E L E 
drachmas, or, according to others, on pain of death. It 
was'alfo unlawful for thofi? who were initiated to fit upon 
the cover of a well, to eat beans, mullets, or weazels. 
If any woman rode to Eleufis in a chariot, (he was 
obliged, by an edi6l of Lycurgus, to pay fix thoufand 
drachmas.' The defign of this law was to deft'roy all dif- 
tindtion between the richer and poorer fort of citizens. 
The firft day of the celebration was called ayopyo;, affem- 
bly, as it might be faid that the worlhippers firft met to¬ 
gether. The fecond day was called a\a oe yjjtrrat, to the 
fea, you that are initiated, becaufe they were commanded 
to purify themfelves by bathing. On the third day fa- 
crifices, and chiefly a mullet, were offered ; as alfo barley 
from a field of Eleufis. Thefe oblations were called 
Sra, and held fo facred, that the prieffs themfelves w'ere 
not, as in other facrifices, permitted to partake of them. 
On the fourth day they made a folemn proceflion, in which 
the y.aKa9icv, holy bafket of Ceres, was carried about in a 
confecrated car; while on every fide the people fhouted, 
Xaipe Av^te^, Hail, Cerfes! After thefe, followed women, 
called Kiaroipopoi, who carried bafkets, in which were fe- 
fanum, carded wool, grains of fait, a ferpent, pomegra¬ 
nates, reeds, ivy boughs, certain cakes, &c. The fifth 
was called n run Kay.na.fruv nyspa, the torch day, becaufe 
on the following night the people ran about with torches 
in their hands. It was ufual to dedicate torches to Ceres, 
and contend which Ihould offer the biggeft, in commemo¬ 
ration of the travels of the goddefs, and of her lighting 
a torch in the flames of mount Etna. The fixth day 
was called layya;, from Iacchus, the fon of Jupiter and 
Ceres, who accompanied his mother in her fearch after 
Proferpine, with a torch in his hand. From that circum- 
ftance his ftatue had a torch in its hand, and was carried 
in folemn proceflion from the Ceramicus to Eleufis. The 
ffatue, with thefe that accompanied it, called Iayyayuyoi, 
were crowned with myrtle. In the way, nothing was 
heard but finging, and the noife of brazen kettles, as the 
votaries danced along. The way through which they 
iffued from the city was called nga ofroc, the facred way ; 
the l'efting place, u^a awn, from a fig-tree which grew in 
the neighbourhood. They alfo flopped on a bridge over 
the Cephifus, where they derided thofe that palled by. 
After they had palled this bridge, they entered Eleufis by 
a place called yvaruvi zKrofro;, the myftical entrance. On 
the feventh day were fports, in which the victors were 
rewarded with a meafure of barley, as that grain had been 
lirft fown in Eleufis. The eighth day was called Emfrav- 
fiov Yiyspa, becaufe once Hifculapius, at his return from 
Epidaurus to Athens, was initiated by the repetition of 
the lefs myfteries. It became cuftomary, therefore, to 
celebrate them a fecond time upon this, that fuch as had 
not hitherto been initiated might be lawfully admitted. 
The ninth and laft day of the feftival was called nKriy.o 
yoa i, earthen veffels, becaufe it was ufual to fill two fuch 
velfels with wine, one of which being placed towards the 
eaft, and the other towards the weft, which, after the re¬ 
petition of fome myflical words, were both thrown down, 
and the wine, being fpilt on the gropnd, was offered as a 
libation. Such was the manner of celebrating the Eleu- 
finian myfteries, which have been deemed the mod facred 
and folemn of all the feftivals obferved by the Greeks. 
Some have fuppofed them to be obfeene and abominable, 
and that from thence proceeded all the myfterious fecrecy. 
They were carried from Eleufis to Rome in the reign of 
Adrian, where they were obferved with the fame cere¬ 
monies as before, though perhaps with more freedom and 
licentioufnefs. They lafted about 1800 years, and were at 
laft abolifhedbyTheodofius the Great. JElian. Paufanias. 
ELEU'SIS, anciently a city in Attica, between Megara 
and the Piraeus, celebrated for the feftivals of Ceres, 
above deferibed. It is now a fmall village, at the eaftern 
extremity of a rocky brow, on which was once a caftle ; 
and is inhabited by a few Albanian families, employed in 
the culture of the plain, and fuperintended by a Turkilh 
2 
ELF 471 
governor, who relides in an old fqnare tower. Its exten- 
ftve ruins.ftill manifeft its ancient magnificence, and afford 
various fubjefts of information and curiofity to the anti¬ 
quarian and inquifitive traveller. 
ELEU'TKERA, or Alabaster Island, one of the 
Bahama iflands; the climate is healthy, and the foil is 
fertile. It has a fort and a fmall garrifon. Lat.25.14. N. 
Ion. 76. 31. W. Greenwich. 
ELEUTHE'RIA, a feftival celebrated at Platrea in ho¬ 
nour of Jupiter Eleutherius, or the affertor of liberty, by 
delegates from almoft all the cities of Greece. Its in- 
ftitution originated in this : after the victory obtained by 
the Grecians under Paufanias over Mardonius the Per- 
fian general in the country of Platasa, an altar and ftatue 
were erected to Jupiter Eleutherius, who had freed the 
Greeks from the tyranny of the barbarians* It was fur¬ 
ther agreed upon in a general affembly, by the advice of 
Ariftides the Athenian, that deputies fhould be fent every 
fifth year from the different cities of Greece to celebrate 
Eleutherian feftivals of liberty. The Platseans celebrated 
alfo an anniverfary feftival in memory of thofe who had 
loft their lives in that famous battle. The celebration 
was thus : At break of day a proceflion was made with a 
trumpeter at the head, founding a fignal for battle. 
After him followed chariots loaded with myrrh, garlands, 
and a black bull, and certain free young,men, as no flgns 
of fervility were to appear during the folepinity, becaufe 
they, in whofe honour the feftival was inftituted, had died 
in the defence of their country. They carried libations 
of wine and milk in large eared Velfels, with jars of oil 
and precious ointments. I,aft of all appeared the chief 
magiftrate, who, though not permitted at other times to 
touch iron, or wear garments of any colour but white, 
yet appeared clad in purple ; and, taking a water-pot out 
of the city chamber, proceeded through the middle of 
the town with a fword in his hand, towards the fepulchres. 
There he drew water fropn a neighbouring fpring, and 
wafhed and anointed the monuments; after which he fa- 
crificed a bull upon a pile of wood, invoking Jupiter .and 
infernal Mercury, and inviting to the entertainment the 
fouls of thofe happy heroes who had perilhed in the de¬ 
fence of their country. After this he filled a bowl with 
wine, faying, I drink to thofe who loft their lives in the 
defence of the liberties, of Greece. There was alfo a fef¬ 
tival of the fame name obferved by the Samians in ho¬ 
nour of the god of love. Slaves alfo, when they ob¬ 
tained their liberty, kept a holiday, which they called 
Elevtkeria. 
ELEUTKE'RUS, in ancient geography, the name of a 
river in Paleftine. 1 Macc. xi. 7. 
ELEU'THES, a kingdom of Tartary, fttuated on the 
north-weft of Chinefe Tartary. It was conquered, in 
1759, by the emperor of China. 
ELF,y. plural elvesj [elf Welfli. Baxter’s Gloff.] A 
wandering fpirit, fuppofed to be feen in wild unfrequented 
places ; ~ fairy : 
The king of elfs and little fairy queen 
Gambol’d on heaths, and danc’d on ev’ry green. Dryd. 
If e’er one vifion touch’d thy infant thought, 
Of all the nurfe and all the prieft have taught; 
Of airy elves by moonlight fliadow feen 
The filver token, and the circled green. Pope. 
A devil: 
That we may angels feem, we paint them elves ; 
And are but fatires to fet up ourfelves. Dryden . 
[Figuratively.] A diminutive.perfon: 
Though now he crawl along the ground fo low. 
Nor weeting how the mufe Ihould foar on high, 
Wiftieth, poor ftarv’ling elf his paper-kite may fly. 
• . Shenfone .- 
To ELF, v. a. To entangle hair in fo intricate a man¬ 
ner, that it is not to be unravelled. This the vulgar have 
fuppolei 
