By Francesco Sammarco, MA in ”Public Archaeology” *
“Happy is he among men upon earth who has seen these mysteries; but he who is uninitiated and who has no part in them, never has lot of like good things once he is dead, down in the darkness and gloom…Right blessed is he among men on earth whom thy freely love…”
Homeric Hymn to Demeter, lines 480-87 (Evelyn-White 323, in Beach 1995:3)
Located half-way between the urban area and the countryside, Monte Papalucio is found on the northern slope of the hill overlooking the Swabian Castle of Oria (Brindisi, Southern Italy). The ancient site is located on a terraced area under a rock-wall into which was cut a cavity, set at ca 10 m. above the terrace level. It is thought (D’Andria 1990: 239) that both the cave and the terrace were integral parts of the sanctuary complex, probably adjoining the circuit wall of the archaic Messapic site. Two areas have been identified here, separated by a large terracing wall, built with both squarish and irregular blocks, containing discharged votive deposits of archaic period: objects, ceramic, ashes with sacrificial offerings of wheat, fruits, leguminous plants, and (carbonized) animal bones, have been found recycled in the filling material. In the 6th and 4th-3rd century BC (in the 5th century BC the frequentation of the sanctuary declined, eventually because of the wars with Taranto) other votive offers and sacrifices were made above these levels. Below, and adjoining this large terracing wall, was built, in the 4th century BC, a complex structured in several organized environments. To the east side of these spaces, was a corridor-like structure, developing parallel to the rock-wall, and matched by a similar arrangement in the centre. The west side presented a plan enclosed by a terracing wall, upon which were left votive deposits (with offers of miniaturist vases and small hydriai), dated from the mid-4th century BC, to the 2nd century BC.
The votive offers of archaic period are marked by the presence of terracotta figurines representing an enthroned female deity with polos. This type is accompanied by other instances, showing her wearing a kalathos, to which is attached the himation, and also as kourotrophos, as protectress of the feminine cycles related to motherhood.
Part of the rites attested in the sanctuary included the sacrifice of piglets, and the offering of grains of corn and leguminous plants, especially broad beans, found carbonized in the escharai. Tools used in agriculture were equally consecrated to the goddess, and this would confirm – according to D’Andria – the agrarian nature of the thesmophoric rites linked to the cycles of vegetation. The rites of the Thesmophoria (from one of the attributes of Demeter, as law- bearer, or law-giver: from thesmoi = laws, and phoria = bearer), resembled much the Eleusinian Mysteries, and were open only to women who celebrated them all over Greece, in late October, during the month of Pyanepsion. The sacrifice of piglets was specific to this celebrations, for the symbolic and analogical associations of these animals with fertility and the power of their blood. Beach (1995: 2) tells us of the Greek belief
“that mingling their flesh with the seeds of grain would increase the abundance of the next year’s harvest.”
We wonder, for instance, at the possibility of an equivalent practice among the Messapians. If it has been possible to recover evidence of plants’ grains from the carbonized remains of the food offerings at Monte Papalucio, it might not be as likely to find trace of the eventual piglets’ flesh, in the same context, for obvious conservation reasons; but lack of evidence does not not mean .
Beach (ibid.), also informs us that
“The ceremonies comprised fasting and purification, a ritualised descent in the underworld, and the use of sympathetic magic to bring renewed life back out of the jaws of death [...]. Similarly, the Eleusinian Mysteries also revered swine and their rituals featured the washing and sacrificing of young pigs sacred to Demeter [...]. The numerous correspondences suggests that the Eleusinian Mysteries were of a piece with the Thesmophoria, and perhaps shared the same historical origins.”
It is feasible to assume that similar ritual practices – fasting, purification, and possibly, even the re-enactment of the descent in the underworld, and the rebirth of the goddess – strictly bound to the mythical identity of Persephone-Kore – among other ritual possibilities, were followed by the Messapians in this sanctuary, as part of their interpretation of the dromena, “the things done”, in the celebration of the Mysteries at Eleusis.
Fertility of land and women was emphasized, and eventually sympathetically “activated” and ritually recalled in the indigenous sanctuary at Monte Papalucio by ithyphallic silenos, phallic idols, fibulae, and pectorals, part of the votive offerings. Some of these – we think – might even have been used during the celebration of specific rites to which the object or offering was associated (because of its identity-function), and perhaps played some role, before being dedicated, afterwards. Beach (1995: 5,7), on the basis of the accounts of Clement of Alexandria and Tertullian, recalls the possibility that the Mysteries had a three-folded structure: deiknymena, or “things shown”, legomena, or “things said”, and dromena, or “things done”. He informs us that in the Mysteries, the Hiera, or sacred cult-objects, were kept in a specially secret chamber, the Anakotoron, and carried in solemn procession from Eleusis to Athens and vice versa (ibid. : 4). At the end of the dromena, we are told, the Hierophant entered alone in the sacred chamber of the Telesterion, and re-emerged
“[...] with the Hiera, those most mysterious and holy relics of Demeter and Persephone. [...]“
And, in remarking the fact that the identity of these objects is still unknown, he adds that
“[...] Theories have ranged from stalks of cut wheat, serpents, specially blessed bread, a stylized phallus or female pudendum (or both), ancient Mycenaean artefacts, or Neolithic statuettes.”
We wonder at the presence of analogies in the structure of the cult, in the indigenous framework of Southern Apulia. Holy objects of cult, employed in ceremonial-sacramental functions performed by specialized sacerdotal hierarchies, in the context of specific rituals, must have existed among the Messapians, along with the complementary practice of the votive offerings by the devotee or initiates to the Mysteries. The general categorization of a class of objects found in the sanctuary area, as “votive”, in essence overshadows the complexity of the cult articulation in favor of a single, more evident (but not for this only) aspect. It is necessary, we believe, to be aware of the risks intrinsic to this generalization process, which may lead to oversimplification of complex religious and cultic realities. Nevertheless, in the absence of more specific contextual evidence, we will still refer to “votive”, as in the broader sense of the word. Moreover, attesting the diffusion of Mystery cults in the indigenous contexts, means that a whole set of sacred ceremonies, degrees of esoteric knowledge (from mystes – new initate, to mystagogos, a more expert figure offering preliminary guidance to the mystes, to epoptes, an initiate introduced to the higher levels of the Mysteries), ritual functions, and sacerdotal hierarchy – already envisaged by De Simone (1984: 177-197) – may well have had their own established analogous form among the Messapians.
The celebration of the Mysteries at Eleusis was a complex affair, with a Hierophant, or High Priest, who only could enter in the Anaktoron; a High Priestess of Demeter, (whose Messapic equivalent is perhaps referred to in the Messapic inscriptions as Tabara Damatria); Hierophantides, female assistants to the Hierophant; Panageis Priestesses, “celibate auxiliaries” eventually carrying the Hiera in the procession; the Dadouchos, the torch-bearer, and the Dadouchousa, his female assistant; a Hierokeryx, calling the adepts to silence so that the celebrations may begin; and a Priest at the Altar, in charge of the animal sacrifices (Beach 1995: 4).
It is feasible to think, as well, that pilgrimages and/or processions originated from and to the sanctuary of Monte Papalucio, to and from other centres where the Mysteries where diffused, perhaps even Taranto – source of dissemination of the religious cults in Messapia – in accordance with a sacred geography that most certainly must have existed, but whose precise contours we are not able to define anymore today. The range of the votive offerings at Monte Papalucio was extremely various: broad beans; small, domesticated animals; achromatic miniaturist vases; figured indigenous vases (reflecting the knowledge of Greek myths); black-figured and red-figured Attic and Italiote vases; silver coins (from the western Greek centres of Metaponto, Caulonia, Crotone, and Sibari); silver laminae sheeted with gold, and bronze hydriai. All the different material found in the sanctuary, from the terracottas, to the inscriptions, and the offerings, point at the most certain identification of Persephone-Kore (see below, terracotta statuette with scene of abduction) and Damatra, as the dominant deities object of the cult at Monte Papalucio (D’Andria ibid.: 240).
Archaeo-botanical research carried in the sanctuary had revealed the presence of several plants, some of which are thought to have strong symbolical associations with Demeter and Kore-Persephone. Drawing from analogies in the Greek world, where special crops of barley were produced for religious motives, and employed in the preparation of sacrificial cakes (Pausanias 1.38.6, in Ciaraldi 1999), Ciaraldi identifies the grains of einkorn (Triticum Monoccum L.), found as topping of votive cakes in Monte Papalucio, as a possible signal of an equivalent practice – whereby we could see the presence of sacrificial fields also in the context of the indigenous sanctuary of Monte Papalucio. Broad beans (Vicia faba L. var. minor) also, had a symbolic status in the Greek cults, as for their association with the underworld. Large quantities of this leguminous plant, have been found in the Messapic sanctuary, within miniaturist votive vessels, set upside-down, and thought by Ciaraldi (ibid.) to:
“symbolize help in the descent of the dead people’s souls to the underworld”.
Pomegranates, a fruit with strong associations with the underworld and the Eleusinian Mysteries, have been as well identified here. The whole myth is recounted in the Homeric Hymn to Demeter (attributed to Homer, though other scholars assign it to a much later period). Grant-Hazel (1986: 101) consider it the most ancient source arrived to us.
Persephone (called also the Kore, i.e. the “Maiden”, an epiclesis that may reflect the condition of the woman before marriage) was gathering flowers in a meadow, in a woodland near Enna, in the fertile Sicily (one of the favourite places of Demeter), when she was attracted by a narcissus of outstanding beauty, secretly created by Zeus (who agreed at Hades’ request of marrying the beautiful Maiden). She was about to pick it up, when suddenly the earth opened up. From this opening sprang Hades with his chariot of blue horses, who abducted her and carried her off in the underworld (Grant-Hazel 1986: 100). This happening caused Demeter much grief.
According to a more recent (?) version of the myth (Grant-Hazel, ibid. :100) she wandered around the earth, for nine days and nine nights, bearing lit torches, and refraining from eating and drinking (a part of the myth eventually recalled in the fasting of the initiates to the Mysteries), in search of her daughter. Through Hekate she met Helios, who told her the whole story. In despair, she sent famine and pestilences world-wide, especially to Sicily. She then abandoned Olympus, and started to wonder again. After alternate events she encountered the Moires, sent by Zeus to persuade her that the marriage with Hades was necessary.
Following, instead, the Homeric account, the goddess abandoned her divine form, and immediately began the research of her daughter, disguised as a old woman from Crete. She wondered around many places on earth, compensating with the gift of agriculture those who helped and hosted her, and punishing those who were unfair. Eleusis and Sicily were rated first in having better served the goddess in her quest. At Eleusis, while she set down by an old well, she was approached by the four daughters of king Celeus, who welcomed and introduced her to their household. Here, Demeter nursed the infant Demophon, son of the king, and secretly tried to make him immortal – while under her care – anointing his limbs with ambrosia, and purifying him with fire, every night, to burn away his mortality. The attempt failed because of the king’s wife, Metanira, screamed at the sight of her baby into the fire. The goddess, infuriated, stopped the mystical procedure, revealed her true identity, and ordered Celeus to build a a temple in her honor at Eleusis, where she would teach her secret rites, the Eleusinian Mysteries. She then disappeared and retreated here, causing a general famine, which made the earth sterile, and not even Zeus was able to stop. In the end, Hades was reluctantly persuaded by Zeus to release Persephones, on condition that she would not eat food from the underworld. The goddess was, however, tricked by Hades and as she was about to leave, she was made to eat few grains of pomegranate. As consequence, she became compelled to remain with her husband Hades during the winter months, for a third of the year, every year. She would then return to the upper world, joining her mother, bringing the flowers of spring. At the return of Kore, Demeter brought again fertility back to the fields. (Richardson 1996: 447).
Mystery cults at Monte Papalucio
The part of the myth regarding the nursing of Demophon is perhaps recalled in the terracottas showing the goddess as kourotrophos, in the sense that they may be pointing at a function of the deity, actually explained through the mythical account, and enacted in specific rituals in the sanctuary of Oria. Or else, it may refer to a symbolical offspring generated during the performance of the hieros gamos, or hierogamy, that might have been (the question is controversial) enacted in the course of the Eleusinian Mysteries. Asterios of Amaseia (in Beach 1995: 6), a late source of the 4th century, sarcastically comments about the ceremony of the Sacred Marriage in Eleusi:
“[...] Is there not in that place a dark underground chamber [katabasion], where the Hierophant meets with the High Priestess alone? Are not the torches then extinguished, and do not the vast multitudes believe it is for their own salvation–what those two do together in the darkness?”.
Beach (ibid. : 7) speculates on the various attempts that have been made to identify the offspring of the hieros gamos: Iacchos (a tutelary deity whose statue was carried in the procession-pilgrimage departing from the Athenian Agora’ to arrive at Eleusis); Ploutos (fruit of the union between Demeter and Iasion of Crete); Dionysos-Zagreus (generated by the encounter of Persephone and Zeus); Triptolemos (son of Keleos, one of the first princes of Eleusis, to whom Demeter presented the seed of the barley, in order that he passed on to mankind his knowledge, and would teach the world how to sow and grow grain); and, finally, Persephone herself.
What we are trying to suggest is that the presence of terracotta figurines in the votive deposits, which are generally associated to specific functions or parts of the myth (the scene of the abduction; the search with torches; the rebirth of Persephone, and many other aspects), might perhaps not only be read as merely coincidental reflection of the mythical story, as ‘static’ votive offers left by devotees and initiates, but as having had a specific role and/or a defined link, in the mimetic rituals that we known had taken place during the most secretive celebrations of the Eleusian Mysteries and the Thesmophoria (celebrated for three days, before the time of sowing, and only open to women; Jameson 1996:1509). Ritual re-enactments of parts of the myth, such as the search of Kore with torches, are said, for instance, to have occurred during the celebration of the Eleusian Mysteries. Beach (ibid. 5), brilliantly deliver the picture of what might have been like the sacred representation of the divine drama:
“Persephone [...]‘s abduction by Hades; Demeter’s grief; her long, desperate search throughout the world for the departed goddess; the anguish of all living creatures as famine and death engulfed them. Very likely the initiates gained a sense of direct participation in Demeter’s travail by searching with her and calling for her daughter in the same hallowed precincts which, according to tradition, actually witnessed these events. Then finally, perhaps illuminated in a sudden blaze of torchlight, there would have been the joyous moment of Persephone’s resurrection, as she emerged from the underworld and returned to the loving arms of her mother. The dramatic intensity of this pageant, heightened (in all probability) by music and chanted invocations of the gods, would surely have created an awe-inspiring spectacle [...].”
Thus, the motive of the cross-torch, appearing on pottery shreds from Monte Papalucio, might even beckon (or be related to) the presence of specific ceremonial re-enactments, equivalent to those of Eleusis, during the secret performance of the Mysteries at the sanctuary. Moreover, we wonder at the interesting remark that “in all probability” the ritual performance was accompanied by music and sacred chants, and at the possibility that this scenario might be applied – within specific cultural marks and co-ordinates – as well to the Messapic celebrations of the Mysteries. It is, to say the least – surprising – that no mention of the word music, or dances whatsoever – as far as it is known to us – has ever been pronounced for the Messapians (or the Iapygians alike). The Messapians, this is the impression that one would get following all the scholarly production on the subject, didn’t know of the existence of music!! It is rather odd that not even the theoretical, hypothetical possibility of music – especially in sacred, religious, ritual performances – in the indigenous world, has ever been mentioned. The fact that no archaeological or other type of documentation has yet reached us, does not suffice to ignore or dismiss the matter at all.
The presence and diffusion of Mystery-cults in Messapia was supposed by Parlangeli (1965: 185-186) – on the footsteps of Giacomelli (1963: 31 ff.- reference in Parlangeli, ibid: 186, n.33) and Wuilleumier (1939: 512.- reference in Parlangeli, ibid: 186, n.33) – who addressed the issue of the presence of ‘mysteriosophic’ cults, originating from the Tarentine area on the basis of the symbol carved on the lid of a sarcophagus, belonging to a Messapic (High ?) Priestess of Damatra, framing inscription IM 14.114 from Valesio. More recently, the subject was brought again to the attention of the scholars by De Simone (1984: 177-197). However, the possible semantical link between archaeological material evidence (i.e. the terracotta figurines and other votive objects, the five-folded, cross-torch symbol represented on ceramic – attested in Monte Papalucio and on other Apulian vases, elsewhere – or carved/painted on tombs in other areas of Messapia) and parts of the myth actually recalled in ritual form during the celebrations of the Mysteries, or the Thesmophoria, has not been investigated yet. Though, an approach of this type, although focusing on the remains of food-offerings, had already been made by Ciaraldi (ibid.), for the sections of the votive deposits where piglets bones where found.
Following an account of the thesmophoric ceremonies in Greece, as held in Lucian’s Dialogues of the Courtesan (in Brumfield 1981), Ciaraldi (ibid.) describes the presence
“of secret rites which recalled the seizing of Persephones by Hades and during which ‘piglets were thrown into the chasm of Demeter and Persephones’.”
Adding (a reference in Brumfield ibid.: 78) that
“Lucian also mentions that parts of piglets were mixed with grains and wheat to symbolize fertility and the generation of crops”.
Matching the thesmophoric data with Jameson (1996: 1509), we are as well informed that:
“Pigs were thrown into pits or cave, such as have been found at some Demeter shrines. The purified remains brought up by ‘Balers’, antletriai, and placed on altars of Demeter and Kore [...], ensured a good harvest when mixed with the seed corn. (It is uncertain when the pigs were cast down. [...]).[...] The festival included obscenity and a sacrifice. Otherwise, the secrets of the Thesmophoria have been well kept [....].”
Lucian (in Ciaraldi ibid.) also tells us of the presence of snakes – chthonian beings par excellence, with deep symbolical associations to the underworld – in the chasm, and that the women
“also bring up at that place holy, secret, objects made from wheat, representations of snakes and male shapes”.
Ciaraldi (ibid.), on the footstep of Lucian’ account, suggests an identification of these wheat offerings in the guise of a snake, with some of the sacrificial cakes and biscuits (in particular cake f, see below, resembling a coiled snake) found at the sanctuary of Monte Papalucio.
The cult of Kore-Persephone focused on many different aspects of the myth, according to different areas. In Locri Epizephyrii, for instance, it was the abduction and rape of the girl-goddess that was emphasized.
This event was symbolically related to the condition of the woman in marriage, and she was worshiped as protectress of marriage, children and generally of the woman’s dimension (Sourvinou-Inwood 1996: 1142). In Sicily, a land which held a special privileged status for the dual goddesses, there were as well myths recalling the abduction-rape and return of Kore, thought to have disappeared in the underworld, at the site of the spring Cyane, where annual celebrations were held (Richardson 1996: 448). We wonder at the eventuality that the reasons behind the choice of the site of Monte Papalucio, specifically chosen by the Messapians as the sanctuary area dedicated to the cult of Demetra and Persephone, may have been related to, or dictated by, ritual decisions recalling similar or equivalent myths or beliefs.
Another interesting point made by Ciaraldi (ibid.) is the attested presence of poppy seeds, recognized in the impression left on a sacrificial cake. It is known the symbolical association of poppies – growing in corn fields – with Demeter, which is also iconographically documented in art (Richardson ibid.; Brumfield 1991 in Ciaraldi ibid.). It has not been specified, however, the typological variety found in Monte Papalucio, whether the isolated specimens belonged to the corn poppy (Papaver rhoeas), or to the opium poppy (Papaver somniferum), the “flower of joy” of the Sumerians. The diffused presence of the latter variety in Salento – well-known in the ancient world for its euphoric-hypnotic effects – if proved in the sanctuary area, may open a new field of investigation in the research on indigenous ritual customs. It is not impossible to think that the Messapians, as almost all ancient cultures world-wide, had used at some point “entheogenics” plants, in ceremonial, or divinatory contexts. The (more like) possibility that opium poppy might have been used, along with other brews, in the context of a re-enactment ritual during the celebration of the Mysteries, to help deliver altered visual and auditory perception, is all the more enticing. Especially in relation to what Focart had supposed to be – as well – another aspect of the sacred representations part of the dromena at Eleusis, extrapolated from a passage of Plutarch (known by Temistius, in Stobeus, “Agra” 107, in Beach ibid.: 5), according to whom
“[...] the Mysteries may also have led the initiates through gloomy infernal regions, with horrible images and ghostly shapes in order to recreate a grim foreshadowing of what awaits the uninitiated [...] Then [...] subsequent representations of a blissful afterlife in the company of the goddesses and other initiates would have produced a profound sense of relief and spiritual rebirth [...].”
The assumption of psycho-active substances may well have helped in the visions of the underworld. This might have as well be accounted for the absence of stage machinery and underground chambers, also noticed at Eleusis; though wooden structures eventually employed for the representations – either in Oria or Eleusis – would not have survived. It is known (Beach ibid.: 4-5) that on the fifth day of the celebration of the Mysteries, the procession headed back to Eleusis, and the initiates would then rest, purify themselves, and fast. Then, on the approaching evening, they would drink the kykeon, a sacramental beverage made by grains – symbolizing Persephone – and water, mixed with mint leaves. Joseph Campbell (Beach ibid.: 5), among others, had envisaged the possibility that the kykeon may have contained ergot, a psycho-active ingredient naturally occurring in cereals. In a representation of Ulysses’ myth, found on a Messapic black-figure Hydria from Monte Papalucio, D’Andria (1990: 265) raises the possibility that Circe – who has seemingly already operated the transformation into animals of the hero’s peers – is shown in the act of offering a small object, containing the kykeon. This eventuality, if proved, is certainly adding support to the idea that the beverage contained intoxicating ingredients, and might therefore have played a specific role in the mimetic rituals eventually performed during the celebrations of the Mysteries in the sanctuary, either in the indigenous and/or the Greek context.
* = Extract From Master of Arts Thesis “Cultic Aspects of The Iapygian-Messapic Civilization in Southern Italy”, UCL, London, November 1999.
REFERENCES
Beach, E A, 1995. The Eleusinian Mysteries : http://users.erols.com/nbeach/eleusis.html
Brumfield, A C, 1981. The Attic Festivals of Demeter and their Relation to the Agricultural Year. Salem: The Ayer Company
Ciaraldi, M, 1997/8. Food offerings at the Archaic/Hellenistic sanctuary of Demeter and Persephone at Monte Papalucio (Oria, Apulia, southern Italy). Accordia Research Papers 7: 75-91 (published 1999)
D’Andria, F, 1990. Archeologia dei Messapi, Bari: Edipuglia
D’Andria, F, 1990 b. Civilta’ dei Messapi, in Archeo 70, December 1990, 46-51
De Simone, C, 1984. Su ‘tabaras’ (femm. ‘-a’) e la diffusione di culti misteriosofici nella Messapia, in SE 50, s. III, 177-197. Firenze
Grant, M – Hazel, J, 1986. Dizionario della Mitologia Classica. Milano: CDE
Jameson, MH, 1996. Thesmophoria, in The Oxford Classical Dictionary, 1509. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press
Parlangeli, O, 1965. Nuove iscrizioni Messapiche, in Indogermanische Forschungen LXX, 173-190
Richardson, NJ, 1996. Demeter, in The Oxford Classical Dictionary, 447-448, Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press
Sourvinou-Inwood, C, 1996. Persephone/Kore, in Oxford Classical Dictionary, 1142-1143, Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press
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Tags: damatra, einkorn, eleusinian mysteries, ergot, fertility, francesco d'andria, francesco sammarco, iapigya, initiation, kykeon, medicine, messapia, messapian, messapic cults, messapic sanctuary of monte papalucio, mystery cults, papalucio, papaver somniferum, persephone-kore, purification, sanctuary, the abduction of persephone, the flower of joy, thesmophoria, thesmophoric, thesmophoric rites, thesmophoric sanctuary of monte papalucio, thesmophoric sanctuary of oria
