likened to the sun. On a statue base, an initiate
proclaims that she will never forget the "nights shining with the beauty of
the sun" (IG II2 4058 [= /. Eleusis 399]):
lora
|i€0' dvxiÖDpoi
Ar|oOq Kai Koüpri; õaiõt|(|)6
10 põu, ouöe vüktsi;
[J.r|]oowi' f|€Xiou K<xM[et]
[A.a]^irofi€vai.

VI. The Structure within the Anaktoron

Now, if all this light emanated from the interior structure that Travlos cal
the Anaktoron (Figure 3),28 a single door in this structure would not
sufficient to create a jxeya 4>c3<; that shone like the sun. For enough light
escape in order to create this effect, a door on each side of this struct
would be needed, as Otto Rubensohn recognized.29 In fact, these openi
would have to have been quite wide. And the fire within the structure w
have to have been extremely bright and intense in order to illumin
brightly the entire building, as Rubensohn correctly assumed. The inter

26 Op. eit., 114. 23-28-115.1; cf. Innes and Winterbottom 1988: 95; Burkert 1987
translates the final phrase more aptly, "feeling like a stranger to myself."
27 The light in the Samothracian Mysteries is attested in an inscription published
Karadima-Matsa and Dimitrova 2003. This light undoubtedly occurred in the Anaktoron th
the building formerly called "Temenos," now labeled "Hall of the Choral Dancers"; se
discussion of the building in Clinton 2003:61.
28 Travlos 1951.
29Rubensohn 1955:43.

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94 Illinois Classical Studies 29 (2004)

space within the structure measures only ca. 42 m.2 (3.5 x 12 m.), and the
entire interior space of the Telesterion is ca. 2601 m.2 (or 51 m. on a side).
The area of the structure is less than 2% (ca. 1.6%) of the area of the
Telesterion; if we estimate the volumes, then the inner structure will
amount to an even smaller fraction. An enormous light would be required
from within the structure to make the building blaze with light. As
Rubensohn described it:

Wir kommen dem wirklichen Geschehen wohl näher, wenn wir im

Anaktoron eine Feuerstätte, etwa eine koxia, errichtet annehmen, auf der
aufgeschichtet leicht aufloderndes Brennmaterial, gewonnen meist von
stark harzhaltigen Bäumen, neÖKai oder ttlxu«c und Reisigbündel,
KA.Ti|i.aTiÕ€c, schnell zu grosser Feuerwirkung entflammt werden konnte.30

This scenario is surely correct if the interior structure is identified as the

Anaktoron. Consider the situation, however, if Rubensohn's scenario
actually took place, with the interior of the "Anaktoron" turning into a
raging Feuerstätte which was supposed to flood the building with a light
shining like the sun. The hierophantes emerging "from the radiant
Anaktoron" would actually be rushing from an inferno. His voice, the
characteristic ki, awcKtopou cjjcovod, would be not the melodious song for
which the hierophantes was famous but rather screams of pain. Nor would
any initiate wish to enter such an inferno.
Let us consider the remains of the interior structure. Travlos was
undoubtedly right to think that it was originally part of the late-sixth
century Telesterion (called the Peisistratean Telesterion by the
excavators).31 Only its foundations are preserved. Noack's plan (Figure 4)
illustrates how two of its walls coincide with the outside walls of the sixth
century Telesterion (upper left corner in Figure 4), and its eastern and
northern walls line up perfectly with the rows of interior columns, its
northern wall in fact appearing to replace three columns of the sixth-century
Telesterion.32 Now if one function of the northern wall was simply to take
the place of these three columns, it need not have been made to line up
precisely with them—it could have been set slightly more to the north or
south. But the fact that it lines up precisely with the columns suggests that
there was a special purpose to producing this alignment: the three columns
that would have stood in the place of the structure's northern wall still had
such significance that their alignment had to be respected in the design of
the inner structure. The most obvious way to explain such significance
would be to suppose that these columns actually existed, i.e. incorporated in
the structure, set on top of its northern wall. In this case the structure would

30 Rubensohn 1955: 44. He pointed out that the |ieya and to iv "Eieualm itup could
hardly have been created within this structure by torches, even especially large torches.
31 Travlos 1951.
32 Noack 1927: plate 3.

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 Kevin Clinton 95

most likely not have been a building, as Travlos conceived it, but a
platform, upon which the columns rose to support the superstructure of the
building.33 This of course is not a necessary and binding conclusion but it
does make plausible sense of the coincidence of wall and columns. But
given, as we have seen, all the awkwardness that follows from assuming
that this structure is an inner sanctum from which the hierophantes
emerged, it is much easier to assume that it served as a platform. Of course
in the later Telesterion there was a different arrangement of columns. The
sixth-century columns were eliminated. But if this structure was originally a
platform, it should have remained a platform in the later building.
The light, then, could not come primarily from this platform, but must
have come from elsewhere.

VII. Meya Ocõt;

The "great light" seen in the Mysteries, mentioned above in the passage
from Plutarch, was called also the "fire" of the Mysteries. It is alluded to by
Aelius Aristides in his Eleusinios Logos, 11, when he announces that the
famous fire was replaced by the fire that the Costobocs wrought upon the
Telesterion: c3 it tip, otov clScjiGriq 'E^eualvi, otov <xv0' otou.34 Galen, in a
series of adjurations by several gods, swears also by the Mysteries with the
words na to kv 'EXeuolvi irup (n. auv0€O€Q<; 4>ap(a.. XIII.271 K).35 The
famous testimonium of Hippolytus on the words of the hierophantes
describes him as performing in the midst of "fire":

... õ UpoljläwTTii; ... fUKiõt; iv <'E>AeucHm 6uo iroAA$ irupl t(Xüv ta

(jfyct^a Kai apprixa puairipia (k>ä Kai KeKpaye Aeyuv Upöv etCKf trotvia
Bpipcõ Bpijxõv ... (Haer. 5.8.40).

... the hierophantes ... at night in Eleusis in the midst of great fire,
conducting the great secret Mysteries, shouts and cries, saying, "She gave
birth to the sacred one, Brimo to Brimos."

In Euripides, Phaethon fr. 781 TGF, Kore is called "mistress of the fire" (ou
Õ' to nupoi; õecuoiva ArpT]Tpo<; Kopn). The uup as emblematic of the secret
rite (Spy La) appears, as we have seen, also in the newly published epigram
of Posidippus:

33 Noack 1927: 143, 226, assumed a podium in this area to cover the projecting rock in the
floor at this point, his "Z."
34 He apparently differentiates this "fire" from the torches (5$6ei;) of the initiates. For
commentary on the passage, see Humbel 1994: 137-38.
35 Rubensohn 1955: 47, suggested that this bright light could even be seen from afar. When
Sphodrias' soldiers were marching through the Thriasian Plain at night they saw, according to
Plutarch (Ages. 24. 5), a light from "some sacred rites at Eleusis" and became frightened.
However, it is not at all clear that these rites were the Mysteries, or at least the rites within the
Telesterion. They could have occurred at a pannychis of a local festival..

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 Illinois Classical Studies 29 (2004)

r|X0€v CT'euoep€cov NLKOOTpdtri lepa iiuotiõv

öpyia Kai Ka0apõv irCp £itI TpurroAiftiou.36

The famous fire of Eleusis figures in a passage of Himerius. In his lament

over the death of his son Rouphinos, who was about to be initiated as an
Initiate from Hearth,37 he wrote (8. 61-69 Colonna):

ol|j.ol Ar||J.r|Tep Kai Kopi), tõv dctjj' «mag ouk exripiioaxf. xeAeiTaL |iev
<x\\' kv x(J Katu T€(xev€i, 06 iratpöq (luoTaYCOYOöviog, äAAa Tivog olp.ai
oKuGpcoTToö Kai iriKpoö Sai^ov-oi;- oö to 6?6oüxuv irOp pAiirei, aÄAa rae
'Epivucov Kai IIoivüv Xanuaõa;.

Alas, Demeter and Kore, you did not take care of the Child from Hearth.
He is being initiated, but in the Lower Temenos—not with his father as
mystagogue but, I imagine, some sullen and bitter demon. He does not
gaze upon the fire of torchbearers but the torches of the Erinyes and
Poinai.

Here the famous fire of Eleusis, the event that initiates look forward to and
remember for the rest of their lives, is referred to as "the fire of
torchbearers."38 The plurality of torchbearers obviously rules out
identification with the priest who was called dadouchos. They should be a
large number of people holding torches (õaõouxoi) within the Telesterion.
The light they they produce is special: it is not referred to as the light of
"torches," like the light that the underworld demons produce, but "fire," the
special phenomenon at Eleusis. Perhaps they held unusually large torches.
A scholion to Sophocles, Oedipus Coloneus 1048, mentions "the mystic
flame and holy torches" (irao trie nuotiKfic (f^oyo; xcd tcõv iepwy öaöuu).
Ignition of the torches, as we naturally assume, was presided over by the
dadouchos. This seems to be confirmed by a rhetorical passage in a papyrus
fragment: (xtt6k/1<el[oov 'EJ^euoelw kou to rrOp [to Upov], õaõoüxe
(PMilVogl 20.20-22).

36 See the translation and discussion above in section IV.

37 On the Initiate from Hearth, see Clinton 1974: 98-114; Clinton and Palagia
(forthcoming).
38 Himerius mentions the "fire" of Eleusis also in other speeches. 29.2: "Hyayc & apa 6
toO irupõi; roti Kat' "EXeuatua noöog Kai 'Auaxapaiv tõv EkuStii/ ehi puonipLa. 60.32: uOp to
pixjTiKov Kal tt)v T£j.cTT|u ttji/ Kat' "EXeuali/a TTo9T)oauTe<;, f|KOi> 'A6r|vaCe.

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 Kevin Clinton 97

VIII. Divine Images/ 'lepa 4)äo|iata

If the fire came from special devices held by people standing on the steps
that lined the interior walls of the Telesterion, what was the function of the
platform? The most obvious function would be a display of images. For the
Mysteries Lobeck assumed a display of images rather like what was put on
at the banquet of Karanos described in Athenaeus (4. 130a):
Kai Tf|<; wpa; unooKiaCoüafli; avaireTavvüouai tõv oIkov, ev $ KikXy
õGõvoac; õl€iA.tvitto uävta AeuKatc Kai ävaneuaaGeiaüv S^õct;39 kfyavrpav
Xä0p<y Kata urixavai; oxaoGlvTcov twv (jjpaynaTMv Kai "Eputec Kai
'Apiefuõeq Kai näveg Kai 'Ep^aX Kai toiaÜTa noXAxt eiõcoAa äpyupoti;
õaõouxoOvta Xa|iiTTTipaL.

And as the late hour was beginning to bring darkness, they threw open the
room, which had been curtained all about with white linen; and when this
(curtain) was drawn back, the barriers being let down by a hidden
contrivance, there rose to our view torches: Erotes and Artemises, Pans
and Hermae and many similar figures illuminating with (their) silver
lights.40

Lobeck called them "light-bearing images of the gods (deorum signa

lucifera)." These illuminating (õaõouxowta) images were clearly rather
special, evidently not simply figures holding torches.
A passage in Plato implies something similar, specifically for Eleusis.
At Phaedrus 249e-250c it is stated that the soul before entering man has
observed the "things that are" (tot öuza), and these things are "holy" (lepa).
Later in the passage they are characterized as having "beauty blazing out
(KdAAoq ... /ax[iTTpöv)." On the other hand, there is no light in the earthly
images of virtue (oik eveoTi 4>eYY°C):
Every human soul has by the law of its nature observed the things that are,
or else it would not have entered this creature, man; but it is not easy for
every soul to gain from things here a recollection of those other things,
either for those which only briefly saw the things there at that earlier time,
or for those which fall to earth and have the misfortune to be turned to
injustice by keeping certain kinds of company, and to forget the holy
things they saw then (cov tots eiõev leptöv). Few souls are left who have
sufficient memory; and these, when they see some likeness of the things
there (öictv n tüv kel ö|joic>)|ia lõuoiv), are driven out of their wits with
amazement and lose control of themselves... Now in the earthly likenesses
of justice and self-control and the other things which are of value to souls,
there is no illumination (ouk tvtaxi fyeyyoc oi>Õ€i> kv toi; xfjõe
6noio5|iaoiv), but through dulled organs just a few approach their images
and with difficulty observe the nature of what is imaged in them; but
before it was possible to see beauty blazing out, when with a happy

39 5<iõe<; MSS. Noaõtg Käibel.

40 Gulick's translation, with some modification.

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98 Illinois Classical Studies 29 (2004)

company they saw a blessed sight before them (KaHo; õe tot' f\v iSelu
Axt|iTTpov, ike ow euÕai|iovi x°PV t^txapiau öv|/tv te Kai 9eav)—
ourselves following with Zeus, others with different gods—and were
initiated into what it is right to call most blessed of mysteries, which are
celebrated, whole in themselves, and untouched by the evils which
awaited us in a later time, with our gaze turned in our final initiation
towards whole, simple, unchanging and blissful revelations, in a pure
light, pure ourselves (6XöicA.r|pa õe Kai anlä Kai aTpejifj Kai eüõaipova
(jxxapaTa nuoüpeyoi Te Kai enoirreuovTei; ev aiiyfj KaGapij, KaSapol
õvTec)...41

Thus we have a contrast between images that have no light in them with
images that are blazing with light, described in language evocative of the
vision seen at the Mysteries—eüõcupova (jjaqiata in pure light. The
implication is rather clear that the images in the Mysteries are illuminated
from within (or at least from close up, so as to give an impression of
illumination from within). Such may have been the figures displayed at the
banquet of Karanos. Similar images are actually attested in reliefs found in
Roman Mithraea, which had hollowed out interiors that held lamps;
although the preserved examples are not spectacular, they indicate the
possibilities.42
This interpretation of the images receives remarkable corroboration
from a small votive plaque (IG II2 4639) found within the sanctuary (Figure
5).43 In the image of Demeter the color is still preserved to some extent; it
shows rays of light radiating out from her head. They clearly do not
represent a radiate crown. They represent light.
It seems virtually certain that such extraordinary illuminated images
were a feature of the rite. That the images were extraordinary is consistent
with the fact that the cult had an extraordinary sacred official who took care
of them, the phaidyntes, the "brightener," an official attested early on at
Eleusis,44 well before the other well known phaidyntes, the one at Olympia,
who took care of the statue of Zeus, one of the wonders of the ancient
world.

41 Translated by Rowe 1986: 69.

42 Examples in Merkelbach 1984: 136-37, figures 29-30.
43 For recent discussion and bibliography and a color image, see Clinton 1992: 90.
44 For this official, attested as early as the end of the sixth century B.C.E., see Clinton 1974:
95. According to Pausanias 5. 14. 5, the phaidyntai at Olympia were descendants of Pheidias,
and their principal duty was cleaning the statue of Zeus to make it shine (ia^npumi/). Since
they are not attested before the second century C.E., their descent from Pheidias and existence
before the Imperial period has sometimes been doubted; cf. Hanell 1938. We should be
cautious, however, about making this assumption, since before the testimonia for the
Eleusinian phaidyntes in the sixth century B.C.E. were available, and we had only those of the
second and third centuries C.E., Hannell supposed that the Eleusinian phaidyntai did not exist
before the Imperial period.

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 Kevin Clinton 99

Such extraordinary images within the Telesterion had to be mounted on

a platform, both in order to be visible and to have beneath them a space
from which the light that illuminated the images from within could be
generated.45 A platform of the dimensions of the structure within the
Telesterion would seem to be well suited to these purposes: its outer
dimensions are 14.2 x 5.6 m.46
Christoph Riedweg suspected an allusion to this pedestal at Phaedrus
254b:

ibovxoc, õe xoö t|iaöxou r) finnil -rrpõ<; tt|v tou KaAAouc tfjuoiv rivexÖTl.
Kai iralii' €iöev atirnv fiera oaxjipoouvrn; 'tv äyvö (BaGpa) pepcõoai/

As the charioteer saw it, his memory was carried to the nature of beauty,
and again he saw it (the nature of beauty) standing together with
sophrosyne on a holy pedestal.

The epithet ixyva is not infrequently used of the Eleusinian Mysteries.47

Viewing the illuminated images would presumably occur at the
culmination of a sacred drama. This drama would have begun, as mentioned
earlier, within the precinct of the Mirthless Rock. Demeter, Kore, and
Eubouleus (the hierophantides and dadouchos) would have walked together
in the dark from the precinct up the processional path to the Telesterion,
where they were seen by epoptai outside, and presumably also, at some
point, by the mystai, released finally from their blindfolds. They entered the
Telesterion, were seen by the assembled epoptai within, entered the

45 This sort of arrangement may be exemplified by the podium for the cult statue in the
"Rote Halle" in Pergamon, a temple of the Egyptian gods; a hollow area within the podium
gave access to the statue, which was presumably also hollow and would allow a priest to
provide illumination from within or to impersonate the voice of the god; on the building and
podium, see Radt 1999: 200-09, esp. 204.
46 Dimensions: Travlos 1951: 7. Travlos, idem: 4-6, found support for his identification of
the structure as the Anaktoron in his interpretation of a block of marble containing the vertical
inscription ifpo4>an[TK] (/G II2 3718) as a naiskos which framed the throne of the hierophant
(Upo^avTiKÖg Spovoq). My forthcoming commentary on this inscription, I. Eleusis 500, reads:
"A cutting in two blocks just to the north of column V 5 in the Telesterion seemed to Travlos
to match the dimensions of the restored aedicula, and he concluded that this was the original
location. When I inspected the cutting, it was by no means clear to me that this conclusion was
inevitable; the matter needs further study. The hierophant possessed a special seat at Eleusis
(see Clinton 1974: 20, 43), but we do not know where it was located. It does not seem
impossible that it was located in the outer court, where this inscription was found...
Papagiannopoulos-Palaios suggested that the original location of this inscription was outside
the sanctuary, where in fact it was found, and that it belonged to the jamb of the entranceway
of the House of the Hierophants, the "Ifpo4iaut[ftoy], a hitherto unattested building that
presumably did exist, since houses for other priests and priestesses were located at Eleusis
(Clinton 1974:20)."
47 Cf., e.g., 1. Delos 2552.15-16 (ayvbv ... dwtK[topoi> --]), Ar. Ran. 385 (Aiinifcp, ay1'"1'
opyiuv awaaaa). For a list of examples of Demeter with this epithet, see Richardson 1974,222,
ad line 203; of Kore, ibid. 265, ad line 337; for a general discussion of the term, Parker 1983:
147-50.

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100 Illinois Classical Studies 29 (2004)

basement of the pedestal, and then, when the doors of the Telesterion were
opened, the illuminated divine images appeared for all to behold.48

IX. Epoptai and Mystai

The initiates were eager to rush into the Telesterion, impatient to experience
the extraordinary vision.49 The secret rite involved dynamic movement. We
should not envision the new initiates being shepherded into the Telesterion
and made to stand passively on the steps that lined the walls of the building.
The passage in Himerius quoted above (8. 61-69) informs us that the
extraordinary light (nOp) was furnished by torchbearers (Saõoüxoi); the most
logical position for them would be on the steps lining the interior walls,
probably at least a thousand torchbearers, standing, not sitting; given their
number, they should be epoptai.50 They created to 5a5ou%wv irup, the (ieya
4>t3c;, renowned as "the fire at Eleusis," to ev 'Eleuolvi irup.51 Such a blaze
presumably required very special torches. The special importance of torches
in the Eleusinian Mysteries is illustrated by two immense marble torches
that survive, originally set up in or in front of the sanctuary. They tend to
suggest that the role played by torches in the Mysteries is far more
significant than that of simple torches carried by the worshippers, a
phenomenon common to many cults.52 After the initiates entered the
building and were welcomed by the torchbearing epoptai, they could move
about the great space, encircled by fire. They would dance, and may have

48 For this hypothetical scenario, see Clinton 1992: 87-90. That illuminated statues
constituted the central aspect of the vision was asserted by Rohde 1898: 298, following
Lobeck: "Die Standbilder der Göttinnen wurden in strahlendem Lichte sichtbar, der Gläubige
ahnte an diesem Gnadenfeste der Erinnerung an ihre Leiden, ihr Gltick und ihre Wohltaten,
ihre unsichtbare Gegenwart." Boyance 1937: 56-58, came to a similar conclusion, starting
from a fragment of Aristotle found in Psellus, Theologica 1. 30. 10-13 Gautier (auroO
TTaOõutoq tou vou tt]V 8 6fj (AUOTripiuõei; ApiaxoTeXric <dv6(iaoe Kal öhkoc xai<;
"Eieuoivtai;- iv (KfivaiQ yap tuuouucvoi; o T£^oü|jevoc tctc 0tcopCag flv, aü' ou
0i6a0K0(i6wg) and noting the relevance of the use of the term tXXamliL? by Neoplatonic
philosophers in connection with the descent of divine influence into statues. He elaborated this
further in Boyanc£ 1962: 462-73, on the basis of additional philosophical sources.
49 See for example the passage in Plut., Deprof. virt. 8IE, quoted above.
50 Cf. Clinton 1992: 90. Noack 1927: 142, 237, concluded from the narrowness of the steps
that the "initiates" did not sit on them but stood. He reckoned (ibid 235) that they could hold
up to 3000 people. Of course, if the people who stood on them held torches, we must assume a
smaller number, as the torches would have to be spaced apart.
51 Rubensohn 1955: 44, denied that such torches could have created to kv 'EXeuoivi iröp:
"Fackeln freilich in den Händen der auf den Stufen zusammengedrängten Mystengemeinde hat
v. Wilamowitz-Moellendorff mit Recht strikt abgelehnt." But this is contradicted by the
passage in Himerius (quoted above in section VII), which clearly states that torchbearers
created the light, to 5<)tSouxwv nup. On the appropriateness of torches of split wood in
creating the special lighting effect, see especially Parisinou 2000: 70-71.
52 They now stand in the court of the Archaeological Museum in Eleusis; Mylonas 1961:
204, illustrated by Kanta 1979:28, on the left in the photograph of the court.

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 Kevin Clinton 101

been led in song by the hymnagogoi.53 This is consistent with the picture
given by the excerpt from Plutarch's On the Soul (fr. 178 Sandbach):
Then [at the point of death] it [i.e., the soul] suffers something like what
those who participate in the great initiations (•reA.exai) suffer. Hence even
the word "dying" (tfXfUTai') is like the word "to be initiated" (teAf io9ai),
and the act (of dying) is like the act (of being initiated). First of all there
are wanderings and wearisome rushings about and certain journeys fearful
and unending through the darkness, and then before the very end all the
terrors—fright and trembling and sweating and amazement. But then one
encounters an extraordinary light (4><3<; u Oaujiaaiou), and pure regions
and meadows (toitoi icaGapot «at taijiwvec;) offer welcome, with voices
and dances and majesties of sacred sounds and holy sights (cjjcovac Kat
Xopeiac Kai 06}ivÖTT|Ta<; aKoua|idT(oi> lepüv Kai 4>aa|j.c«c»)v äyiuv); in
which now the completely initiated one (iravacAry; ... fiefiurmevog)
becoming free and set loose enjoys the rite, crowned, and consorts with
holy and pure men (ooioic Kal KaGapolq dvõpäai)...

The holy and pure men in the rite should be priests and epoptai, the holy
sights (4>aon<xTG)v ayicov) the extraordinary images, their "beauty blazing
out."

Cornell University

53 On dancing in mystery cults, see Lucian, Salt. 15: no ancient mystery cult lacked
dancing. For the Eleusinian Mysteries cf. Clinton 1992: 90; for Andania and Samothrace,
Clinton and Karadima 2002. On singing in the Eleusinian Mysteries, Boyance 1937: 52-53.

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 Illinois Classical Studies 29 (2004)

Figure 1. Statue of hierophantis from Lesser Propylaea,

Eleusis Museum 5104.

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 Kevin Clinton

Figure 2. Travlos' plan of the interior structure in the Classical/Roman

Telesterion, Travlos 1951, 7, figure 4.

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 Illinois Classical Studies 29 (2004)

Figure 3. Travlos' reconstruction of the interior structure in the

Classical/Roman Telesterion, Travlos 1951,1, figure 1.

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 Kevin Clinton

Figure 4. Detail of Noack's state plan of the Telesterion,

after Noack 1927, plate 3.

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 Illinois Classical Studies 29 (2004)

2
Figure 5. Votive plaque with image of Demeter, IG II 4639, courtesy of
the National Archaeological Museum, Athens, Inv. No. G 5256.

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 Kevin Clinton 107

ABBREVIATIONS

PMilVogl Vogliano, A. (ed.). 1937. Papiri della R. Universitä di Milan

Milan.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Athenaeus. The Deipnosophists. 1928. Translated by C. B. Gulick. Londo

Bastianini, G. and C. Galazzi (eds.). 2001. Posidippo di Pella. Epigram
Milan.
Boyance, P. 1937. Le culte des Muses chez les philosophes grecs. BEFAR
141. Paris.
. 1962. "Sur les mysteres d'Eleusis." Revue des Etudes Grecques
75,460-82.
Burkert, W. 1983. Homo Necans: The Anthropology of Ancient Greek
Sacrificial Ritual and Myth. Berkeley.
. 1987. Ancient Mystery Cults. Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Clinton, K. 1974. The Sacred Officials of the Eleusinian Mysteries.
Transactions of the American Philological Society 64.3. Philadelphia.
. 1992. Myth and Cult: the Iconography of the Eleusinian
Mysteries. The Martin Nilsson lectures on Greek religion, delivered
19-21 November 1990 at the Swedish Institute at Athens. Skrifter
Utgivna av Svenska Institutet i Athen. Vol. 8, xi. Stockholm.
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