DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9184#0423
4-00 New Chapters in Greek History. [Chap. XIII.
it from attempting to render exactly any group or scene
from actual life. We therefore have amply sufficient
reasons for rejecting the fancy of those writers who saw
in the subjects of a multitude of late Apulian and
Campanian vases allusions to the mysteries of Dionysus
and of Demeter. And even the vase paintings which
depict such subjects as the carrying off of Persephone,
the wanderings of Demeter, the sending forth of Tripto-
lemus seem to be in no way connected with the dramas
of the Eleusinian mysteries ; but follow their own laws
of development and grouping. Even when the nymph
Eleusis is present at these scenes, there is an allusion
to Eleusis as the locality where they originally took
place, rather than as the spot where they were periodically
re-enacted.
There are, however, a few vases extant, which do not
in any way betray the secret of the mysteries, nor show
us the details of the mystic dramas, yet which are useful
as informing us in some points of detail as to the dress
of the priests and so forth. Three of the most important
will be found depicted on the 18th plate of Overbeck's
great Atlas.* No. 18 on the plate represents the admis-
sion of Heracles to the mysteries at Agrae; No. 19
represents the parallel admission of the Dioscuri. On
No. 20 is a most interesting group of deities and magis-
trates. The deities are those interested in the festival,
Demeter, Persephone, Pallas, Triptolemus, Aphrodite and
Artemis; the magistrates seem to be the four persons
highest in authority at Eleusis, the Hierophant, who
stands by a tripod clad in flowing robes and holding a
thyrsus, the Epibomius, who carries a young pig and a
com sheaf, the Daduchus, who grasps two long torches,
and the Hierokeryx, who also holds a torch. On all
three of these vases we see, lying on the "ground or in
* Atlas zur Kunstmythologie. See also text, vol. ii., p. 669.
it from attempting to render exactly any group or scene
from actual life. We therefore have amply sufficient
reasons for rejecting the fancy of those writers who saw
in the subjects of a multitude of late Apulian and
Campanian vases allusions to the mysteries of Dionysus
and of Demeter. And even the vase paintings which
depict such subjects as the carrying off of Persephone,
the wanderings of Demeter, the sending forth of Tripto-
lemus seem to be in no way connected with the dramas
of the Eleusinian mysteries ; but follow their own laws
of development and grouping. Even when the nymph
Eleusis is present at these scenes, there is an allusion
to Eleusis as the locality where they originally took
place, rather than as the spot where they were periodically
re-enacted.
There are, however, a few vases extant, which do not
in any way betray the secret of the mysteries, nor show
us the details of the mystic dramas, yet which are useful
as informing us in some points of detail as to the dress
of the priests and so forth. Three of the most important
will be found depicted on the 18th plate of Overbeck's
great Atlas.* No. 18 on the plate represents the admis-
sion of Heracles to the mysteries at Agrae; No. 19
represents the parallel admission of the Dioscuri. On
No. 20 is a most interesting group of deities and magis-
trates. The deities are those interested in the festival,
Demeter, Persephone, Pallas, Triptolemus, Aphrodite and
Artemis; the magistrates seem to be the four persons
highest in authority at Eleusis, the Hierophant, who
stands by a tripod clad in flowing robes and holding a
thyrsus, the Epibomius, who carries a young pig and a
com sheaf, the Daduchus, who grasps two long torches,
and the Hierokeryx, who also holds a torch. On all
three of these vases we see, lying on the "ground or in
* Atlas zur Kunstmythologie. See also text, vol. ii., p. 669.