DISC-0032 / ITEM-0019

Rites of the Mysteries

Eleusinian Mysteries · Attica, Greece

Disclosure date: c. 195
Date precision: Circa
Disclosure method: Exposure publication
Extent: Partial
Record review: Unreviewed

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Restricted material and access

What was done, said and shown to initiates in the sanctuary at Eleusis.

Material type: Initiatory rite
Restricted to: Initiates (mystai and epoptai)
Restriction mechanism: social_sanction
Stated reason: The rites of Demeter and Kore were not to be spoken of
Tradition origins: by the 6th century BCE

Recorded practice status

Discontinued

Provisional: no dated status evidence is linked.

Status as of: Not recorded
Status claims: Not recorded

Disclosure dates, source publication dates, tradition origins and dates of practice are separate.

What this disclosure covers

What Clement presents as the initiates' formula, with polemical claims about the rites.

The source

Exhortation to the Greeks (Protrepticus), in Clement of Alexandria (Loeb Classical Library) ↗ (SRC-0031; authenticity: Unassessed)

Author: Clement of Alexandria; G. W. Butterworth, trans.
Original publication: c. 195
Linked edition: 1919
Format: Book
Provenance: published_exposure
Rights of source work: Public domain
Identifiers: ia:clementofalexand00clem
Source content hash: Not recorded

Hostile Christian polemic; the author's access to the rites is not established.

Claims about this item

These claims may cite other sources for the same restricted item. Supporting and contradicting evidence remain separate.

CLM-0017 · Content

The password (synthema) of the Eleusinian initiates was a formula stating that the initiate had fasted, drunk the kykeon, taken something from the chest, handled it, and returned it by way of the basket to the chest.

Claim support: Single source
Record review: Reviewed
Period: c. 195 CE
Locators: Protrepticus 2.21 (Loeb ed. pp. 42–43)
Sources counted as independent: Not recorded

Supporting sources

Exhortation to the Greeks (Protrepticus), in Clement of Alexandria (Loeb Classical Library) ↗ (SRC-0031; authenticity: Unassessed)

Contradicting sources: none recorded.

Checked against the Internet Archive text on 2026-11-04. Butterworth renders kykeon as 'the draught' and notes an emendation that would change 'having done my task' to 'having tasted'. The source is hostile and its access to the rites is not established.

SRC-0031: Source authenticity is unassessed; this is separate from the truth of its assertions.
SRC-0031: No source-level content_hash is recorded; linked artifact hashes may identify excerpts, derivatives or metadata instead.
ITEM-0019: The recorded practice status is provisional: no dated status claims are linked.

Evidence qualifications

SRC-0031 · source_authenticity_unassessed: Source authenticity is unassessed; this is separate from the truth of its assertions.
SRC-0031 · source_without_content_hash: No source-level content_hash is recorded; linked artifact hashes may identify excerpts, derivatives or metadata instead.
DISC-0032 · record_unreviewed: Record review status is unreviewed; review is not proof of truth.
ITEM-0019 · status_without_dated_evidence: The recorded practice status is provisional: no dated status claims are linked.

Reviewed means checked against a source. It does not establish source authenticity, independent corroboration or present-day practice.

Item notes

Profaning the Mysteries was a criminal offence at Athens.