X-Nico

2 unusual facts about Eleusinian mysteries


Costoboci

# An inscription found in the Sanctuary of the Mysteries at Eleusis in Greece, which is believed to have been carved by priests after this temple was sacked by the Costoboci during their invasion of 170/1.

Mountza

It is said that even during the Eleusinian Mysteries, it complemented verbal curses against evil forces.


Minthe

In ancient Greece, mint was used in funerary rites, together with rosemary and myrtle, and not simply to offset the smell of decay; mint was an element in the fermented barley drink called the kykeon that was an essential preparatory entheogen for participants in the Eleusinian mysteries, which offered hope in the afterlife for initiates.


see also

Numbers in Egyptian mythology

"Osiris, the murdered god," A History of Religious Ideas, Vol. 1: From the Stone Age to the Eleusinian Mysteries, Mircea Eliade, page 97, note 35.