a-gnosis:When I have read about the Eleusinian Mysteries, it is sometimes said that the initiates ma

a-gnosis:When I have read about the Eleusinian Mysteries, it is sometimes said that the initiates maybe witnessed a ritual involving the birth of a Divine Child. The main source for this seems to be the church father Hippolytus, who claimed that at the high point of the Eleusinian Mysteries, the hierophant shouted “Lady Brimo has given birth to a son, Brimos”. Most modern scholars assume that the child is Ploutos (“wealth”), whom Hesiod tells us was Demeter’s son by Iasion and whom, according to the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, Demeter and Persephone send to the doorsteps of those who have been initiated into their mysteries. But in Ritual Texts for the Afterlife: Orpheus and the Bacchic Gold Tablets by Fritz Graf and Sarah Iles Johnston, another identity of the mother and child is suggested. It should be noted, though, that Hippolytus is not a so very reliable source. According to the authors, he has taken his information from a Gnostic tract that in turn focuses on an older pagan commentary on a hymn to Attis. So the phrace “Lady Brimo has given birth to a son, Brimos” may not come from the Eleusinian Mysteries at all, in spite of what Hippolytus said.Hippolytus understands “Brimo” and “Brimos” to be synonyms for “strong” and therefore explains the passage as meaning “a strong mother has given birth to a strong child”. But when “brim-” words mean “strong”, the connotation is always of overwhelming, and sometimes terrifying, strength. It is not something that we would naturally associate with a pleasant god like Ploutos, whom a peaceful, placated Demeter offers to initiates as a reward. Graf and Johnston mean that Dionysos is a more likely candidate (one of his epithets was Bromios, “noisy”, “roaring”)But who is Brimo? According to the authors, it’s a name that enters Greek literature rather late and is sometimes used to refer to Hekate, other times to Demeter, but most often to Persephone. If we assume that “Brimos” refers to Dionysos and “Brimo” to Persephone, then we have “Lady Persephone has given birth to a son, Dionysos” - a reference to the Orphic myth of how Persephone was impregnated by Zeus and gave birth to Zagreus/Dionysos. However, Graf and Johnston suggest that this Orphic myth and cult was created in the early fifth or late sixth century BCE, inspired by the much older mystery cult at Eleusis (since no trace of the myth, or mention of any relationship between Dionysos and Persephone, can be found before that). So if this pronouncement really comes from an Eleusinian context (in the way that Hippolytus transmits it), and refers to Persephone and Dionysos, it must have been added later.Image: fragments of a pinax from the sanctuary of Persephone in Locri, 5th century BCE. A female figure (maybe Persephone) opens a basket containing a child. Original image belongs to Dan Diffendale and can be seen here. I cropped it a bit to make the child easier to see.I’ve been thinking about the Eleusinian Mysteries a lot lately, and independently concluded that Persephone giving birth to Zagreus/Dionysus  is the likeliest explanation for the revelation made to initiates at Eleusis. The images on the Locri pinakes almost seem to suggest it.Cicero wrote that the revelation at Eleusis was something that taught initiates “to die with a better hope”. I’ve always wondered if changes in the way the ancient Greek afterlife was viewed in Homer and the way it was described in later myths reflected the increasing popularity of the Mysteries. Cicero also said that the Mysteries showed initiates “how to live joyfully”, and I can’t think of any deity who knows more about joyful living than Dionysus.Not sure if there’s any consensus whether the Lesser Eleusinian Mysteries are as old as the Greater, but it’s especially interesting in this context that they were held a week after the Anthesteria. -- source link

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