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Phaleron near Athens. From the journey to Greece. Jan Ciągliński National Museum in Warsaw © National Museum in Warsaw -
Plan of Athens Friedrich von Gärtner Technische Universität München © Technische Universität München -
Marble figure of a pregnant sow, the plinth inscribed with a dedication to Kore (Persephone) by Plathainis, wife of Platonos [Sanctuary of Demeter (Knidos)] The British Museum © The Trustees of the British Museum -
Map of Attica Jan Luyken Rijksmuseum © Rijksmuseum / Public domain -
View of the Port of Munychium and part of the Bay of Phalerum, from the Temple of Munychian Diana The British Museum © The Trustees of the British Museum -
Statuette of a piglet Musée du Louvre © 2008 Musée du Louvre / Antiquités grecques, étrusques et romaines
On the 16th of Boedromion, the sea was honoured in a unique ceremony. From the early hours, the city echoed with heralds proclaiming “Alade mystai” (To the sea, mystai), inviting the prospective initiates, known as mystai, to undergo purification in the ocean. This procession to the shore, termed Elasis, saw each initiate accompanied by a mystagogos and bearing a piglet for cleansing. The chosen beaches for this ritual were either on the east side of Faliron or Piraeus. It is likely that the mystai travelled to these beaches in carriages, overseen by the epimeletes. In a rite of both physical and spiritual cleansing, the mystai and their piglets entered the water. Despite its solemn and serious nature, the ritual was not without risks. Plutarch recounts an incident in 339 BCE where an initiate was reportedly seized and drowned by a large sea creature, possibly a shark, during the purification.
Post-ceremony, the mystai returned to Athens for the sacrificial part of the ritual, where each one slaughtered their piglet. Ancient scholars have debated the reasons behind the choice of piglets for sacrifice. Some argue that pigs were economical and accessible to all social classes of mystai. A more compelling interpretation links the use of pigs to their association with evil spirits and their symbolic fertility, which is a desired outcome in agricultural rituals. The act of sacrificing the piglet was personal, each initiate responsible for their own, symbolising the transfer of the impure spirit inside humans to the pig’s blood.
