MYSTERIES (Latin mysterium, from Greek mystes, initiate)—in ancient history, were among the Greeks, and afterward also among the Romans, secret religious assemblies, in which no uninitiated person was permitted to take part. They originated at a very early period. They seem to have had a double object — first, that of handing down the traditions re lating to the divinities in whose honor they were celebrated; and secondly, that of teaching and practising religious rites. The true value of the mysteries did not lie in dogmatic teach ing, but in the moral improvement apparent in the votaries, in the comfort the rites gave in the present life, and the hopes they inspired for the world to come. The most important Greek mysteries were (1) the Eleusinian; (2) the Samothracian, which were celebrated in honor of the Cabeiri in all the places 'where these divinities were worshiped. (3) The Dionysia, at Rome called Bacchanalia, which were cele brated in honor of Dionysus or Bacchus. These latter mysteries were of so licentious a char acter that they were first forbidden in Thebes, and afterward in all Greece, as prejudicial to the public peace and morals. This was like wise done in Italy by a decree of the Roman senate in 186 ac. (See BAccrius). (4) The Orphic, consecrated to Dionysus Zagreus, the son of Zeus and Persephone. (See 101RPHE'us). See also MIRACLE PLAYS.
Eleusinian Mysteries were generally held by the Greeks to be the most sacred of all the mysteries; and their great secrecy, intricate ritual and dramatic features were undoubtedly strongly influential in shaping the form of the ritual for many succeeding secret orders. They were connected with the worship of Demiter and Cora at Eleusis in Attica; and they appear to have had their origin in the ceremonies con nected with the birth and death of the grain spirits. Demeter, in the ceremonies of initia tion through which the candidate had to pass in order to become a member of the mysteries society, finally bestows agriculture upon man. The mysteries seem to have had degrees sug gestive of the degrees in modern secret socie ties. All candidates had to become members of the society of the Lesser Mysteries at Agrm (near Athens), before they could enter that of the Greater Mysteries at Eleusis; and six months had to elapse between the two initia tions. At both initiations the candidate made his own personal offerings or sacrifices to the gods, accompanied by fasting and other cere-' monial practices in the nature of purifications; after which he wandered, or was led, through dark and intricate passages until finally he emerged into the presence of the deity upon whom strcanied the li . As the Lesser MYsteriesivere celebra in the early spring and the Greater Myst s in the fall, the first probably represented e coming to life of dead nature and the latttr the death of vegetation. A sacred peace declared some days previous to the opening of the ceremonies and continuing several days after their close permitted the pilgrims to the shrines and the candidates to come and go in peace, without any fear of molesMtion. The public ceremonies of the
Greater Mysteries began with the bringing from Eleusis to Athens of certain sacred relics to be placed in the Eleusinia; the following day the celebrants put in an appearance and on the third day all the initiates (Mystm) marched in procession to the Phalerum beach where they performed the necessary ceremonial bathing which was symbolical of purification. This was followed by two days devoted to offerings pre sented at various shrines throughout Athens. Early on the morning of the next day the relics were returned to Eleusis, escorted by a great religious procession, in the midst of which was the image of Iaccus. This occupied all day. The following four days and nights were given up to the secret ceremonies of the mysteries, under the direction of the Hierophant, the Dadouchos (torchbearer), the Hierokeryse (herald) and the officiating priest. Eleusinian mysteries were also celebrated in various other places in Greece proper and outside of it, among these being Megalopolis, Phlius and Andania The mysteries undoubtedly dated back to considerable antiquity, far as the earliest notice we have of them, they are pos sessed of an organized priesthood and the cus tom of choosing the Hierophant from one family (the Eumolpidm of Eleusis), and the Dadouchos from another (the Kerykes). It is probable that these families, in early times, derived their family names from their offices, as the Jewish priests did.
Samothracian Mysteries. These which were originally two, were known as those of the Cabeiri. In the course of time they became four, Axieros, Axiokersa, Axiokersos and Kasmilos, in popular phraseology; though the grammarians identified them, respectively, with Demeter, Persephone, Hades and Hermes. It seems probable that they were the survival of tribal deities belonging to the same great family religion.
Gradually as time went on these mysteries, which had much of the spectacular and the mysterious which always appeal to humanity, spread throughout Greece, in their own form and under their own name or in the shape of evident imitations or of other closely related tribal mysteries. The worship of the Egyptian moon and mother goddess, Iris, which had early been introduced into Greece, spread rapidly throughout all the land round the Mediter ranean and later into the cultured sections of western Asia. With this worship came foreign mysteries, which seem to have originated in the same form of nature worship as the native Greek mysteries. Other foreign mysteries, ap parently also of similar origin, were introduced into Greece and appear to have taken root there. The Greeks seem to have been very fond of these semi-religious, semi-social myste ries and most of the prominent citizens appear to have belonged to one or more of them, much as people to-day belong to secret societies. The mysteries, however, had a deep meaning for the Greek, which the modern secret society does not have for its members. _ _ _