Bronze Age Eleusis and the Origins of Ancient Greek Secret Cults

FAIN: FB-54201-09

Michael Basil Cosmopoulos
University of Missouri, St. Louis (St. Louis, MO 63121)

The project investigates the origins of one of the most influential ancient Greek Secret Cults, the Eleusinian Mysteries. Extensive archaeological excavations at the sanctuary of Demeter at Eleusis have brought to light thousands of Bronze Age finds, which remain unpublished in the basement of the local museum. With this project, I seek to publish those finds fully and reconstruct the stratigraphy and chronology of early Eleusis. On the basis of this analysis of the material record, I will reconstruct the sociopolitical, economic, and religious organization of Eleusis in the third and second millennia BC and study the problem of the existence of a Bronze Age cult and its possible continuity into the Dark Age. Finally, through the comparative study of the evidence from Eleusis and other sanctuaries with Mystery cults, I will seek to reach an understanding of the genesis and early development of the phenomenon of ancient Greek Secret Cults.

Associated Products

Bronze Age Eleusis and The Origins of The Eleusinian Mysteries (Book)
Title: Bronze Age Eleusis and The Origins of The Eleusinian Mysteries
Author: Michael Basil Cosmopoulos
Abstract: For more than one thousand years, people from every corner of the Greco-Roman world sought the hope for a blessed afterlife through initiation into the Mysteries of Demeter and Lore at Eleusis. In antiquity itself and in our memory of antiquity, the Eleusinian Mysteries stand out as the oldest and most venerable mystery cult. Despite the tremendous popularity of the Eleusinian Mysteries, their origins are unknown. Because they are lost in an era without written records, they can only be reconstructed with the help of archaeology. This book provides a much-needed synthesis of the archaeology of Eleusis during the Bronze Age and reconstructs the formation and early development of the Eleusinian Mysteries is complemented with discussions of the theology of Demeter and an update on the state of research in the archaeology of Eleusis from the Bronze Age to the end of antiquity.
Year: 2015
Primary URL: www.cambridge.org/9781107010994
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Type: Single author monograph
ISBN: 9781107010994
Copy sent to NEH?: Yes

The Sanctuary of Demeter at Eleusis. The Bronze Age. Architecture, Stratigraphy, Finds. Vols. I-II (Book)
Title: The Sanctuary of Demeter at Eleusis. The Bronze Age. Architecture, Stratigraphy, Finds. Vols. I-II
Author: Cosmopoulos, M.B.
Abstract: This two-volume work is the full analytical publication of the architecture, stratigraphy, and small finds from the excavations conducted at Eleusis since the end of the 19th century.
Year: 2014
Primary URL: https://www.worldcat.org/title/sanctuary-of-demeter-at-eleusis-the-bronze-age/oclc/918598687
Primary URL Description: Worldcat
Secondary URL: https://www.academia.edu/14705411/2014-The_Sanctuary_of_Demeter_at_Eleusis._The_Bronze_Age._Vols._I-II
Secondary URL Description: Academia.edu
Access Model: Printed
Publisher: Archaeological Society at Athens
Type: Single author monograph
ISBN: 978-618-5047-1
Copy sent to NEH?: Yes

Cult, Continuity, and Social Memory: Mycenaean Eleusis and the Transition to the Early Iron Age (Article)
Title: Cult, Continuity, and Social Memory: Mycenaean Eleusis and the Transition to the Early Iron Age
Author: Cosmopoulos, M.B.
Abstract: Religious continuity from the Mycenaean to the Geometric period is one of the thorniest issues in Greek archaeology. The problems created by the scantiness of the evidence are compounded by our own methodological pitfalls, especially the ambiguity of the term "continuity." The Sanctuary of Demeter and Kore at Eleusis is a controversial case of a major Greek sanctuary for which a Mycenaean ancestry has been claimed but seriously debated. In this article, the architectural, stratigraphic, and ceramic evidence related to the Mycenaean Megaron B is analyzed on the basis of the unpublished finds and excavation notebooks. The analysis shows that religious rituals took place in Megaron B starting in Late Helladic IIB/IIIA1; that although the settlement of Eleusis shrank after the collapse of the Mycenaean palaces, it continued to be inhabited; and that the Megaron B complex was still standing and plausibly in use when the cult of Demeter was introduced in the eighth century B.C.E. It is further argued that this complex functioned as a lieu de mémoire, a landmark that allowed the inhabitants of Eleusis to preserve the memory of the earlier sanctity of the site, and that it became the defining factor for the choice of location for the later cult of Demeter. Despite this preservation of memory, however, the essence of the cult underwent significant changes that speak against continuity of function.
Year: 2014
Primary URL: https://www.ajaonline.org/imagegallery/1802
Primary URL Description: American Journal of Archaeology
Secondary URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.3764/aja.118.3.0401?casa_token=9AofzEWkiHEAAAAA:qC6uBaSkD1BjNUfD64ZDt1o6U7vcv5IeKOKy5fIQySHPJDlZNqLOGmiLFAo9H3xCent4-NXsVqhuVFAqVQwCYgr5tR_RVVZcEisTZKvcoWE2Y15ofiE#metadata_info_tab_contents
Secondary URL Description: Jstor
Access Model: Open Access
Format: Journal
Periodical Title: American Journal of Archaeology

Lieux de mémoire mycéniens et la naissance des sanctuaires grecs (Article)
Title: Lieux de mémoire mycéniens et la naissance des sanctuaires grecs
Author: Cosmopoulos, M.B.
Abstract: Les archéologues deviennent de plus en plus conscients du rôle que la mémoire culturelle a joué dans la création de l’espace sacré en Grèce ancienne. L’examen des sites mycéniens subsistant sur les lieux de sites religieux grecs et, plus particulièrement, l’analyse des cas d’intégration de ruines et d’objets mycéniens dans le contexte rituel de la période géométrique démontrent que pendant l’âge du Fer il y eut des sites mycéniens qui ont fonctionné comme des « lieux de mémoire » et ont joué un rôle dans le processus de sacralisation de l’espace ainsi que dans la formation des sanctuaires grecs.
Year: 2016
Primary URL: https://www.cairn.info/revue-archeologique-2016-2-page-251.htm#
Primary URL Description: Revue Archeologique
Secondary URL: https://www.academia.edu/30232235/2016-Lieux_de_memoire_myceniens_et_la_naissance_des_sanctuaires_grecs
Secondary URL Description: Academia.edu
Access Model: Open Access
Format: Journal
Periodical Title: Revue archéologique
Publisher: Presses Universitaires de France

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