Steinhauer, Julietta; (2024) The Eleusinian Deities in Ionia. In: Beck, Hans and Scharff, Sebastian, (eds.) Eleusis Beyond Mysteries. Brill: Leiden, Netherlands. (In press).

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Abstract

This article surveys the evidence for the worship of the Eleusinian deities in Ionia from the Classical to the Roman Imperial period. It argues that 1. While the link between the cult of Demeter Eleusinia and the colonisation by individuals from Attica (‘Ionian migration’) in the Early Iron Age is impossible to prove, a clear connection between the cults and their religious meaning and the city of Athens was made by the 5th c BCE historians Herodotus and Pherecydes. Indeed, Herodotus even uses the religious significance of Demeter Eleusinia in his time to forge the connections between the Athenians and Ionians fighting the common enemy under the aegis of the goddess. 2) Overall, the archaeological and epigraphic evidence for the worship of Demeter Eleusinia in Ionia is sparse. Arguably, this is due to local traditions since other aspects of the goddess, such as her association with harvest (in her guise as Demeter Karpophoros) are particularly prominent in individual poleis such as Ephesus. In fact, many of the aspects usually associated with Eleusis, such as the mysteries and initiation are equally practiced as part of the worship of the goddess, but under different epithets and often within smaller groups such as religious associations rather than by the city. 3) In the early Roman and Roman Imperial periods, an upsurge in cult activities relating to Demeter mysteries in Ionia is reflected in the evidence. This renewed interest may be explained by the corresponding renewed appeal of the mysteries of Eleusis to Roman emperors such as Hadrian, as well as the general trend of ‘mysterisation’ in Asia Minor of the second c CE that was driven by competing local elites.

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