840 



ELEUS1S KLGIN. 



antiquity. The island is covered with ruins, piled 

 upon each other Egyptian, Roman, Saracen, and 

 Arabic. Of these the Egyptian, though the most 

 ancient, are in the best state of preservation. It is 

 supposed that there was once a great temple here, 

 dedicated to the god Cnuphis, all traces of which are 

 now obliterated ; out there remains a pyramidal por- 

 tal of red granite, supposed to have formed the 

 entrance. There are two small temples, one of 

 which is believed by Denon to belong to the earliest 

 ages of Egypt. It is covered witliin and without 

 with hieroglyphics, executed in a style of peculiar 

 excellence. On the eastern side of 'the island are 

 n>m:iins of a high wall, of which the masonry is ad- 

 mirable. 



ELEUSIS (now Lepsina, a village), next to 

 Athens, was the principal city of Attica. The mys- 

 teries of Ceres and Proserpine were celebrated there, 

 and were thence called Eleusinia. Neither the 

 founder of these mysteries nor the time of their origin 

 is known ; they were the oldest and most venerable 

 in G reece ; originally they were only a public festi- 

 val, a liarvest-home, to express the gratitude of men 

 to Ceres for her bounties ; to recall their former con- 

 dition, and enjoy their present blessings ; to banish 

 unkind feelings, and perhaps, also, to form new laws 

 and project new enterprises. We have no informa- 

 tion of the manner in which the proper mysteries 

 arose from these rude games and festivities. They 

 were celebrated at the temple of Ceres at Eleusis, in 

 a court surrounded by walls. Behind the temple was 

 an elevation in the rock upon which it stood, eight 

 or nine feet high, 270 feet long, and in some places 

 lorty-four feet broad ; on the northern end of this 

 rock the ruins of a chapel are still visible. 



The persons who presided at the Eleusinian mys- 

 teries were : 1. The Hierophant (q. v.). He was 

 the type of the Creator of the world, and appeared 

 with emblems of Omnipotence. 2. The torch-bearer. 

 He was the type of the sun. His business was to 

 purify those who were to be initiated, and, on the 

 fifth night, when the wanderings of Ceres on JEtna, 

 were represented, to lead the other torch-bearers. 3. 

 The sacred herald, who enjoined silence upon those 

 who were to be initiated, and commanded the pro- 

 fane to withdraw. 4. He who served at the altar, 

 and bore the emblem of the moon. Besides these 

 persons, the archon or basileus attended to the pre- 

 servation of order, offered prayers and sacrifices, and 

 obliged the uninitiated and the criminal to retire. 

 He judged and punished any who disturbed the so- 

 lemnities. Ancient authors also mention priestesses, 

 but we have not been informed of their office. The 

 mysteries were commonly distinguished into the 

 greater and less. Most authors give the following 

 account of them. Hercules, being at Athens, de- 

 sired to be initiated into the mysteries ; but, by the 

 laws, no stranger could be admitted : tliat they might 

 not offend the hero whom they respected and feared, 

 nor yet violate the ancient laws, the Athenians in- 

 stituted the lesser mysteries, to the celebration of 

 which he was admitted. These were afterwards 

 preparatory to the greater ; for which the candidate 

 was obliged to fit himself by religious ceremonies, 

 symbolical rites, and various acts of devotion, the 

 design of which was to withdraw his attention, at 

 least for a time, from business and pleasure, to keep 

 him pure, chaste, and unpolluted, and to excite his 

 curiosity in relation to the expected revelations. 

 The period of purification continued a year ; and no 

 one could be admitted to the mysteries without puri- 

 fication, on pain of death. The ceremony of admis- 

 sion was performed by night : the candidates, crowned 

 with myrtle,, were obliged to wash their hands at 

 the sacred threshold with holy water : public pro- 



clamation was also made, that the mysteries should 

 be approached only with pure hands and pure hearts. 

 Pure Greek only was to be spoken. 



The celebration of the mysteries commenced on the 

 fifteenth day of the month Boedromion, and continued 

 nine days. It consisted principally of representa- 

 tions of the history of Ceres and Proserpine, the tor- 

 tures of Tartarus, and the joys of Elysium, which 

 were exhibited in the most striking manner. The 

 chief design was, by sensible means, to spread among 

 the people a conviction of the immortality of the 

 soul, and of a future state of rewards and punish- 

 ments. The initiated were under the peculiar pro- 

 tection of the gods, and they alone were certain of 

 tlie joys of immortality. Very different from these 

 lesser were the greater mysteries, which contained 

 the secret doctrines that were the chief object of the 

 institution, and were communicated only to a few 

 (the Epoptae), in the recesses of the sanctuary. 

 Secresy was enjoined under the most dreadful penal- 

 ties. Divine vengeance and death were the punish- 

 ment of those who disclosed them. These doctrines 

 probably aimed at the explanation of the popular 

 superstition and mythology, and the interpretation of 

 their true meaning. The mysteries inculcated the 

 doctrine of one God, and the dignity and destiny of 

 the soul of man : they instructed the people in the 

 knowledge of nature and of the universe, and pointed 

 out the traces of the Deity in the beauty and majesty 

 the splendour and regularity, of the visible world. 

 See Potter's Antiquities, ii. 20. 



ELEUTHERA, or ALABASTER ISLAND ; one 

 of the Bahama islands. The climate is healthy, and 

 the soil is fertile. It has a fort and small garrison. 

 The largest settlement is at Harbour island, at the 

 northern extremity, containing, in 1803, 890 inhabi- 

 tants ; and the settlement of Wreck sound, on the 

 west side, contained about 400. Lou. 76 31' W. ; 

 lat. 25 14' N. 



ELEVATION OF A PLACE. See Altitude. 



ELEVATION, hi the ceremony of the mass, is the 

 raising, first of the host and then of the cup, to re- 

 ceive the homage of the people, as the body and the 

 blood of Jesus Christ : the priest himself previously 

 performs the act of adoration by a deep genuflection. 

 This ceremony was introduced into the Latin church 

 in the beginning of the twelfth century, in conse- 

 quence of the heresy of Berengarius, in order to 

 render the profession of the belief in the real pre- 

 sence and the transubstantiation as decided and 

 striking as possible. In the Greek Catholic church, 

 the elevation of the host does not take place immedi- 

 ately after the consecration, as in the Roman church, 

 but before the communion, when the priest says 

 sancta sanctis (the holy for the holy). 



ELF, in the ancient northern mythology ; certain 

 beings, sometimes visible, at other times invisible ; 

 either bright, beautiful, and .good (Liosalfar), dwell- 

 ing in heaven (Alfheim), or black, ugly, and malicious 

 (Schwartalfar), living under the ground. " The for- 

 mer," says the Edda, " are brighter than the sun ; the 

 latter, blacker than pitch." To the latter belongs 

 the nightmare (in German Alp). The fairies, nixies, 

 brownies, robin-good-fellows, &c.,all belong to this 

 family. The elf-knots are known to every body. How 

 delightfully Shakspeare has availed himself of these 

 shadowy creations of a playful imagination, we all 

 remember. 



ELGIN, an ancient royal burgh of Scotland, the 

 capital of Moray, or Elginshire, is situated on the 

 banks of the river Lossie, 197 miles N. of Edinburgh, 

 and 63 N. W. of Aberdeen. The town consists of one 

 spacious well-built street, upwards of a mile long, and 

 several of smaller extent. At the eastern extremity 

 stand the ruins of its old cathe.lral; a noble remain of 



