The Eleusinian Procession

In a well-known passage, Herodotos uses the imagery of the procession of the Eleusinian Mysteries as a divine omen of the Persian defeat in 480/79 B. C.E.: two Greek exiles, on the side of the Persian forces in Attica, witness a huge cloud of dust, as if cast up by 30,000 people (8.65). As they observe the cloud, soon they hear emanating from it the cries of “lakche,” a sight and sounds characteristic of the Athenian ritual. The cloud of dust then drifts toward the island Salamis, opposite Eleusis, and the observers believe it must presage the destruction of Xerxes’ fleet. The procession of the Eleusinian Mysteries was the most public part of the sanctuary’s annual ceremony and in Herodotos’ text it represents the Goddesses themselves, who implicitly defend Greece.3

In the Athenian celebration each year in late September, the priestesses of Demeter and Kore set out from Eleusis near the western border of Attica, carrying Sacred Objects (tahiera) in cylindrical boxes some 21 kilometers along the Sacred Way to central Athens. After passing along the Panathenaic Way through the Agora, the priestesses deposited the Sacred Objects for safekeeping in the City Eleusinion, the branch sanctuary of Demeter and Kore on the north shoulder of the Akropolis. After several days of preliminary rituals in Athens, first the new, prospective initiates and then those about to undertake a second step of initiation would process the 21 kilometers from the City Eleusinion back to Eleusis.4 Unusually for Greek sanctuaries, a public gathering area in a forecourt is found in both the City Eleusinion and at Eleusis, and is attested as a feature in other Eleusinia in Attica: the rituals and the secrecy surrounding them required a place in front of the sanctuary that could be accessible.5 The propyla demarcated the boundary between gathering areas and the sanctuary proper. Although the ceremony began and ended with events so private and secrecy so mandatory that death was the penalty for divulging them, in contrast, the processions formed an assertive, highly public event that was carefully choreographed and followed a prescribed sequence along a fixed trajectory, with memorable topographical landmarks and bridges that were maintained over centuries.

During some years of the Peloponnesian War, the processional route had to be circumvented because the Spartan occupation of Dekeleia, a fortification on Mt. Parnes that dominated the plain of Athens, made it unsafe. Xenophon states that during these years the festival continued, but the annual procession had to go by boat from Piraeus to Eleusis (I.4.20). In a brilliant move that showed defiance of the occupying Spartans and his improved relationship with the hierarchy at Eleusis, Alkibiades personally arranged for the army to escort a solemn procession on its usual route on the Sacred Way (Xen. I.4.20). The fullest description of this event is provided by Plutarch, in his account of Alkibiades’ return from exile. After giving a highly moving speech in his own defense, and consulting the Kerykes and Eumolpidai, Alkibiades’ first act in Athens was the staging of the procession, in its full array. Plutarch notes that for some years, sacrifices, choral dances, and other rituals that were customarily performed on the Sacred Way (as a part of the celebration of the Mysteries) had had to be suspended (Alc. 34.4-7).6

Although the exact procedure of initiation is unknown, because the secret was well kept, some details about accompanying rituals are known. Symbols of the rituals, including representations of vessels and equipment, were displayed on the facades of the entrance gates of the two sanctuaries in central Athens and at Eleusis. Thus advertised even to an uninitiated public, the symbols stood not just for the secret rituals carried out within the gates, but also for the whole ceremony, including the public procession. The last day of the festival before participants returned to Athens was named Plemochoai, because of a ritual that involved overturning vessels of a distinctive shape, called plem-ochoai, onto the ground in a form of direct libation to the underworld. Such vessels have been found both at Eleusis and in the City Eleusinion, and despite general ancient reticence on the subject, they seem to have been used in rituals for Plouton and other chthonic deities within the Eleusinian pantheon.7

The shape of the plemochoe changed over time, but retained a flared pedestal base, a wider basin with out-turning lip, and either a fenestrated or solid lid. They are meant to be overturned rather than poured. The fabric is typically a slightly coarse clay, sometimes with a slip or added paint, with representations of myrtle.8 Many examples of bottoms and lids have small holes on the sides, perhaps to tie them together, and hold small sprigs of myrtle. The symbolic importance of this vessel is reflected in the dedication of marble plemochoai (at Eleusis) and a very large marble plemochoe, with fenestrated lid, used as sanctuary furniture in the City Eleusinion.9 Plemochoai are among the symbols of the Eleusinian Mysteries represented on the entrance gates to the sanctuaries, but also in other Eleusian contexts.

The one well-preserved image we have of an Eleusinian procession is enigmatic and difficult to decipher, not surprising given the prevailing indirection in communicating Eleusinian events. This red-figured terracotta plaque was dedicated in the first half of the fourth century b. c.e. by a woman named Ninnion, and was found at Eleusis and published by A. Skias in 1901. Since then, scholarly exegesis of this imagery has continued, most recently by Kevin Clinton, who sees the arrival of the Eleusinian procession in the bottom register of figures, with lakchos presenting Ninnion to Demeter, and the end of the festival along the upper register, with Ninnion now presented by Kore to Demeter. In both registers and in the pedimental area the figure Clinton identifies as Ninnion is depicted wearing a plemochoe on her head, tied with string and decorated with myrtle sprigs (Fig. 4.1). This seems the most persuasive interpretation so far, and if correct, this plaque highlights the importance of the plemochoe as a ritual vessel, used not just at the end of the festival but also in arrival at Eleusis, as a culmination of the procession.

This more extensive use of the plemochoe is corroborated by the many vessels found in the City Eleusinion in central Athens, used in rituals there. Possibly some participants carried plemochoai with them as they processed from Athens to Eleusis, along with bundled rods or wreaths of myrtle, which are also represented on the public facades of the entrance gates. The plemochoe as a ritual vessel was significant enough to be depicted on both propyla of the Roman period (in Athens and in Eleusis), discussed further later in this chapter.