Sacred Officials of the Eleusinian Mysteries

This is a print on demand publication. This study developed in the course of preparing a collection of all the epigraphical evidence relating to the sanctuary of Demeter and Kore at Eleusis. The author soon realized that many problems connected with the priesthoods could be treated more conveniently in a separate study than in the commentaries on individual inscriptions. The proper scope of the separate study naturally appeared to be all Eleusinian priesthoods and sacred offices. The scheme he has adopted is a prosopographical account, in chronological order, of all the known incumbents of each priesthood, with an emphasis on certain aspects: qualifications for a priesthood, manner of selection, length of incumbency, official functions and duties, rank or importance relative to other priesthoods in the cult, social position, participation in civil life and in other festivals or cults, and religious dress. The evidence not connected with specific priests or priestesses has been interspersed chronologically among them; but there are occasional departures from this procedure where it was more useful to discuss in one place all the evidence on a given topic (e.g., religious dress). Illus.