Homer and the mysteries
Abstract
The Homeric belief in the inanity of the life of the souls in Hades clashes head-on with the doctrine of the mysteries, according to which the souls of the initiates, by the mere fact of being so, enjoy eternal bliss after earthly death. This puts the warrior at a disadvantage compared to the initiate, so it is not unusual that in the Homeric poems a criticism of the mysteries can be detected, allusive but patent (1). This explains the disregard of the patrons of the mysteries, Orpheus, Demeter and Dionysus (2). Another method of opposition is the ridicule of Dionysus and his cult (3). Finally, the catabasis to bring a loved one to the world of the living, characteristic of the founders of mysteries, is tragically inverted in canto XXIV of the Iliad (4).
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