Eleusinian mysteries

Related to Eleusinian mysteries: Demeter

Eleusinian mysteries

pl.n.

The ancient religious rites celebrated at Eleusis in honor of Demeter.

[From Latin Eleusīnius, of Eleusis, from Greek Eleusīnios, from Eleusīs, Eleusīn-, Eleusis.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Eleusinian mysteries

pl n

(Classical Myth & Legend) a mystical religious festival, held in September at Eleusis in classical times, in which initiates celebrated Persephone, Demeter, and Dionysus

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

El•eu•sin′i•an mys′teries

(ˌɛl yʊˈsɪn i ən)
n.pl.

the mysteries, celebrated annually at Eleusis and Athens in ancient times, in memory of the abduction and return of Persephone and in honor of Demeter and Dionysus.

[1635–45; <Latin Eleusīni(us) of Eleusis (< Greek Eleusinios)]

Mentioned in ?

References in classic literature ?

In memory of her sorrows Demeter establishes the Eleusinian mysteries (which, however, were purely agrarian in origin).

View in context

The Eleusinian mysteries, the Egyptian architecture, the Indian astronomy, the Greek sculpture, show that there always were seeing and knowing men in the planet.

View in context

Considering Agamben's discussion of the unspeakable girl in the Eleusinian mysteries and the prohibition of uttering these mysteries, both texts engage with the idea of female silencing and the involvement of women in mythical rituals.

The Arretos Kore: Mythical Voices in Contemporary Greek Fiction

The convener, "P," and his acolytes perform a ritual very loosely based on the Greek Eleusinian mysteries, in which while sitting on cushions you are offered a drink spiked with psychoactive substances.

Abracadabra Psi?

(56) The distinction between the Lesser Mysteries and the Greater Mysteries likely derives from how this distinction operated in the Eleusinian Mysteries, an annual initiation into the cult of Demeter.

THE EGOISM OF EROS: THE CHALLENGE OF LOVE IN DIOTIMA'S SPEECH

It is when we are afforded by Julian to witness him in his experience of the Eleusinian mysteries that we understand why Christianity is a fluid movement from the Hellenistic thoughts to the notions of the afterlife.

Rediscovering Gore Vidal

For me, Shakespeare's romances cultivate this viscous allegorical space, where Marian memories and Eleusinian mysteries conspire with metamorphic mythographies of renaissance.

The Insistence of Art: Aesthetic Philosophy After Early Modernity

Howard was also searching for the equally mysterious mind-expanding plant-derived drink Kykeon - swigged by the Ancient Greeks during the climax of the baffling Eleusinian Mysteries - which gave amazing visions of the afterlife.

TALES FROM THE PAST

Earlier discussions have interpreted Makron's representation of Dionysos as celebrating the god's local cult and festivals at Eleusis, just as the Mission of Triptolemos on the obverse celebrates the Eleusinian Mysteries of Demeter.

God as Cult Initiate: Dionysos and the Eleusinian Mysteries in Greek Vase-Painting

In the Eleusinian Mysteries, the initiates are similarly given a special psychoactive drink of barley and pennyroyal called kykeon, taken in the Telesterion where certain hiera (sacred objects) are revealed to them, as they recite, "I have fasted.

Alice: The Oldest Story in the World

Two are of the utmost importance: shamanism lato sensu and the Mysteries (Isiac, Mithraic, Orphic, Dionysian, Eleusinian Mysteries...).