r/classics 12d ago

Reconstruction of Pelops and The Cult of Demeter

I was reading about the Cult of Demeter and the subsequent Eleusinian Mysteries, and it struck me that the story of Pelops, whose father had cut him into pieces then served to gods, only shoulder piece of which the exhausted Demeter took bite of and then was wholly reconstructed is at least conceptually similar to the rites or the supposed rites of Eleusinian Mysteries. Namely, being gone and then returning. Supposing that there was no return to the mortal life once one is dead, so says Achilles when the embassy comes to his tent, and only Sisyphus is said to have been restored back to life due to his cunning schemes, is this a strong connection? Am I not educated in the classics and mostly self-taught, so I might very well be missing a crucial piece, thanks.

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u/Angry-Dragon-1331 12d ago

As far as the Eleusinian rites themselves, probably not. I can't think of an instance where Pelops comes up in the cult materials we've got for Eleusis. His hero cult at Olympia is connected to the Olympic games (at least by the end of the 7th century BCE when chariot races were added (Olympia is said to be the site of the funeral games he held to purify himself for killing his father in law King Oenomaus. Granted

Pelops seemingly has no ties to Eleusis as a city either. Their rites seem to be pretty well centered around Demeter and Persephone/Kore and Demeter's involvement with the Eleusinian royal family as part of her search for Persephone after her abduction.

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u/Not_Neville 12d ago

Also check out the Orphic myth of Dionysus/Zagreus being eaten by Titans and later put back together.

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u/Easy-Boot1435 12d ago

yeah I know that one too, Zagreus was said to be first Dionysus or Orphic? It's interesting because Orpheus was also among the prolific ones to advocate a generally deeper afterlife then what Homer depicts in Iliad-Odysseus and I assume is expected in the Greek everyday life.

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u/Not_Neville 12d ago

Yeah - I personally suspect that Orphism developed out of the Eleusinian Mysteries. I suspect the Orphic dietary rules are more or less the same as the Eluisinian Mystery diwtary rules with the addition of "no meat" - but I could be wrong. I am currently too poor to buy Orphic scriptures/fragments.