[German version] (τελετή /teletḗ, pl. teletaí, < *tḷ1-et2 from teléō/télos < *tel-1 , 'to bring' [10. 232] in contrast to the common two-fold derivation of *kwel- and *tel-2 ; as a Greek foreign word in Lat. teleta, Apul. Met. 11,22 et alibi on the cult of Isis). In the religious realm, the term could refer to various types of events (cf. Hsch. s. v. τ.: festivals, sacrifices, mysteries), originally to religious acts in general (e.g. Batr. 303 [11. 97]; Aristoph. Pax 413). It is therefore used in connection with various Greek fest…

[German version] (μύησις/ mýēsis, Lat. initiatio). Myesis is the initiation into a mystery (μυστήρια/ mystḗria, Lat. initia) whereby the candidate for initiation became a μύστης ( mýstēs, Lat. initiatus, initiated). As an additional rank the initiated could later attain the epopteía . As nomen actionis for the verb μυέω/ myéō (‘I initiate’; lat. initiare), which is considered a causativum to μύω/ mýō (‘I close [lips/eyes]’), myesis semantically presupposes the term mýstēs, which, like mystḗria, is not derived from myéō but rather from mýō [1; 7. 414f.]. This derivation, which…

[German version] (τελεστήριον/ telestḗrion; teletḗ ). In Greek usage a general term for a temple of mysteries or a chapel of devotion for the Eleusinian gods, named after the Telesterion in the sanctuary of Demeter in Eleusis (on the building there see Eleusis [1] C.; cf. also Mysteries B.2.). Besides the site at Eleusis there is evidence of telestḗria in the Attic town of Phlya, the Heraion at Argos [II 1] and the Kabeirion at Thebes [2]. In Eleusis the Telesterion changed from a small megaron-shaped temple between the early 6th cent. and the late 5th…

(βάκχος; bákchos). [German version] I. Greece [German version] A. Mystes Βάκχος, βακχεύειν [1] ( Bákchos/bakcheúein) and related words refer to a type of raving (μανία, manía) predominantly expressed in the Dionysus cult ([1] where we also find a discussion about the word's origin; Hdt. 4,79). This essential characteristic of a Bacchus/Baccha was taken as a sign that he or she was possessed by the god (ἔνθεος, éntheos). The Bacchus/Baccha usually wore a thyrsus (or bakchos see below) and the skin of a deer (νεβρίς, nebrís). Although the thyrsus was seen as a particularly obviou…

[German version] A. General Initiation refers a) in a perspective limited to Greek and Roman religion, to ritual inauguration into a mystery cult, b) in additional ethnological and socio-anthropological terminology, to the complex of rites with which in ancient society adolescents of both sexes are accepted into the society of adults (in German scholarship formerly referred to also as puberty ceremony). For the former function, corresponding ancient terminology exists (Greek μύησις; mýēsis, more rarely τελετή; teletḗ, Latin initia n.pl.), but not for the latter. This doe…

(Νίκαια; Níkaia). [German version] [1] Naiad Naiad, daughter of the Phrygian river god Sangarius and the goddess Cybele. As a huntress, N. spurns love and remains a virgin. In Memnon of Heracleia, she does not yield to Dionysus and so he resorts to a ruse and turns into wine the spring from which N. is accustomed to drinking. She becomes drunk and falls asleep. Dionysus overpowers her in her sleep and fathers with her 'satyrs and others' (Memnon FGrH 434 F 41, 8f.). In Nonnus, Dion. 15,169-16,405, the…

(Μυστήρια/ Mystḗria). [German version] A. Terminology Mysteria is the Attic name of the main cult festival of Demeter and Kore (Persephone) in Eleusis [1]. The name is formed in the same way as most Attic festival names, but the etymology is unclear (Mysteries [1. 15]). Eleusis was also the place for the polis festival of the Eleusinia, a festival which included games and contests, probably held in late spring, in modern times often confused with the Mysteria. Beginning with Hdt. 2,51,2, the festival…

[German version] A. General Points, Definition Mysteries or rather mystery cults (in order to avoid the misleading term ‘mystery religions’) are cults of the Greek and Roman world which, for classical and modern observers alike, constitute a circumscribed category of cults within Greek and Roman religion.  Their name derives from the Attic celebration of the Mysteria, the festival of Demeter and Kore/Persephone, celebrated annually over a period of days at the shrine of Eleusis, and known since the Ho…