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[German version] (Εὐβουλεύς; Eubouleús). E., ‘the good advisor’, was a central figure of the myth represented in the secret rites of the Eleusinian mysteries: he returned  Kore from the Underworld. In images he bears torches and stands between Thea and Theos (as Persephone and Hades are called in the mysteries) before Kore's return, or he stands beside Kore after her return [1]. In related myths (which are not shown in the cult) he is a swineherd (Orph. fr. 51), the son of Dysaules and the brother …

(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] (Ἐλευσίνια; Eleusínia). Festivals held in Eleusis, often confused by modern scholars with the Eleusinian mysteries (never referred to as Eleusinia in Attic sources). They were apparently celebrated as a kind of ‘harvest festival’ (Schol. Pind. Ol. 9,150), probably in late spring (against the modern view that they were held in the metageitnion, i.e. August/September); an Athenian decree [1] listing the order Eleusinia, Panathenaea (Hekatombaion), mysteries (Boedromion) seems to indicate that they took place before the Hekatombaion …

(Ἀσκάλαφος; Askálaphos). [German version] [1] Demon of the Underworld Demon of the Underworld, son of Acheron and Gorgyra (Apollod. 1,33) or of the nymph Orphne of the Avernian lake (Ov. Met. 5,539 ff.). He gave witness that in the Underworld  Persephone had already eaten of the pomegranate and thereby belonged to Pluto. Persephone (Ov. ibid.) or Demeter (Apollod. ibid.) transformed A. into an owl (ἀσκάλαφος) when Hercules lifted the heavy rock that had been rolled onto A. Clinton, Kevin (Ithaca N. Y.) [German version] [2] Son of Ares and Astyoche Son of Ares and Astyoche, with his …

(Δημοφῶν; Dēmophôn). [German version] [1] Youngest son of the Eleusinian prince Celeus Youngest son of the Eleusinian prince Celeus and Metaneira. According to myth D. was nurtured by the goddess  Demeter, who had been hired as a wet-nurse; she anointed him with ambrosia and hardened him at night in the fire so as to burn away his mortality (cf. Thetis: Achilles), until his mother noticed and cried out. Demeter then placed D. on the ground and threatened the Eleusinians with civil wars (Hom. Il. 2,233-255);…

[German version] (Εὔμολπος; Eúmolpos, ‘the one who sings well’). Mythical progenitor of the Eumolpids, the Eleusinian family from whom the  hierophant and other priests of the Eleusinian  Mysteries derived. He first appears in the Homeric hymn to Demeter (154; 475) as one of the rulers of Eleusis who were initiated into the Mysteries by the goddess. In the opinion of the Eumolpids, E. was the son of Poseidon (Paus. 1,38,2; Aristid. 22,4 and passim) and the first hierophant (FGrH 10 fr. 13; schol. Aeschin. 3,18). On visual representations he holds a sceptre; his icono…

[German version] (Δυσαύλης; Dysaúlēs). Brother of Celeus in Eleusis; banished by  Ion, brought the Eleusinian Mysteries to Celeae near Phleius; according to local cult legend also buried there (Paus. 2,12,4; sceptical: 2,14,1-4). The name D. does not occur in the Homeric epic cycle. The ‘Orphics’ were the first to place him at Eleusis in a poem on Demeter's visit there [1]. In that poem he was a native of the place, married Baube, was father of Eubuleus and  Triptolemus, and welcomed  Demeter as a guest. Clinton, Kevin (Ithaca N. Y.) Bibliography 1 F. Graf, Eleusis und die orphisch…