Priestly Families: Eumolpidae and Kerykes
One of the great impressions I have for today’s class is the openness of
Eleusinian Mysteries. From Mara Kelly’s (2009) article, we are able to know
that the initiation is open to anyone who speaks Greek and is not a murderer,
which means that men, women, and even slaves are admitted to the rites.
Interestingly, such openness had been coexisting with its secrecy. Every
initiate has to take silence vow to ensure absolute no revelation about the
details of the rites. Out of curiosity, I look into the “Eleusinian Mysteries”
entry in Encyclopedia of the Ancient World for more information on the
system of Eleusinian Mysteries.
The priesthood apparently plays an important role in the whole initiation
process and the ancient Greek society in general because priests are the connection
to gods for ordinary people (120). This is also shown by Oedipus Rex in
which the priest is actively involved in governing affair when he begs Oedipus
to save the country from the plague. According to the Encyclopedia that I
previously mentioned, there were two priestly families, Eumolpidae and Kerykes
that facilitated the initiation by popularizing the rites and getting as many
initiates to participate as possible. It is believed that Eumolpidae and
Kerykes are descendants of Eumolpus, one of the first hierophants of Demeter.
Another interesting fact about the families is that they not only were
responsible for the conduct of sacred rituals but also “hold judicial power in
cases were religion was violated” (Smith 1875, 477). Therefore, the high status
of priests is out of doubt.
Works Cited
Keller, Mara Lynn. "The Ritual Path of Initiation into the Eleusinian
Mysteries." Rosicrucian Digest, no. 2 (2009): 30.
Sacks, David J., ed. Encyclopedia of the Ancient World. New York,
NY: Schlager Group Inc., 1995. PDF.
Smith, William. A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013. http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/secondary/SMIGRA*/Eumolpidae.html.
I think that your observations on the priesthood in both stories is very interesting. I also like how you pointed out that the ceremonies were open to women, slaves and basically any class of person. That's really interesting and I didn't think about it before now.
ReplyDeleteI like the point you bring up about the Mysteries accepting a wide range of people, but it also makes me wonder if people outside of the Mysteries were so accepting of them as well. While looking at the entry for the Eleusian Mysteries in the "Encyclopedia of the Ancient Greek World", the author of the encyclopedia only refers to the Mysteries as a "cult" (119) and at the end of the section, listed 'Orphism' as suggested reading (120). Much more gruesome and disturbing than the Eleusinian Mysteries, Orphic Myth involves cannibalism and where a 'holy infant' is tore up and eaten (234). Also Keller herself mentions that the initiates are 'mocked by masked jesters' (34) as they cross the bridge to Eleusis. It would be surprising if everyone in the Ancient Greek society was very accepting of the worship of such myths, even if they are rewarding experiences for the initiates.
ReplyDelete