Cults of Demeter Eleusinia and the Transmission of Religious Ideas.

CULTS; CULT members; SECTS; DEMETER (Greek deity); RELIGION

Cults of Demeter Eleusinia, and cults claimed to have been established from Eleusis, are found quite widely spread across central and southern Greece and Asia Minor. Earlier explanations of how they acquired this particular cult title have started from accounts of their supposed origins early in the archaic period. This paper suggests that titles of this kind did not necessarily date back to the cults' foundations. It argues that visiting religious experts familiar with mystery cults from across the Greek world (including, amongst others, Herodotos and Pausanias) might have influenced the way local officiants understood their own cults, and hence how they came to describe them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]