Pausanias (2.35.4-11) is our most detailed source for the famous cult of Demeter Chthonia (of the Underworld) at the remote town of Hermione in the Argolid. Hermione was not a Dorian town, but was settled by the aboriginal Dryopes when the Dorians expelled them from Thessaly. This cult is unusual in its emphasis on the role of Hades (who is given the euphemistic name of Klymenos, the Renowned One). Examination of the site has revealed a lengthy section of wall, which probably marked off the Classical sanctuary, a series of inscribed bronze cows (which relate to the ritual described below), and numerous late inscriptions. It is difficult to know from Pausanias’ second-century CE account which elements of the ritual date back to the Classical period. He reports that the Chthonia festival took place in the summer and began with a procession of all the priests, magistrates, and townspeople, even the children. Dressed in white and crowned with wreaths made from a local summer wildflower, they led a heifer to the sanctuary, where it was allowed to roam about until it entered the open doors of the temple. Inside, four old women rose from their ceremonial thrones and pursued the heifer until one of them cut its throat with a sickle. Three more cows were slaughtered for the goddess in the same way.
The indoor sacrifice is very unusual, but can be explained as the result of the strict gender segregation practiced in the cult. The cult statue of Chthonia was so sacred that only the old women were permitted to view it, and the exclusion of men seems to have extended to the sacrificial slaughter, usually a male prerogative. Although the whole city participated in the festival, its climactic ritual acts had to take place in seclusion, away from male eyes. Chthonia seems to have been an important Dryopian goddess, for the Dryopes of Asine, a neighboring town, sent a sacrificial cow and a delegation to walk in the procession even after they were forced to emigrate to Messenia (IG IV 679.1-2). Opposite Chthonia’s sanctuary was that of Klymenos, and the area was famed for its entrance to the underworld, an opening in the earth from which Herakles once emerged, it was said, leading Kerberos. Although Kore plays no role in Pausanias’ description of the cult, she appears with Demeter Chthonia and Klymenos in numerous dedicatory inscriptions from Hermione. A fragmentary hymn composed by the sixth-century poet Lasos of Hermione confirms that worship of the triad Demeter, Klymenos, and Kore was the norm in the late Archaic period as well.21
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