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"Whoever has been
initiated at Eleusis or has read what are called
the Orphica knows what I mean." [Pausanias,
Description
of Greece 1.37.4]
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Eleusis, which stands on the Thriasian plain, is
a city of Attica, on the Saronic Gulf, northwest of
Athens, near the Isthmus
of Corinth.
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Eleusinus
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The city of Eleusis was named after Eleusis,
also called Eleusinus. Some have said that
Eleusinus was the son of Ogygus, the Boeotian king
who lost his land to the Phoenician immigrant or
invader Cadmus, the
founder of Thebes. Others
told that Eleusinus was the son of
Hermes and Daira, one of
the OCEANIDS.
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Eleusinus killed by
Demeter
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King Eleusinus, they say, married Cothonea and
had by her a son
Triptolemus, known
for having sown
Demeter's wheat in the
whole inhabited earth, flying through the sky in a
chariot dragged by winged dragons. When
Demeter came to Eleusis
looking for her daughter
Persephone, she
pretended to be a nurse, and taking care of little
Triptolemus, she
attempted to make him immortal by putting him in
the fire. But when Eleusinus discovered her
manipulations the goddess struck him dead [see also
Demeter].
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King Celeus 1
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It has also been said that when
Demeter came to Eleusis,
the king of the city was Celeus 1, son of
Eleusinus, and in this account, father of
Triptolemus by
Metanira. In any case, both Celeus 1 and Eleusinus
are said to have died at the time when
Demeter visited Eleusis.
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Children of Celeus 1
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Of the many children of Celeus 1 and Metanira,
who are named Demophon 2,
Triptolemus,
Saesara, Diogenia 2, Pammerope, Clisidice, Demo 2,
Callithoe and Callidice 3, no descent can be traced
except for Saesara, who having married Coco, gave
birth to Meganira.
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Arcadian descent
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Meganira, some say, was the wife of Arcas 1, the
son of Zeus and
Callisto after whom
Arcadia was named. But
other women: Leanira, Chrysopelia, Erato 1 and
Laodamia 3, among other unknown, are called wives
of Arcas 1, and mothers of his sons and daughters.
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War with Athens
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During the reign of Erechtheus in
Athens, war broke out
against the Eleusinians, who were assisted by
Eumolpus 1. Eumolpus 1 attacked
Athens because, as he put
it, that land belonged to his father
Poseidon. But, however
mighty his father was, Eumolpus 1 was defeated and
killed by Erechtheus along with his son Ismarus 2
(also called Immaradus), who commanded the troops.
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Childhood of Eumolpus 1
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Eumolpus 1's mother was Chione 1, daughter of
Boreas 1 (the North Wind) and Orithyia 2, the
daughter of King Erectheus that was ravished by
Boreas 1 [see WINDS].
Chione 1 was not proud of having been seduced by
such a mighty god as
Poseidon, and feeling
shame or fear for her father, flung her son
Eumolpus 1 into the sea.
Poseidon, however,
picked him up, and having taken him to Ethiopia,
gave him to his daughter Benthesicyme to bring up.
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Eumolpus 1 in Thrace
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When Eumolpus 1 became a man, Benthesicyme's
Ethiopian husband gave him one of his two
daughters. But for Eumolpus 1 she was not enough,
and so he tried to seduce his wife's sister. For
that reason Eumolpus 1 was banished, and taking his
son Ismarus 2 with him, he came to Thrace where
Tegyrius reigned. This king gave his daughter in
marriage to Ismarus 2, but ungrateful as they were,
they plotted against Tegyrius, and being detected
they emigrated to Eleusis. On the death of Ismarus
2, they say, Eumolpus 1 returned to Thrace, and
being reconciled with Tegyrius, he succeeded to the
kingdom.
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The army of Eumolpus 1
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When the war broke up then, the Eleusinians
asked for military assistance, and Eumolpus 1 came
with a large force of Thracians, but, some say, he
was killed in battle by Erechtheus. Others have
affirmed that it was his son Ismarus 2 who perished
in that war. The commander in chief of the
Athenians was Ion 1,
grandson of King Erechtheus.
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The mysteries adjudged to Eleusis
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Ion 1 perished in the
war as also did Ismarus 2, son of Eumolpus 1. When
the war concluded without being fought out, it was
agreed that Eleusis was to keep independent control
of the mysteries, becoming the subject of
Athens in all other
matters. Eumolpus 1 was appointed to administer the
mysteries, and after him, his own son Ceryx, and
Celeus 1's daughters Saesara, Diogenia 2 and
Pammerope.
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Entangled versions
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And as these matters are contradictory, Ceryx
has also been called son of
Hermes and Aglaurus 2,
the daughter of Cecrops 1, an
autochthon; and
there are those who assert that Celeus 1 was no
king but peasant. And of Erechtheus it has also
been said that he was by birth an Egyptian, and
that he became king of
Athens for having brought
from Egypy a great supply of grain when drought and
the destruction of crops threatened
Athens. And when this
city then made his benefactor king, he instituted
the Eleusinian mysteries, transferring their ritual
from Egypt. But all these events being uncertain,
it has been said that:
"Ancient
legends, deprived of the help of poetry, have given
rise to many fictions, especially concerning the
pedigrees of heroes." [Pausanias,
Description
of Greece 1.38.7.]
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Phliasian version
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The Phliasians, who lived near
Sicyon close to the
Isthmus of Corinth, have
claimed that the mysteries were first established
in Eleusis by Celeus 1's brother Dysaules, who was
expelled from Eleusis by Ion
1 during the war. But some refuse to believe
that these two were related, and say instead that
the mysteries were taught by
Demeter to
Triptolemus, Diocles
2, and Celeus 1.
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Some initiated
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It was not lawful for foreigners to be
initiated, and that is why Pylius became the
adoptive father of
Heracles 1 at Eleusis.
Before being initiated,
Heracles 1 needed also
to be cleansed for the slaughter of the
CENTAURS, many of which
Poseidon hid
coincidentally near Eleusis, and the one, they say,
who cleansed Heracles
1 was Eumolpus 1. However, this sounds
unlikely, for Eumolpus 1 lived before the times of
Heracles 1. Others
have said, therefore, that when
Heracles 1 came to
Eleusis, the initiatory rites were performed by
Musaeus, called sometimes son of
Orpheus, and at other
times son of Antiophemus. In a similar way, when
the DIOSCURI invaded
Attica they demanded to be initiated in the
Eleusinian mysteries, being adopted by Aphidnus 2.
Yet others have said that the Eleusinian mysteries
were opened to any Athenian or Hellene who wished
to be initiated. In any case, the nature of the
Eleusinian mysteries was never divulged.
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Rites brought abroad
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The mysteries and the rites were brought to
other cities: For example Phlyus, who was a son of
Gaia had a son Celaenus 1,
who was father of Caucon 2, the man who brought the
rites of the Great Goddesses from Eleusis to
Messenia under the
reign of Polycaon 1 and Messene. King Polycaon 1
was son of Lelex 2, the first king of Laconia, who
is said to have come from Egypt.
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Eleusis captured by
Theseus
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Eleusis, they say, was, on a later occasion
captured from Megara by
Theseus, after he had
come to Athens, and in
Eleusis he slew the Arcadian Cercyon 1, son either
of Branchus and the Nymph Argiope 1, or of
Poseidon and
Amphictyon's daughter, or of
Hephaestus.
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The SEVEN buried
at Eleusis
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The graves of the
SEVEN AGAINST
THEBES were shown near Eleusis, and this
burial, it is affirmed, was a favour that
Theseus showed to
Adrastus 1.
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