The Eleusinian mysteries & rites. - The Masonic Trowel

68 ELEUSINIAN MYSTERIES AND RITES
was obligatory that the principal scenic presentation
of the Mysteries must be celebrated on the ground
trodden by the feet of Demeter and where the goddess
herself had ordered her temple to be erected.
The initiation of the Emperor Hadrian (who
succeeded where Claudius had failed, in introducing
the celebration of the Mysteries into Rome) took
place in a.d. 125, when he was present at the Lesser
Mysteries in the spring and at the Greater Mysteries
in the following autumn. In September, a.d. 129,
he was again at Athens, when he presented himself
for the third degree, as is known from Dion Cassius,
confirmed by a letter written by the Emperor himself,
in which he mentions a journey from Eleusis to
Ephesus made by him at that time. Hadrian is
the only imperial initiate, so far as is known, who
persevered and passed through all three degrees.
Since he remained at Eleusis as long as it was
possible for him to do so after the completion of
his initiation, it is not rash to assume that he
was inspired by something more than curiosity or
even by a desire to show respect.
It is uncertain whether the Emperor Antonin
was initiated, although from an inscription it seems
probable that he was and that he should be included
in the Hst of imperial initiates. Both Marcus
Aurelius and Commodus, father and son, were
initiated at the same time, at the Lesser Mysteries
in March, a.d. 176, and at the Greater Mysteries in