Eleusis: Emily

The first stop we made on our excursion out of Athens and into the Peloponnesus was at Eleusis, a religiously significant site—the home of the Eleusian Mysteries. While we explored the ruins that housed an ancient cult in honor of Demeter and her daughter Persephone, we talked about religion and religious practices in ancient Greece. After we left the site, I began reflecting on some of the things I had learned, especially as they compare to religions today and practices we are perhaps more familiar with.

One of the things we discussed at Eleusis was how sacred sites in ancient Greece always had a propylaea, or entranceway, which separated the sacred territory from the rest of the region. This division was necessary because these places of worship spanned entire areas instead of being contained to buildings (like a church or mosque such as we may be more familiar with). The use of a large space seems to project a feeling of the power the gods had in the lives of ancient Greeks. Their presence was too great for a small region. Similarly, we learned that they did not worship their deities inside; they built temples strictly for the gods and worshipped outside of the temple. This contrasts with many religious practices today, where people typically praise their God or gods from inside buildings.

As I contemplated some of the new information I had acquired on this trip, I started thinking about some of the broader ideas and implications that are inherent in ancient Greek religious practices:

First of all, the ancient rituals seem superstitious—people performed all kinds of ceremonies because they were afraid not to. They didn’t necessarily know why partaking in these practices protected them, except that it supposedly “appeased the gods.” Essentially, they continued because they were afraid something bad would happen if they didn’t perform these rites properly. Realizing this about ancient Greek religion makes one wonder about religious practices in general. Does this superstitious attitude extend to other modern religious rituals? Do people sometimes perform these ceremonies simply because they fear the consequences of neglecting their higher power?

Another major feature of the Mysteries at Eleusis was that members of this cult were promised a special treatment in the afterlife. Because Persephone spent time in both the upper-world and the under-world, developing a relationship with her, and her mother Demeter, during life (by being initiated into the cult) could carry over into death. People probably found this very appealing because it eased anxiety about death, an otherwise daunting and frightening fate. I think that humans, by nature, often need this kind of comfort in order to psychologically and emotionally cope with death. I think this cult provided this function for its members, and I think that many modern religions also fulfill this role in people’s lives by promising an afterlife, some sort of heaven for eternity.

A final element of significance that I noted about Demeter’s cult was that it was a way of uniting people of all classes since any Greek-speaker could be initiated and participate in the Mysteries. This equality seems to stem from the idea that everyone is equal in the afterlife, which I thought seemed to be similar to many other religious ideologies, like the Christian one that your earthly status will be eradicated in heaven, and all will be equal. This idea made me wonder though why this feeling of equality only existed in the place of worship in ancient Greece—why was it that Greeks were equally allowed to be part of this cult, but as soon as they stepped out and back into their daily lives, they returned to discrimination by class?

Reflecting upon our visit to Eleusis left me with many things to marvel at and ponder. It also left me with many big questions that I don’t think have a simple answer, if any answer; yet it seems kind of fitting that the “Eleusian Mysteries” would leave me with many questions.