Invention of tradition at the cult of Demeter in Eleusis: the post-Bronze Age remains and the hymn to Demeter

Description

The origins of the cult of Demeter and Kore at Eleusis have been a bone of contention ever since the publication of the Late Helladic “Building B” underneath the Classical Telesterion (Mylonas & Kourouniotes, 1933). In particular, the discovery of a Late Helladic building below the Classical Anaktoron has spawned speculation about the possibility of continuity of cult extending back to the fifteenth century BCE (Mylonas, 1961). Over the past half century, this view has gained both supporters and critics. The lack of any (published) finds dating to the half millennium following the demise of the Mycenaean world has cast doubt on the probability of any form of ritual activity at this site during the Early Iron Age (Binder, 1988; Darcque, 1981). Attempts to explain this gap by positing a change in use ((Travlos, 1983)) or a period of reuse after abandonment (Mazarakis Ainian, 1997) have thus far failed to explain satisfactorily the missing finds or the historic conditions of the cult’s emergence ca. 700 BCE. Recently, Michael Cosmopoulos’ study of the Bronze Age finds (Cosmopoulos, 2014) showed that Building B appears to have remained in use throughout the Submycenaean period. While conceding that the rituals proceedings must have changed considerably, this shortening of the find-gap has led him to restate the case for ritual continuity from Bronze to Iron age. While acknowledging a special relationship between the Late Helladic remains and the origins of the cult of Demeter, I will argue in this paper that the archaeology underneath the Telesterion does not allow for a period of uninterrupted, if changing, ritual activity and that the cult of Demeter was created ex novo in the final stages of the Geometric period. A reevaluation of the Bronze Age remains shows that Building B was not used as a cult center, but rather served as a local administrative unit. Evidence for activity during the Proto- and Early Geometric periods, furthermore remains elusive. Taking its cue from the “rediscovery” of Late Helladic ruins during this period elsewhere in Attica (Athens, Kiapha Thiti, Thorikos, Menidi) this paper puts forward the notion that the Eleusinians of the eighth century BCE attached considerable importance to those remains as remnants of a heroic, if imagined, past. Seeking to make sense of the world around them, the imposing architectural ruins were now incorporated in an aetiological understanding of their existence as a social group. An analysis of the Archaic Hymn to Demeter, furthermore, supports the notion that the communities of Attica were deeply concerned about building their identity around their conceived descending from the legendary kings they believed were connected with the many Late Helladic ruins dispersed throughout their habitat.

Period	25 Sept 2015
Event title	BEYOND THE POLIS - RITUAL PRACTICES AND THE CONSTRUCTION OF SOCIAL IDENTITY IN EARLY GREECE (12th-6th CENTURIES B.C.)
Event type	Conference
Location	Brussels, BelgiumShow on map
Degree of Recognition	International