Some of these same themes resurface in an important Athenian testimony written
by the orator Isocrates in the fourth century BC. He of course emphasizes the
intimate bond between the Mysteria and Athens (Clinton 1994):
First of all, that which mankind first needed was provided by our city. For even if the
story is mythical, nevertheless, it is fitting for it to be told even now. When Demeter
arrived in our country, having wandered about after Kore was abducted, and was well
disposed to our ancestors because of their kindnesses [euergesiai] which it is not possible
for those who are not initiated to hear, and gave them double gifts, which happen to be
the greatest – the fruits of the earth [tous karpous] which are responsible for the fact that
we do not live like animals, and the festival [te ̄n telete ̄n], the participants in which have
sweeter hopes concerning the end of lifeand all time [tou sumpantos aio ̄nos], our city was so
reverent and generous [philanthro ̄po ̄s], that when it possessed such great good things it
did not begrudge them to others but let all share in the things which it received.
(Isocrates,Panegyricus28)Here too, in these words of Isocrates, it is implied that the initiates can expect better
things for themselves in the afterlife than the uninitiated. And Isocrates emphasizes
that these double gifts of Demeter – grain and the Mysteria – she gave first to Athens,
and that Athens, in a spirit of civilizing generosity, handed them on to the rest of the
Greek world. All this was represented in myth. The gift of the grain was transmitted
to the Greeks by the Eleusinian hero Triptolemus, who in the course of his travels,
while distributing the grain, invited the Greeks to the Mysteria (Xenophon,Hellenica
6.3.2–6). This tradition of announcing the festival continued in historical times, as
Athens each year sent sacred ambassadors (spondophoroi) to the Greek cities to invite
their inhabitants (men and women, slave and free, except for children) to the annual
celebration (Clinton 1974:23), and gradually the ranks of the initiates were swelled
more and more each year by Greeks who came from abroad. They came in the month
of Boedromion, around the time of our September, and the festival took place over a
period of nine days, from Boedromion 15th to 23rd. We do not have space here for a
full description of all the events on these days, most of them public, many of them
spectacular (Clinton 1993:116–19). On the 20th of the month, the initiates marched
in a great procession to Eleusis (Clinton 1988); in the evening of the 21st they
entered the sanctuary and took part in the secret rite; on the 22nd they celebrated
with sacrifices; and on the 23rd they returned to their homes. So it was in the evening
of the 21st that that the initiates entered and partook of an extraordinary experience
in which a myth in dramatic form played a certain role. Isocrates says hardly anything
about this myth. But there is another source of information, mentioned above, which
has not been tapped as much as it might have been – artistic representations.
Certain Athenian vases, which display symbols of the Mysteria, give us mythical
scenes which undoubtedly reflect, at least in a general way, the myth of the Mysteria.
It would be difficult for a non-initiate to deduce much about the Mysteria from these
scenes, but in combination with other clues, including information from the sanctu-
ary, it is possible to make out the shape of the myth (Clinton 1992:73–84). The
scenes appear on vases which were probably sold to initiates and were eventually
buried with them in their graves. A sacred Eleusinian landmark appears in some of
these scenes: a rock upon which Demeter sits. This feature is missing from
theHomeric Hymn to Demeter. But it is essential to both the myth and the cult.
The Mysteries of Demeter and Kore 345