The Historical Primacy of the Eleusinian Mysteries

Marcus Tullius Cicero, initiated into the Eleusinian Mysteries, referred to them in his writings, not only in relation to their work of civilizing human customs, but also to the knowledge of the “principle of life” and the hope of a happy survival after death which initiation was able to confer: “There was nothing better than those Mysteries, by which, having emerged from a rough and inhuman life, we were educated and softened to civilization, and therefore they are called initiations, because we have known the principles of life in their true essence; and we have not only learned how to live with joy, but also how to die with a better hope“[1].

The primacy of the Eleusinian Mysteries over all the other mysterious realities of antiquity is also highlighted by Pausanias (110-180 AD, another famous Initiate into the Mysteries of the Two Goddesses): “By as much as the Gods are superior to heroes, by as much the Eleusinian Institution is superior to the others that refer to the veneration of the Divinities“[2].

The Mysteries of the Two Goddesses, the Mother and the Daughter, found an unprecedented diffusion throughout the ancient world, soon leaving the narrow Hellenic context and arriving in Rome as early as 496 BC, when, as a result of a serious famine, the soothsayers questioned the Sibylline Books, which as a response categorically indicated the necessity, for the sake of the salvation of the homeland and the community, of the introduction into the Eternal City of the cult of Demeter and Kore- Persephone, soon identified in their Latin form of Ceres and Proserpine. But already in the archaic and mysterious priestly college of the Fratres Arvales, one of the oldest and most respected in Rome, the secret cult of the Goddess Dia, an occult form of the Eleusinian Demeter, was practiced[3].

As Cicero always confirms to us, “Our ancestors always wanted the Mysteries of Ceres and the Rites dedicated to her to be performed with the greatest religious observance. Since they had been received from Greece, they were always celebrated by Greek priestesses, and everything in them was named by Greek names”[4]. And again: «And let no one begin except, as is done for Ceres, through Greek Rites”[5].

The great Roman biographer Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus tells us that the Emperor Claudius, famously initiated into the Eleusinian Mysteries, was even determined to transport the entire Sanctuary of Eleusis to Rome[6]. Fortunately, he did not succeed and gave up his intention, which would have represented, both in the eyes of the clergy and the faithful, a real sacrilege, but his devotion to the Mother and Daughter and their Mysteries characterized his entire life and his human and political choices.

There were many Roman Emperors who initiated themselves into various mystery cults, even of Egyptian or oriental origin, but the number of them who decided to initiate themselves into the Eleusinian Mysteries, sometimes not stopping at the Mysta, but also reaching high degrees, is truly impressive, and it is an indication of the great importance and consideration that the leaders of the Empire have always attributed to the sacredness of these Mysteries.

Apart from the aforementioned Claudius, whose first wife Plauzia Urgulanilla, of Etruscan origins, was also a fervent Eleusinian, the initiation into the Sacred Mysteries of Octavian Augustus is attested by many ancient authors. Suetonius always narrates that he was not a simple Initiate, but that he went so far as to assume high degrees of dignitary within the Mysteries: “Initiated in Athens, he later learned, in the tribunal, of the privilege of the priests of the Attic Ceres, and having to discuss more secret matters, dismissed his council and assembly, and listened alone to those who disagreed“[7].

The inscription on a base in the sacred area of Eleusis on which the statues of Augustus and his wife Livia, probably also initiated into the Sacred Mysteries, rested, mentions the Emperor as euergétes, “benefactor”.

Even the historian Lucius Cassius Dio, writing about Augustus, attests to us that “[after the battle of Actium] he administered Greek affairs and participated in the Mysteries of the Two Goddesses”[8]. And, he reports that, when the Indian Zamoras arrived in Athens to receive the Initiation into the Sacred Mysteries in the very presence of the Emperor, Augustus made sure that the ceremony could take place at a different time from the usual one: “Zamoras was initiated into the Mysteries of the Two Goddesses, which were celebrated on a date that was not the traditional one thanks to Augustus, who was himself an Initiated”[9].

In fact, it is historically attested that the Initiation of Augustus took place immediately after the battle of Actium, the famous naval clash which took place on September 2nd, 31 BC, which put an end to the civil war between the young Octavian and Mark Antony, who had allied himself with Cleopatra. And, as Enzo Lippolis reports, the relationship between Octavian and the Athenian community, which had been part of the faction of the rival Mark Antony, seems to have been mediated above all by the Eleusis and his clergy[10], very probably because the defeated also notoriously belonged to the number of Initiates. In fact, the Eleusinian initiation of Mark Antony is also attested, which occurred after the battle of Philippi, at the end of the autumn of 42 BC; an initiation which is also solemnly represented on the reliefs of the famous silver patera of Aquileia. Moreover, Plutarch of Chaeronea also mentions it when he tells us that “with his happy and amiable character he turned to listen to the eloquent orators and attended the competitions and initiations”[11].

It would take too long here to list the names of all the high political and military officials who, in the Roman Republican age, were initiated into the Sacred Mysteries. As Giulio Giannelli wrote, the interest and devotion that the Eleusinian Mysteries were capable of inspiring in those who could approach them did nothing but increase their fame, notoriety and authority, and Eleusis soon became, already in the Republican age, the destination of a pilgrimage for those who sought, among the religions of the time, the one that best reconciled the most ancient traditions with the new needs of the spirit[12]. And being initiated into the Mysteries of the Two Goddesses soon also became a title of honor in Rome for the most elite and cultured men. Even if, as Giannelli always observed, it is necessary to distinguish the different purpose that the exponents of Roman nomenclature and culture wanted to achieve by initiating themselves into the Mysteries: for some it could certainly have been the achievement of a certain social status, a way to to be noticed or in any case to show off, but I believe that the vast majority of those who initiated themselves did so by pursuing a real and sincere spiritual need, pursuing a knowledge of the sacred that the traditional religion of Rome was not always able to satisfy.

We cannot help but remember the Initiation of Lucius Cornelius Sulla, which took place on September 84 BC, mentioned as follows by Plutarch: “He landed at Piraeus and, having been initiated, purchased the library of Apellicho of Teos, which included most of the works of Aristotle and Theophrastus, who at the time were not yet well known to the general public“[13].

A fervent Eleusinian and Initiate of a high degree, was the aforementioned Marcus Tullius Cicero, who received the spice of life in Eleusis between 79 and 77 BC.

In those same years – some sources even say together with Cicero – Titus Pomponius Atticus, a great Roman writer and famous man of letters, was also initiated, and a few years later Appius Claudius Pulcher, Cicero’s predecessor in the government of Cilicia, also received initiation.

Returning to the Imperial Age, Suetonius informs us that Lucius Domitius Enobarbus, better known as Nero, who was initiated into the Mithraic Mysteries, during his journey to Greece did not dare to be initiated into Eleusis “since the impious and criminals are banished from initiation from the voice of the Herald“[14]. The last of the Julio-Claudians, guilty of matricide, certainly feared the wrath of the Two Goddesses if he had transgressed this rule.

Of the Flavian dynasty, only the initiation of Domitian is known (“Domitian witnessed the Mysteries“), mentioned by Victor Magnien citing the Bulletin de Correspondence Héllenique as a source[15]. But it was under the Antonine dynasty that the bond between Eleusis and Rome became as solid as ever and that Romanism was deeply cloaked in the religious spirit, thought and Philosophy of Hellas. Marcus Ulpius Trajan, Publius Elius Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, Marcus Aurelius, Lucius Verus and Commodus were in fact all initiated into the Sacred Mysteries. If some of them stopped at the Mysta, the case of Antoninus Pius and the philosopher Emperor Marcus Aurelius was very different, who reached at least the Epopteia, and above all of Hadrian, who after his Initiation was Archon in Athens in 111-112 AD[16] and even held high priestly positions.

As Lippolis attests to us, Hadrian was initiated into the small Mysteries in 112 or 113[17], probably in conjunction with the assumption of his office as Archon and reached the second degree of Initiation, that of the Epopteia, by 128, participating actively involved in the ritual celebrations of the Mysteries on the occasion of his visits to Athens, attested according to the chronicle in 124, 128 and 131. In his coinage, he sometimes took on the iconography of Ploutos, adding the indication “ren” to his name, dissolved in renatus (reborn), a clear allusion to the rebirth he experienced with the initiatory experience.

Thus narrates the historian Helios Spartanus: “[The Emperor Hadrian] sailed towards Asia and the islands near Greece, and presided over the celebration of the Mysteries of Eleusis, like Heracles and like Philip of Macedon”[18].

In honor of his young beloved Antinous, who was initiated into the Sacred Mysteries in 128 (then tragically disappeared and deified by will of the Emperor himself), the Antinóeia festivals were established in Eleusis, with the creation of a place of worship outside the Sanctuary and with the location of a statue of the young man in a niche at the entrance to the underground building, right next to the Great Propylaea.

Hadrian’s devotion towards Eleusinity was sincere and profound and he contributed with great dedication in a notable way to the expansion and embellishment of the Sanctuary of Eleusis, its Temples and the structures of the entire sacred area, which in his happy years of reign reached its maximum splendor.

Enzo Lippolis, citing as a source Kevin Clinton’s excellent study on Eleusinian epigraphy[19], mentions a Mystagogo of the Sanctuary of Eleusis belonging to the Kerykes family, exercising the functions of Ieréus Epí Bomó, honored by a statue and an inscription which traces the cursus honorum of a career lasting over sixty years, located in the area of the Sanctuary between 177 and 180. From this inscription, we learn that Memmius – this was the name of the Mystagogue – took part in ritual celebrations in which Hadrian had been present and who took part in the Initiations of Marcus Aurelius and Commodus[20]. In fact, they were most probably initiated together in 176 by the same Hierophant (almost certainly Ioulios) who, in office from 168 until at least 192, was exalted by three epigrams for having protected and defended, by transporting them to Athens, the Hyeras from plundering and from the devastation of the Sanctuary by the Costoboci barbarians in the summer of 170.

Marcus Aurelius worked hard for the reconstruction of the Sanctuary and the Temples of the Sacred Area, as attested by a scholium of Sopater in the Panathenaic Oration of Aelius Aristides, in which it appears that the Emperor, who had studied in Athens and who had honored the city as a disciple honors his master, among his merits he could include restorations and the gift of rich decorations to the Sanctuary of Eleusis[21].

In the past, the news was very widespread that Marcus Aurelius, despite not having been a Hierophant, would have been allowed to access the most secret and inviolable area of the Telestérion of Eleusis, the Anaktoron. Marcus Aurelius, who had Herod Atticus as his Mystagogue, belonging to the Kerykes Tribe, to whom he had promised to initiate himself into the Sacred Mysteries in a letter addressed to him already during the Danube War, was undoubtedly the great continuer of Hadrian’s work of embellishment and the growth of the structures of the Sanctuary, a work which earned him, in addition to the fame of a great Philosopher and Initiate that he had already gained, also the one of a great benefactor of Eleusinity. As highlighted by Juan Manuel Cortés Copete of the University of Seville, there are numerous works that bear his signature: from the full reconstruction of the Telestérion after the devastation of the Costoboci up to the completion of the Great Propylaea[22], and he was glorified in Eleusis with one splendid and imposing clipeated marble bust which was placed in the pediment of these; bust still visible today within the archaeological area.

The exact date of the initiation into the Mysteries of Antoninus Pius is not known, but a long dedicatory inscription commissioned by the Aeropagus, the Boulé and the Démos, the institutional bodies of Athens, between 162 and 169 honors a Hierophant, mentioned as L . Flavius Leosthenes, twice ambassador to Rome to Antoninus and awarded the stróphion (therefore invested with his office) in the presence of the Emperor himself, who must therefore have already been initiated. According to Enzo Lippolis[23], it would be the same Hierophant who initiated Lucius Verus into the Sacred Mysteries, welcomed into the ghénos of the Eumolpids in 162 or 166 (more probably in the first date). In any case, the initiation into the Mysteries of Antoninus Pius is attested by an epigraphic inscription found at Eleusis, a celebratory inscription of a Hierophant (unfortunately the name is missing, having probably been reported in the missing last lines) who, in addition to having made himself meritorious in the defense of the Fatherland, he also had the pride of having initiated the emperor Άντωνῑνον. And it is also attested by the presence in Eleusis of a series of statues celebrating Antoninus Pius and his relatives.

Another inscription, mentioned by Victor Magnien, relating to the aforementioned Mystagogus Memmius (here mentioned as L. Memmius Toricius) “descendant of Daduchi, of Strateghi and of Agonotheti”, who was also eponymous Archon and Epimeletes of Hadrian’s Gymnasium, he also indicates that he was present at the Initiation of Lucius Verus[24], which took place in 162 or 166, the only two dates in which we know with certainty of his stay in Attica.

The sequence of Emperors, who were initiated into the Sacred Mysteries of Eleusis, continues with the Dominus ac Deus Septimius Severus, who “went to Athens, driven there by a taste for studies and sacred things”[25]. It seems certain, as Giannelli documented, that his initiation took place several years before the energetic Senator of Leptis Magna earned the imperial throne.

A great Eleusinian was, in a subsequent era, Publius Licinius Egnatius Gallienus, Emperor from 253 to 268. Lover and protector of the arts and of the culture, he always felt very close to the Hellenic world and its spirituality, so much so that he was personally Athens, the roles of Eponymous Archon and member of the Aeropagus. He was initiated into the Sacred Mysteries at Eleusis in 265, as attested by a series of Antoninians issued on that date which portray him with a crown of wheat and the unmistakable symbol of the three mysterious ears. But already, as soon as he took office, a new Hadrian appeared in the eyes of the Eleusinians of all the provinces of the Empire. He conceived an ambitious plan of moral and religious transformation through which he believed it was possible to bring the Empire back to the enlightened lordship of the Antonines. On a religious level, he focused a lot on the valorization of Eleusinity, since he believed that only it could satisfy the spiritual needs of the popular masses, removing them from the pernicious influence of Christianity.

As Guido Migliorati confirms to us, the term sacra with which Gallienus’ biographer Trebellius Pollio identifies the object of the Emperor’s interest during his stay in Athens is precisely the Eleusinian Mysteries. And the epigraphic drafting of a letter sent to the Athenians by Gallienus in 265, the year of his Initiation, refers precisely to Eleusis, the content of which is related to the Emperor’s concern that the greatest Témenos of humanity were guaranteed the protection of a military detachment and adequate fortification works. The curator of the Eleusinian epigraphic draft of this letter to the Athenians was Marcus Junius Minucianus, a great scholar and initiate into the Sacred Mysteries, son of the rhetorician and sophist Nicagoras of Athens, who in turn, as Philostratus attests, was a τοῡ Ἐλευσινίου ἱεροῡ κήρ υξ[26], a Hiérokeryx of the Sanctuary of Eleusis, therefore a Pelorian, the third degree of the Eleusian Initiation. A family, therefore of consolidated Eleusinian tradition and of priestly rank, since even the son of Minucian, Nicagoras II°, sophist and Neoplatonic philosopher who lived at the time of Constantine, is mentioned in an Egyptian inscription as Δᾳδοῡχος[27], torch bearer, a qualification of the Epopteia.

Gallienus continued the just fight of his predecessors against Christianity, but changed his tactics, that is, trying to bring Christians back to reason and to bring them benevolently back into the orbit of the State. However, he did not stop fighting superstitio on the basis of principles and, anticipating Julian, most likely on the advice of the priestly authorities of Eleusis, he took up the weapons of controversy against the new cult, entrusted to the Philosophy of the time in the person of its highest representative, Plotinus , famously initiated into the Sacred Mysteries, personal friend of Gallienus and his wife Salonina (also an initiate). In fact, he immediately proved to be against the violent persecutions carried out by previous Emperors, in particular by his father Valerian, and actually promulgated some edicts which, anticipating the one that Galerius would later issue in Serdica (an edict, moreover, of markedly Eleusinian inspiration), granted to the Christians a certain freedom of worship, even going so far as to have some confiscated properties returned to them.

This enlightened Emperor died, treacherously killed by a conspiracy, in 268 and with him his great dream of the moral, cultural and religious rebirth of the Empire died and a plan was interrupted which, if completed, would probably have made Eleusinity the primary religion of the state, thus changing the course of history.

The possible Eleusinian initiation of his successors is not attested (but not therefore excludable a priori), at least until Marcus Aurelius Numerianus, younger son of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius Carus and predecessor of Diocletian.

While an Eleusinian initiation of Diocletian is not attested, although not unlikely, his wife Prisca (erroneously passed off as Christian by a certain patristic hagiography) and his daughter Valeria, second wife of the Emperor Galerius, both made Eleusinian, were certainly Eleusinian. kill by Licinius. I spoke extensively about these two great Eleusine Martyrs in a chapter of the
first volume of my essay From Eleusis to Florence.

The great Emperor Flavius Claudius Julianus, whose advent had been prophesied by the Goddess Demeter herself many centuries before, was undoubtedly one of the greatest standard bearers of Eleusinity, as well as the last great defender of Tradition, religious freedom and the imperial identity itself . He was initiated into the Sacred Mysteries in 355, on the advice of his Mystagogo, the Neoplatonic philosopher Maximus. He had met Maximus, to whom he remained linked throughout his life by a deep affection and sincere friendship, already in 351, during a trip to Ephesus, being introduced by him, together with Chrysanthus, into the study of the Mysteries and Iamblic Theurgy. As the rhetorician Libanius wrote, from Maximus Julian “he heard about the Gods and demons, about the beings who, in truth, created this universe and keep it alive, he learned what the soul is, where it comes from, where it goes, what makes it fall and what raises it, what depresses it and what exalts it, what imprisonment and freedom are for it, how it can avoid one and reach the other. Then he rejected the nonsense he had
believed in until then to implant the splendor of truth in his soul“[28].

After having been initiated into the Mysteries of Mithras, he arrived in Athens, where he met the Neoplatonic philosopher Priscus, a great initiate of the Eleusinian Mother Rite, who welcomed him into his house and introduced him to his family. As Emperor, Julian wanted him with him and Priscus, as Eunapius tells us, will be present with Maximus at his deathbed, consoling his final hour.

At the suggestion of Maximus, Julian went to Eleusis in September 355 to meet the Pritan of the Hierophants then in office, the great Nestorius, who initiated him into the Sacred Mysteries of the Two Goddesses. As Eunapius always tells us, in the temple of Demeter and Persephone, having completed the ritual purifications and crowned with myrtle, he participated in the symbolic meal, drank the Kykeon and met the famous Hierophant, who explained to him the complicated symbolism of the ceremony and introduced him to the Mysteries[29]. He then visited the Peloponnese, saying he was convinced that Philosophy had abandoned “neither Athens, nor Sparta, nor Corinth” and that its springs still bathed the thirsty Argos[30].

The Pritan of the Hyerophants Nestorius, as Guido Giannelli attests to us, always remained very close to Julian, who had him accompany him to Gaul and had him as a precious collaborator to obtain the favor of Greece in its successful revolt against the hated Constantius[31].

In those years, in 361 or 362 according to Giannelli, Vettio Agorio Pretestato and his wife Aconia Fabia Paolina were initiated into the Sacred Mysteries, again by the Pritan of the Hierophants Nestorius. Pretestato deserves particular mention here, as this Civis Romanus of a noble senatorial family was at the same time an extraordinary figure of politician, philosopher and writer, Initiate and Priest of various cults and mystery rites and a standard bearer and staunch defender of traditional religiosity from constant attacks tighter than Christianity. His career, both from a political and religious point of view, was so extraordinary that, with the justice of his actions and his actions, he even earned the respect of many Bishops and high Christian authorities.

The funerary altar of Pretestato and his wife, today kept in the Capitoline Museums, reports the cursus honorum of this extraordinary character. In the political field he was Quaestor, Corrector Tuscuiae et Umbriae and Consularis (Governor) of Lusitania, Proconsul of Achaia from 361 (on the occasion of this appointment, the great philosopher Himerius dedicated a speech to him) and Praefectus Urbi in the two-year period 367-368; in 384 he was Praetorian Prefect for Italy and Illyricum, and finally elected Consul for 385, a position which however he never held as he died at the end of 384.

During his mandate as Praefectus Urbi, Pretestato returned the basilica of Sicinino (S. Maria Maggiore) to the Bishop of Rome Damasus and put an end to the fratricidal struggle between the Christian sects, having the rival Bishop Ursinus expelled from Rome (while still guaranteeing an amnesty to his followers), thus restoring peace to the city. He had all the private structures built by Christians on the Gentile temples removed and had the Portico of the Dei Consenti in the Forum restored with the utmost care.

In 1834 the architrave of the Portico was brought to light with the following inscription attesting to the restitution of the place by Pretestato: “Deorum Consentium sacrosancta simulacra cum omni loci totius adornatione cultu in formam antiquam restituto Vettius Praetextatus, vir clarissimus, Praefectus urbi reposuit curator Longeio vir clarissimus, consulari“.

Although it was a simple restoration of the structures damaged by the Christian carelessness and hatred, this choice was highly symbolic, as the Dei Consenti were the protectors of the senatorial class and thus the aim was to reaffirm, in contempt of the intolerant “anti-” policies pagans” of the imperial hierarchies, a strong link between the Gods and the organs of the State.

As Praetorian Prefect, continuing what he had already started in Rome, he began investigations throughout Italy into the demolitions of Gentile Temples at the hands of Christians, managing in many cases to bring justice and have those responsible punished.

In the religious field, he held the positions of Pontiff of Vesta and Sol Invictus, he was augur and curial of Hercules. He was initiated into the Mysteries of the Magna Mater Cybele and the Mysteries of Mithras, reaching the rank of Pater Sacrorum and holding the position of Pater Patrum, central authority of the Mithraic cult. The sources also indicate him as Hierophant of the Goddess Hecate, Neochorus of the Mysteries of Isis and Serapis, Initiate to the Mysteries of Dionysus and, as we have seen, between 361 and 362, to the Eleusinian Mysteries.

It is not attested by certain documentation that Pretestatus, in the context of the Eleusinity, reached hierophantic degrees, and therefore those late sources which indicate a «pretested Hierophant» who according to the Byzantine writer of the Justinian age, Giovanni Lido would have taken part as Pontiff, together with Sopater of Apamea, in the ceremonies for the foundation of Constantinople[32].

As Proconsul of Achaea, Vettius Agorius Pretestatos appealed against the edict of Valentinian I of 364 concerning the prohibition of nocturnal sacrifices in Greece, on the grounds that such a prohibition would have been intolerable to the Hellenes, who in this way would no longer have been able to celebrate the most sacred of the Mysteries, the Eleusinian ones. As Zosimos confirms to us in the Historia Nea, thanks to the action of Pretestato Valentinianus withdrew the provision.

He was a great friend of the writer or orator Quintus Aurelius Simmachus, also a great defender of Tradition, with whom he had an intense exchange of letters which has been partially preserved, and he actively collaborated, as well as with Simmachus, with Virio Nicomachus Falavianus and with other exponents of his cultural circle to the amendment and transmission of the texts of traditional culture, publishing among other things a Latin version of Aristotle’s Analytics in the adaptation written by the philosopher Themistius. He has also been immortalized in literature as the main character of Macrobius’ Saturnalia.

Pretestato was both respected and feared by the Christians and Sophronius Eusebius Jerome reports that, ironically addressing Pope Damasus I, who criticized him for his “pagan” intransigence, he told him “Elect me Bishop of Rome, and I will become a Christian”[33].

After the interlude of the enlightened years of Julian’s reign, there were no more Emperors of proven Eleusinian faith, with the sole exception of Flavius Eugenius, proclaimed Augustus of the West in 392 following the death of Valentinian II. Eugene, fervent Eleusinian and tenacious defender of traditional cults and the spirit of the Mos Maiorum, went down in history for his desperate attempt to overthrow the criminal Theodosius and thus restore religious tolerance and freedom for the ancient cults in the sign of a continuation of Giuliano’s work.

The list of all the authoritative figures who, during the more than four centuries of life of the Roman Empire, were initiated into the Sacred Mysteries of Eleusis would be very long, and a list that included the most illustrious personalities of the entire world would be interminable. Greek and Hellenistic before the advent of Octavian Augustus on the imperial throne. This is therefore not the most appropriate place to attempt such a list, but we cannot help but remember that Philip II[34] and Olympias, father and mother of Alexander the Great, and Demetrius I Poliorcetes of Macedonia[35] received initiation, and that the sovereigns of the Ptolemaic dynasty of Egypt were all fervent Eleusinians, starting from Ptolemy I Sother, who solemnly inaugurated the Rites in Alexandria in the presence of the Pritan of the Hierophants of Eleusis, the eumolpide Timothy. Hiero, Tyrant of Syracuse, as well as a great scholar and patron, was Hierophant of the Two Goddesses. Alexander the Great, however, was sensationally refused initiation, as he was considered impure for some of his crimes.

Besides the heroic and mythological traditions that saw figures such as Heracles and Asclepius as initiates, the greatest philosophers of the Hellenic world embraced Eleusinity, starting with Plato, Socrates and Cleanthes, and, in particular, the vast majority of philosophers of the Platonic school and neo-Platonic: Pseusippus, Xenocrates, Philo of Larissa, Antiochus of Ascalon (Cicero’s Mystagogus), Alexander of Aphrodisias, Plotinus, Porphyry, Amelius, Olympiodorus, Iamblichus, Syrianus, Damascus, Plutarch of Athens, Priscus, Proclus, Asclepigenia, Aedesius of Cappadocia, Sopater of Apamea) and numerous of the greatest writers, chroniclers and men of letters, from Herodotus to Pausanias, from Plutarch of Chaeronea to Apuleius, from Callimachus to Himerius, from Isocrates to Saturninus According to Salustius.

The greatest scientists of antiquity were Eleusinians, from Archimedes of Syracuse to Theon of Alexandria (father of the sublime Hypatia, also an initiate and extraordinary philosopher and scientist) and the greatest doctors, from the father of Medicine Hippocrates of Kos to Galen of Pergamum.

 

Galen wrote in one of his famous works, addressing one of his disciples: «Pay your attention now more than if, receiving the initiation of Eleusis or Samothrace, or of any other holy Teleté, you were completely absorbed by the gestures and words of the Hierophants, considering this Teleté [which you are about to receive] as in no way inferior to those, convinced that it can equally well make known the wisdom, providence and power of the Demiurge of living beings; and above all think that this Teleté that I now administer, I myself discovered it“[36]. And again, in another text of his: «And this is not surprising, since some non-initiates have dared to read the Mystery Books. But those who wrote these books did not write them for the profane, and I have not written the foregoing for those who are not educated in the first principles.“[37]

Demosthenes, the great Athenian politician and orator of the 4th century BC, also an initiate, wrote that “those who have not been initiated can know nothing about the Mysteries by hearsay”[38].

Returning to Rome, the Eleusinian initiation of Marcus Tullius Cicero is well known, to which I will make various references throughout this book, but less known are those of Publius Virgil Maron, of Marcus Porcius Cato, of Publius Papinius Statius, of Macrobius (which took place when Eleusinity had already necessarily gone underground) and of Quinto Orazio Flacco. The latter, in his Odes, wrote that he would not have had the courage to face the dangers of the sea in the company of someone who had desecrated the Sacred Mysteries of the Goddess Demeter[39].

In essence, the primacy and superiority of Eleusinity and its Mysteries can be well summarized by a passage from De facie quae in orbe lunae apparet, the most cryptic and initiatory text by Plutarch of Chaeronea: “all the men he knew, dedicating themselves to the study of the Sacred Texts and being initiated into the Mysteries, they could not be listed in one day…”[40].

 

[1] Marcus Tullius Cicero: On the Laws, II°, 14, 36.

[2] Pausanias: Periegesis of Greece, X°, 31, 11.

[3] Nicola Bizzi: Fratres Arvales. Ed. Aurora Boreale, Florence 2024.

[4] Marcus Tullius Cicero: For Balbus, 55.

[5] Marcus Tullius Cicero: On the Laws, II°, 24.

[6] Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus: Claudius, 25.

[7] Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus: Augustus, 93.

[8] Lucius Cassius Dio: Roman History, LI°, 4,1.

[9] Ibidem, LIV°, 9.

[10] Enzo Lippolis: Mysteria: Archeology and cult of the sanctuary of Demeter at Eleusis. Ed. Bruno Mondadori, Milan 2006.

[11] Plutarch of Chaeronea: Antony, 23.

[12] Giulio Giannelli: The Romans at Eleusis, in Proceedings of the Royal Academy of Sciences of Turin, vol. 50, 1915.

[13] Plutarch of Chaeronea: Sulla, 26.

[14] Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus: Nero, 34.

[15] Victor Magnien: Les Mystères d’Eleusis. Ed. Payot, Paris 1938.

[16] Corpus Inscriptionum Graecarum, III°, 1096; Helios Spartanus: Life of Hadrian, XIX°, 1; Lucius Cassius Dio: LXIX, 16, 1.

[17] Enzo Lippolis: Work cited.

[18] Helios Spartanus: Life of Hadrian, 13.

[19] Kevin Clinton: Eleusis. The Inscriptions on Stone. Documents of the Sanctuary of the Two Goddesses and Public Documents of the Deme. Ed. Archaeological Society at Athens Library, Athens 2005.

[20] Enzo Lippolis: Work cited.

[21] Schol. Aristides: Panathenaic, 183, 2.

[22] Juan Manuel Cortés Copete: Marcus Aurelius, benefactor of Eleusis. Article for Gerión – Revista de Historia Antigua.

[23] Enzo Lippolis: Work cited.

[24] Victor Magnien: Work cited.

[25] Giulio Giannelli: Article cited.

[26] Lucius Flavius Philostratus: Lives of the Sophists, 628.

[27] IGC, 4770; OGIS, 720-721; SEG XXXVII, 1650.

[28] Libanius: Oration XVIII°, 18.

[29] Eunapius: Lives of the Philosophers and Sophists, V. Eunapius, also an Eleusinian Initiate, respecting the practice of hyeronimia, in this passage does not mention the name of the Pritan of the Hyerophants, but it is attested that it was Nestorius, in that moment not long into office. The same Eumolpid Nestorius, the last Pritan officially in office, who twenty-five years later, at the height of the persecutions, formally closed the Sanctuary, leading the Eleusinity into the clandestinity phase.

[30] Julian: Panegyric of Eusebia, 119 bc.

[31] Giulio Giannelli: Article cited.

[32] Giovanni Lido: De Mensibus, 4.2.

[33] Sophronius Eusebius Jerome: Contra Johannem Hierosolymitanum, 8.

[34] Tito Livio: Ab Urbe condita, XXI°, 47.

[35] Plutarch of Chaeronea: Demetrius, 25.

[36] Galen: De usu partium, VII°, 14.

[37] Galen: De simpl. medical temper ac facult., VII°, Proemium.

[38] Demosthenes: Against Neera, 79.

[39] Horace: Odes, III°, 2, 27.

[40] Plutarch of Chaeronea: On the face that appears in the Moon, XXVI°, 16