Cults of Demeter Eleusinia and the transmission of religious ideas

TY - JOUR

T1 - Cults of Demeter Eleusinia and the transmission of religious ideas

AU - Bowden, Hugh

PY - 2007

Y1 - 2007

N2 - Cults of Demeter Eleusinia, and cults claimed to have been established from Eleusis, are found quite widely spread across central and southern Greece and Asia Minor. Earlier explanations of how they acquired this particular cult title have started from accounts of their supposed origins early in the archaic period. This paper suggests that titles of this kind did not necessarily date back to the cults' foundations. It argues that visiting religious experts familiar with mystery cults from across the Greek world (including, amongst others, Herodotos and Pausanias) might have influenced the way local officiants understood their own cults, and hence how they came to describe them

AB - Cults of Demeter Eleusinia, and cults claimed to have been established from Eleusis, are found quite widely spread across central and southern Greece and Asia Minor. Earlier explanations of how they acquired this particular cult title have started from accounts of their supposed origins early in the archaic period. This paper suggests that titles of this kind did not necessarily date back to the cults' foundations. It argues that visiting religious experts familiar with mystery cults from across the Greek world (including, amongst others, Herodotos and Pausanias) might have influenced the way local officiants understood their own cults, and hence how they came to describe them

U2 - 10.1080/09518960701539182

DO - 10.1080/09518960701539182

M3 - Article

VL - 22

SP - 71

EP - 83

JO - Mediterranean Historical Review

JF - Mediterranean Historical Review

IS - 1

ER -