Flora Unveiled

The “Plantheon” j 185

185 185

case of Zeus, whose role as the sky- god can be traced to Indo- European origins, has continu-

ity with the Bronze Age been demonstrated.

Demeter/ Kore and the Eleusinian Mysteries

In the highly stratified monarchies of Bronze Age Mesopotamia, sacred marriage rituals

were enacted in which a priestess, as proxy for Inanna, symbolically granted the Goddess’s

imprimatur to the King’s legitimacy. In Aegean religions, groups of priestesses appear to

have presided over rituals involving powerful female deities, indicative, perhaps, of increased

agency and autonomy compared to their Mesopotamian counterparts.^9

From girlhood to old age, Greek women played important roles in religious festivals and

rituals. The most famous and enduring of all the Greek religious festivals, which lasted until

the end of the Roman Empire, took place at the temple of Demeter at Eleusis, a settlement

near Athens on the west coast of Attica overlooking the island of Salamis. Held annually

from late August to early September, the Eleusinian Mysteries coincided with the end of the

harvest season, prior to the fall planting, when the grain was stored in underground con-

tainers and the fields looked desolate and barren. Already well- established by the seventh

or sixth centuries bce, the Eleusinian Mysteries was a major religious festival, attracting

seekers and dignitaries from all over the ancient world. Participation in the mysteries was

Figure 7.1 Athena’s birth from Zeus’s head depicted on a vase.

Two- handled jar (amphora) depicting the birth of Athena, Accession Number 00.330; from Digital Image

Resources, Boston Museum of Fine Arts: 617- 369- 4338/ [email protected].