| The Eleusis Mysteries were one of mystical religious rites in ancient Greece, which mainly worshipped Demeter, Persephone and Iacchus. The Eleusis Mysteries kept every detail and revelation as a secret to the uninitiated, in any case, the ones who divulged the secrets would be sentenced to death. Thus, the classical authors, such as Herodotus, Diodorus, Pausanias, though referred to, however, described the mysteries vaguely. Nevertheless, we could still restore their basic features, according to the description given by the classical author and the research fruit of Western scholars nowadays.Being studied in the worship figures and the beliefs and the ideas they reflected, the Eleusis Mysteries worshipped mother goddess and god of Hades. The goddess Persephone was present in her triple role of goddess of agricultural, goddess of mysteries and the queen of Hades, combining the agricultural production, future well-being and mysteries rites. Hence, they altogether reflected some religious beliefs and concepts such as the worship of reproductive capacity, the sense of future well-being and revival.The Eleusis Mysteries consisted of the Lesser mysteries and the Great mysteries. The Lesser mysteries contained sacrifice, purification, sacred dancing and so on. Purification was the core, which could rid the sins of the applicants both physical and mental. And the Lesser mysteries were the preparation of the Great mysteries. The Great mysteries, mainly consisting of delivering the sacred objects to Athens, and holding sacrifice, purification, praying and sacred dance and the festivals of Asclepios and Iacchus as well at Athens, in addition, the activities such as fast, purification, and the mysterious initiation rites were held in Eleusis. The initiation was the key point for realizing the future well-being. However, for the secret kept unknown, the core secret of the peak point of the initiation remains puzzled. The so-called conclusions we already heard of are still somewhat supposing. From the selection and duties of priests, the main priests of Eleusis mysteries such as hierophant, torchbearer and Herald, they were all chosen from two families named Eumolpidae and Kerykes, they all attended to their own duties, and were proficient in their own religious knowledge. They got high social status, even especially the sacred status in the Roman. Therefore, the Eleusis Mysteries formed a special priest group which got a privilege, and professional monopoly the seats of priests class.As a religious and cultural phenomenon lasted for nearly 2,000 years, there was no doubt that the Eleusis Mysteries were tightly connected with the development and transformation of ancient Greek history and in different times.The Eleusis Mysteries generated during the Mycenae age. Myths and legends of ancient Greece and modern archaeological excavations as well both show that the Mysteries appeared about in the 15th century BC. However, there's heated debate about where they derived from, and now there is still no final conclusion. These ideas consist of Egyptian-origin, Thracian-origin and Greek-origin. These three ideas can somewhat make sense, but can't fully solve the problem. The turmoil of Greece in the 15-14 century B. C. was the social roots of the rise of the Eleusis Mysteries. The primitive worship of mother goddess and the snake goddess was the base of religious beliefs; the child worship, the sacred marriage and the cave rites of the Crete religion were also play an important role in the rise. Thus, the rise of the Eleusis Mysteries was the necessity result of a mix influence of the Hellenic and foreign culture.In the Homer Age, the Eleusis Mysteries continued to exist and develop. It was that Attica area which avoid from Doric invasion offered the mysteries peaceful social environment to sustain. The temple which was discovered in the Archaeological excavation proved the Eleusis Mysteries being of continuous in the very Eleusis. On the other hand, the imitations of the establishment of the Demeter Mysteries of some Greek colonies reveal the development of the Mysteries.The Archaic and Classic Age were the period in which the Eleusis Mysteries bloomed and developed. The Athens city-state played a very important role in the booming of the Eleusis Mysteries. The Athens government supported the development of mysteries without cessation after it was incorporated in official worship, for example: enlarging initiation and building temples at states expense and the ripe of the mysteries administration.The Eleusis Mysteries transformed and declined in the Greco-Roman age. It was the concern of Macedonian and the Roman rulers that brought the prosperity to the mystery and made them somewhat world-wide. However, it was also their interference, which had also broken the tradition of Mysteries, which mainly reflected in the aspects of the rise of the emperor-worship, the sacrifice at the private expense and the sanctifying of the main priest. However, the broken of the ritual tradition and the declining political fate of the Greek city-states states were tied together. When the rise of Christianity, the transformed Eleusis Mysteries had lost their space for existing freely and lost their original vigor. In 395 A. D., the destruction of the sacred temple put an end to the Eleusis Mysteries.The Eleusis Mysteries were considered as typical mysteries activities, and formed its own characteristics. Firstly, the administration of the mysteries, including the government of city-states and the priests of the dual-administration; secondly, they had formed a specialized and privileged priests; Thirdly, they seized a broad range of social base; Fourthly, the ceremonial taboo deeply influenced by politics; fifthly, the stress of religious notion saying that "initiation is everything".As a social and religious phenomenon which widely based on the society and had a long history, the Eleusis Mysteries influenced different aspects of ancient Greece deeply, social political and cultural. To some degrees, it strengthened the Athens' power in Greek world and has a positive effect on the growing of Greek race identity and the keeping of social order. Also it promoted the development of drama, helped the prosperity of poems and philosophy, and had a further impact on other Mysteries and even the Christianity.
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