DOI Kapitel:
Division A: The Agora and adjacent buildings lying to the west and north of the Acropolis, from the city gate to the Prytaneion
DOI Kapitel:Section V
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61302#0274
102
MYTHOLOGY AND MONUMENTS
DIV. A
to utter, was assigned an origin so lowly ? The key to this mystery
lies in certain strange ceremonies which took place at the Thes-
mophoria, and to account for which the figure of the swineherd
Eubouleus had to be invented. The account taken from a
scholiast on Lucian 190 must be given in full. It is at least prob-
able that from it we learn much of the mysterious ceremonies
in the Eleusinion which Pausanias dare not tell :—
“ The Thesmophoria is a Greek feast with a mysterious ritual,
and is also called the Skirophoria. The legendary reason for its
celebration is that when Kore was carried off by Plouton as she
FIG. 23.—VOTIVE RELIEF : SACRIFICE OF PIG TO DEMETER AND PERSEPHONE.
was gathering flowers, there was a certain swineherd called
Eubouleus feeding his swine on the spot, and they were all
swallowed up in the chasm. So then, in honour of Eubouleus,
they cast pigs into the chasms of Demeter and Kore. The decayed
parts of the pigs that have been thrown into the ‘ megara ’ are
brought back by women called drawers, who have undergone
purification during three days. These women go down into the
adytum, and, fetching up the flesh, place it on the altars. It is
believed that if some of this flesh is taken and sown with the
grain, there will be a good crop. They say, too, that down below,
MYTHOLOGY AND MONUMENTS
DIV. A
to utter, was assigned an origin so lowly ? The key to this mystery
lies in certain strange ceremonies which took place at the Thes-
mophoria, and to account for which the figure of the swineherd
Eubouleus had to be invented. The account taken from a
scholiast on Lucian 190 must be given in full. It is at least prob-
able that from it we learn much of the mysterious ceremonies
in the Eleusinion which Pausanias dare not tell :—
“ The Thesmophoria is a Greek feast with a mysterious ritual,
and is also called the Skirophoria. The legendary reason for its
celebration is that when Kore was carried off by Plouton as she
FIG. 23.—VOTIVE RELIEF : SACRIFICE OF PIG TO DEMETER AND PERSEPHONE.
was gathering flowers, there was a certain swineherd called
Eubouleus feeding his swine on the spot, and they were all
swallowed up in the chasm. So then, in honour of Eubouleus,
they cast pigs into the chasms of Demeter and Kore. The decayed
parts of the pigs that have been thrown into the ‘ megara ’ are
brought back by women called drawers, who have undergone
purification during three days. These women go down into the
adytum, and, fetching up the flesh, place it on the altars. It is
believed that if some of this flesh is taken and sown with the
grain, there will be a good crop. They say, too, that down below,