 | This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Eumolpidae" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(December 2009) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
TheEumolpidae/ˌjuːˈmɒlpɪdiː/ (Ancient Greek:Εὐμολπίδαι,Eumolpidai) were a family of priests atEleusis who maintained theEleusinian Mysteries during theHellenic era. Ashierophants, they popularized the cult and allowed many more to be initiated into the secrets ofDemeter andPersephone.[1]
The legendary genealogy of the Eumolpidae cast them as descendants ofEumolpus, one of the first priests ofDemeter at Eleusis, through his second son,Herald-Keryx. Eumolpus, "untainted by blame" is named among the archaic leaders of Eleusis in theHomeric Hymn to Demeter 149–156. Through Eumolpus, they were supposedly related to eitherPoseidon orHermes. The last legitimatehierophant at Eleusis, just before the extinguishing of the mysteries at the time ofAlaric's invasion in 396 CE, traced his descent from Eumolpos.[2] The other family with a hereditary Eleusinian priesthood were theKerykes.
.jpg) | This article relating toGreek mythology is astub. You can help Wikipedia byexpanding it. |