‘‘fellow-traveler’’ (396); he is to escort them to ‘‘the goddess,’’ Thea, the name given
in the Mysteria to the queen of the underworld, Persephone (397–403), just as in the
festival he escorted them to Demeter. They shout: ‘‘Iakchos, lover of the dance, join
in escorting me!’’ (403, 408, 413).
In works of art, therefore, we should probably expect Iakchos to be a god with a
torch in the company of initiates. The figure that most easily fits this description is the
youthful male in the lower field of a fourth-century painted tablet, called the Ninnion
Tablet (Figure 22.2), after a woman named Ninnion, who dedicated it within the
sanctuary. The male figure carries a torch in either hand, and is followed by two
initiates. Both he and the initiates wear the initiates’ traditional myrtle wreath. The
Figure 22.2 Ninnion Tablet from Eleusis, Athens, National Museum 11036. After A.N.
SkiasArchaeologike Ephemeris1901: pl. 1
The Mysteries of Demeter and Kore 349