The Eleusinian mysteries & rites. - The Masonic Trowel

PROGRAMME OF GREATER MYSTERIES 51
laver of regeneration, and the initiates were clothed
in a plain fawn-skin or a sheep-skin. The purification,
however, was not regarded as complete until the
following day, when there was added the sprinkling
of the blood of a pig sacrificed. Each had carried
to the river or lake a little pig, which was also puritied
by bathing, and on the next day this pig was sacrificed.
The pig was offered because it was very pernicious
to cornfields. On the Eleusinian coinage the pig,
standing on a torch placed horizontally, appears
as the sign and symbol of the Mysteries. On this
day also some of the initiated submitted to a special
purification near the altar of Zeus Mellichios on
the Sacred Way. For each person whom it was
desired to purify an ox was sacrificed to Zeus Melli-
chios, the infernal Zeus, the skin of the animal was
laid on the ground by the dadouchos, and the one
who was the object of the lustration remained there
squatting on the left foot.
Third Day.—On the third day pleasures of every
description, even the most innocent, were strictly
forbidden, and every one fasted till nightfall, when
they partook of seed cakes, parched corn, salt,
pomegranates, and sacred wine mixed with milk
and honey. The Archon Basileus, assisted again
by the four epimeletae, celebrated, in the presence
of representatives from the allied cities, the great
sacrifice of the Soteria for the well-being of the
State, the Athenian citizens, and their wives and