Eleusinian mysteries

English

Noun

Eleusinian mysteries pl (plural only)

1. Alternative form of Eleusinian Mysteries
   • 1978, Joseph Campbell, The Mysteries, page 22:

     This, to be sure, was an error in interpretation, but it made it possible to associate with the Eleusinian mysteries also a notion familiar from other contexts, the notion of mystical rebirth as a child of the godhead.

   • 1983, Walter Burkert, Homo Necans: The Anthropology of Ancient Greek Sacrificial Rigual and Myth, page 248:

     Their origins are in the ancient Greek cult, in particular the most famous one, the Eleusinian mysteries.

   • 1985, Douglas Brooks-Davies, Pope's Dunciad and the Queen of Night, page 121:

     Mystical and scholarly interest in the mystery religions, especially the Eleusinian mysteries of Ceres-Isis which were celebrated annually in August, was strong from the Renaissance on, its strength deriving in part from the emotional call of the feminine on the one hand and tantalising lack of evidence as to what actually went on at the celebration of the mysteries on the other.