previous next


The great procession from Athens to Eleusis along the sacred way took place on the 20th Boedromion (Eur. Ion 1076, cf. sup.). It bore the name Iacchus because in it the statue of the child Iacchus, with his cradle and playthings, was borne, escorted by Ephebi and followed by the Mystae bearing torches and singing hymns (Arist. Ran. 398-413). Frequent sacrifices and ceremonies on the road made the procession last from daybreak till late at night. All through the day there was constant invocation of the god (Ἴαγχ᾽ Ἴαγχε, Arist. l. c.).

For the worship of Demeter and Kore at Eleusis cf. Farnell, Greek Cults, iii. 126-98; Harrison, Prolegomena, ch. iv ad fin., ch. x ad fin.

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.

hide Display Preferences
Greek Display:
Arabic Display:
View by Default:
Browse Bar: