1 00:00:04,820 --> 00:00:10,023 Beginning with the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, we'll find some themes that are 2 00:00:10,023 --> 00:00:14,463 familiar from our general knowledge of how ancient myths worked. 3 00:00:14,463 --> 00:00:19,527 We all know the story of how Demeter was connected with her daughter, and 4 00:00:19,527 --> 00:00:25,424 Persephone got a little bit went astray, got sucked down to the underworld, she had 5 00:00:25,424 --> 00:00:28,546 a, needed to be extracted from that situation. 6 00:00:28,546 --> 00:00:34,094 Her mother was deeply upset by it and her having been upset by it makes a connection 7 00:00:34,094 --> 00:00:39,607 with her fertility and her dominion over the earth and its reproductivity means 8 00:00:39,607 --> 00:00:44,324 that when she's upset that means that, that reproductivity doesn't happen so 9 00:00:44,324 --> 00:00:46,714 much. We all remember that, that the story is 10 00:00:46,714 --> 00:00:50,450 connected with the seasons. We have a story of fertility, then, 11 00:00:50,450 --> 00:00:54,678 connected with a careful rendering of a mother-daughter relationship. 12 00:00:54,678 --> 00:00:59,211 There's also going to be built into this story we'll see in a coming lecture, 13 00:00:59,211 --> 00:01:04,418 strong themes that connect about to women's transitions in the cycle of the 14 00:01:04,418 --> 00:01:07,997 aging of a woman. Movement from childhood to adulthood and 15 00:01:07,997 --> 00:01:12,888 puberty, entrance into marriage and child-bearing years and then moving from 16 00:01:12,888 --> 00:01:15,983 there into old age and beyond child-bearing years. 17 00:01:15,983 --> 00:01:18,830 Each of these is a very rich theme pulled out. 18 00:01:18,830 --> 00:01:23,782 What I wanted to start our discussion with though harkens back to our last, last 19 00:01:23,782 --> 00:01:26,753 lecture. I wanted to look at the ritual elements 20 00:01:31,767 --> 00:01:37,191 and made reference to in our story. There are strong identifiable links with 21 00:01:37,191 --> 00:01:42,060 one particular ancient festival, that is the Eleusinian mysteries. 22 00:01:42,060 --> 00:01:47,056 I've written on top of a map here to give us a description of what generally happens 23 00:01:47,056 --> 00:01:50,804 in Eleusinian mysteries.. You can see we start off with Athens. 24 00:01:50,974 --> 00:01:54,949 That's there in our circle. A quick trip down to Piraeus gives us a 25 00:01:54,949 --> 00:01:58,356 chance to get our evolutions done and we clean ourselves up. 26 00:01:58,356 --> 00:02:01,819 There's a purification that happens at Piraeus at the sea. 27 00:02:01,819 --> 00:02:06,589 Then a trip back to Athens and there's a couple of days that unfold there with some 28 00:02:06,589 --> 00:02:10,166 ceremonies that go on. The main procession then gets started on 29 00:02:10,166 --> 00:02:14,986 the fifth day as we move from Athens, over across, we get some taunts thrown at us, 30 00:02:14,986 --> 00:02:19,324 ritual abuse gets hurled at us as we go over a bridge crossing a river. 31 00:02:19,324 --> 00:02:23,540 We make, strangely, we're going to talk about what that is in a second. 32 00:02:23,540 --> 00:02:23,541 We 33 00:02:23,541 --> 00:02:28,489 We make our way to Eleusis where the main ceremony happens there on day six and 34 00:02:28,489 --> 00:02:32,644 seven, followed by a procession on day nine, and we make our way home. 35 00:02:32,828 --> 00:02:37,471 Very famous nine day festival in antiquity, and it was well known from as 36 00:02:37,471 --> 00:02:41,871 far back as we have written records there's reference to this Elusinian 37 00:02:41,871 --> 00:02:45,172 mystery. Now, we don't know a lot of the details. 38 00:02:45,172 --> 00:02:49,211 What we do know comes from this Homeric Hymn to Demeter. 39 00:02:49,211 --> 00:02:54,657 There is not much we can use prior to this to give us more evidence, instead what we 40 00:02:54,657 --> 00:02:59,220 do is try to fill that out with as best we can, the archaeological record and some 41 00:02:59,220 --> 00:03:03,784 references and later sources, most of which though are probably dependent on the 42 00:03:03,784 --> 00:03:06,294 tradition that we have right in front of us. 43 00:03:06,294 --> 00:03:11,331 What we know about the connection between the story told in the Homeric into Demeter 44 00:03:11,331 --> 00:03:16,122 and Eleusinian Mysteries, there are connections that are really interesting to 45 00:03:16,122 --> 00:03:19,439 see right off the bat. First of all, there's a location 46 00:03:19,439 --> 00:03:22,633 connection. Demeter, when she gets to Eleusis finds a 47 00:03:22,633 --> 00:03:27,301 place that she's trying to work out her grief with the loss of her daughter. 48 00:03:27,301 --> 00:03:32,153 This tells us right away that there's a special connection between Demeter and 49 00:03:32,153 --> 00:03:36,023 these mysteries located at Eleusis. Eleusis is famous for these. 50 00:03:36,023 --> 00:03:38,971 The name mysteries gets pulled out in the story. 51 00:03:38,971 --> 00:03:43,866 We hear that Demeter understands that these rites in her honor are going to be 52 00:03:43,866 --> 00:03:47,368 mysteries in her honor. There's a focus on fertility in the 53 00:03:47,368 --> 00:03:52,355 Eleusinian Mysteries, which is clearly an important component of the Homeric Hymn to 54 00:03:52,355 --> 00:03:55,264 Demeter. We have explicit discussion in the story 55 00:03:55,264 --> 00:03:59,716 of the setting up of explicit rites. We, she, Demeter wants to make sure that 56 00:03:59,716 --> 00:04:03,936 there is a temple made to her. And then an altar is set up for her. 57 00:04:03,936 --> 00:04:07,002 This comes up in multiple times during the story. 58 00:04:07,002 --> 00:04:12,195 It's not a small part of what Demeter's demands are that the world pay her back 59 00:04:12,195 --> 00:04:17,240 for the loss of her daughter. We hear about secrecy and initiation. 60 00:04:17,240 --> 00:04:21,877 There will be an initiation into these mysteries and that, that initiation should 61 00:04:21,877 --> 00:04:26,515 be according to a process that, that's not be shared with everybody, that should be 62 00:04:26,515 --> 00:04:28,977 secret. That's characteristic of Eleusinian 63 00:04:28,977 --> 00:04:31,725 Mysteries, It's mentioned explicitly in the hymn. 64 00:04:31,725 --> 00:04:36,076 A nine day period, such as we know the Eleusinian Mysteries followed, is also 65 00:04:36,076 --> 00:04:39,856 referenced in our story. We get a sense that the nine day chunk of 66 00:04:39,856 --> 00:04:43,697 time is important. There's reference to, to Demeter wandering 67 00:04:43,697 --> 00:04:46,965 around for nine days. We hear of a special drink, that she 68 00:04:46,965 --> 00:04:50,348 insist that she have, when she's offered wine, a human drink, 69 00:04:50,348 --> 00:04:54,591 Gods wouldn't probably drink that. Instead, she ask that a special drink be 70 00:04:54,591 --> 00:04:57,057 made for her. Water with barley and peniwel. 71 00:04:57,057 --> 00:05:01,357 We know that this played an important part in the Eleusinian Mysteries ritual 72 00:05:01,357 --> 00:05:05,282 tradition as well. This character Yamba shows up. 73 00:05:05,282 --> 00:05:13,741 She is a character who cheers up Demeter by offering some funny things, and some 74 00:05:13,741 --> 00:05:17,139 kind of lighthearted commentary that she gives. 75 00:05:17,139 --> 00:05:23,140 This also is the name in antiquity of a tradition of nasty satirical poetry that's 76 00:05:23,140 --> 00:05:28,796 very, very funny and does add a kind of humorous tone to whatever it treats. 77 00:05:28,796 --> 00:05:34,151 It also is pretty direct, racy. And a little bit it's satire is not 78 00:05:34,151 --> 00:05:37,799 gentle. Now, the harshness that's involved in the 79 00:05:37,799 --> 00:05:43,833 form of the Yamba, the ancient satiric genre that's referenced through this name 80 00:05:43,833 --> 00:05:46,519 also has a connection with this procession. 81 00:05:46,519 --> 00:05:51,714 Remember, we mentioned that at a certain point during the procession the celebrants 82 00:05:51,714 --> 00:05:56,635 go over a bridge over a river and there, Teased mercilessly, the, the, the, there 83 00:05:56,635 --> 00:06:02,226 others that are hidden underneath there that hurl nasty insults and epithets at 84 00:06:02,226 --> 00:06:07,118 people that are processing. We're wondering, that doesn't seem quite 85 00:06:07,118 --> 00:06:10,542 so holy. Well, it is indeed a part of the festival, 86 00:06:10,542 --> 00:06:15,154 and it's built right in here to our account of Demeter's story. 87 00:06:15,154 --> 00:06:20,325 Yamba shows up, we think, as having a, making a reference to this moment of 88 00:06:20,325 --> 00:06:23,890 ritual abuse that's built into the cultic ceremony. 89 00:06:23,890 --> 00:06:29,141 There's a promise in the Eleusinian, Mysteries also of a better afterlife. 90 00:06:29,141 --> 00:06:34,249 That's an interesting thing to show up in ancient, ancient ritual. 91 00:06:34,249 --> 00:06:39,789 Mostly, ancient cultic worship, is about giving the gods a gift, and asking the 92 00:06:39,789 --> 00:06:44,852 gods to be kind in return. Mostly, it is not about securing some 93 00:06:44,852 --> 00:06:49,704 position in an afterlife. For the most part as we saw in Homer, it's 94 00:06:49,704 --> 00:06:54,321 not a good thing to be dead. The world in the underworld is not a place 95 00:06:54,321 --> 00:06:59,350 normally where ethical scores are settled. Instead, all of us, whether we were grand 96 00:06:59,350 --> 00:07:02,723 folks or not so grand, just live this kind of grey life. 97 00:07:02,723 --> 00:07:05,790 And it is much better to be alive than to be dead. 98 00:07:05,790 --> 00:07:10,852 In the Mystery religions, there is a different kind of thing that's promised. 99 00:07:10,852 --> 00:07:15,073 And this is a promise of a long and enduring afterlife where things would be 100 00:07:15,073 --> 00:07:18,551 very nice for you. Rather than live out as a gray shade among 101 00:07:18,551 --> 00:07:23,475 the other gray shades, those who have been through the mystery been initiated into 102 00:07:23,475 --> 00:07:26,256 the cult, have learned a special sacred codeword. 103 00:07:26,256 --> 00:07:31,007 That codeword could let them into a nicer place, where they could spend all of the 104 00:07:31,007 --> 00:07:35,758 eternity, rather than being a gray shade among all the others that have a nicer 105 00:07:35,758 --> 00:07:39,987 afterlife, as long as they knew the special codeword that can get them in. 106 00:07:39,987 --> 00:07:44,970 In a way some not sure how hard I push this, but in a way it's a little bit like 107 00:07:44,970 --> 00:07:48,794 being consigned to have to spend your whole life waiting in an airport. 108 00:07:48,794 --> 00:07:52,941 But someone sneaks over and gives you a special code so you can get into the 109 00:07:52,941 --> 00:07:56,281 admiral's club for frequent fliers, and they'll treat you nice. 110 00:07:56,442 --> 00:08:00,859 Those that are stuck in the airport are kind of like those in the gray shade area. 111 00:08:00,859 --> 00:08:05,276 Those with the special code to get into the admiral's club get taken care of well. 112 00:08:05,276 --> 00:08:08,669 That's a little bit, I think, what's imagined is going to happen. 113 00:08:08,669 --> 00:08:12,655 If you've got the special code from being initiated into the mysteries. 114 00:08:12,655 --> 00:08:17,900 Now that quality and characteristics of the Eleusinian Mysteries is reflected in 115 00:08:17,900 --> 00:08:23,492 the stories in the deep meditation on the, the power and possibilities of immortality 116 00:08:23,492 --> 00:08:27,499 and the face of mortality. We see Persephone, this mortal god whose 117 00:08:27,499 --> 00:08:32,294 going though a kind of death that she visits the underworld and comes back out. 118 00:08:32,294 --> 00:08:36,725 There's a way in which the immortals and what you and I are consigned to, 119 00:08:36,725 --> 00:08:41,581 We poor mortals that eventually we die. There's a way in which their world comes 120 00:08:41,581 --> 00:08:45,102 closer to ours. And a way in which an afterlife is it only 121 00:08:45,102 --> 00:08:49,962 suggested that it can include some of the things that the grand immortals even 122 00:08:49,962 --> 00:08:53,419 experience it. So, there's a connection between mortality 123 00:08:53,419 --> 00:08:56,610 and immortality built into the sequence of the story. 124 00:08:56,610 --> 00:09:02,245 The exclusive rites that are practiced at Eleusis included a code of secrecy. 125 00:09:02,245 --> 00:09:05,843 We have already mentioned that as being a part of it. 126 00:09:05,843 --> 00:09:11,614 And I thought to close out this lecture, I would just reveal to you the secret of the 127 00:09:11,614 --> 00:09:14,970 Eleusinian mysteries. It's not only me that's doing it. 128 00:09:15,145 --> 00:09:18,187 It's a Christian writer named Clement of Alexandria. 129 00:09:18,187 --> 00:09:22,926 And, in a piece of his writing The Exhortation to the Greeks, he gives in, in 130 00:09:22,926 --> 00:09:26,553 a way, he's tried to actually be, quite nasty with these Greeks. 131 00:09:26,553 --> 00:09:31,131 He says, look, they have this, totally silly ritual that they practice in honor 132 00:09:31,131 --> 00:09:36,041 of this god that they think is a of, of Demeter, and they have this secret code 133 00:09:36,041 --> 00:09:40,042 word that's supposed to be so important in their initiation rites. 134 00:09:40,042 --> 00:09:43,982 Well, here, I'm going to reveal their secret code word, and Clement of 135 00:09:43,982 --> 00:09:47,983 Alexandria writes it down and tell us, reveals it to us what it is. 136 00:09:47,983 --> 00:09:52,529 Well, I'm just passing it on here. Clement tells us that this was the secret 137 00:09:52,529 --> 00:09:55,500 code at Eleusinian Mysteries. I have fasted. 138 00:09:55,500 --> 00:10:00,299 I have drunk the mixture, I have taken from the box, having done the deed, I put 139 00:10:00,299 --> 00:10:06,436 it back into the basket, and out of the basket into the box. Now if Clement is 140 00:10:06,436 --> 00:10:11,640 conveying it accurately, Who knows all of us now know the secrets 141 00:10:11,640 --> 00:10:15,947 of the Eleusinian Mysteries. In our next lecture, we are going to dig 142 00:10:15,947 --> 00:10:21,232 into the dramatics and try to talk about the many rich characters that are being 143 00:10:21,232 --> 00:10:24,037 portrayed in this Homeric Hymn for to Demeter. 144 00:10:24,037 --> 00:10:27,300 Look forward to talking to you about that then.