Mnemosyne 73 (2020) 36-62

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Plato and the Language of Mysteries

Orphic/Pythagorean and Eleusinian Motifs and Register in Ten Dialogues

Bianca M. Dinkelaar
University of Oxford, Faculty of Classics
Balliol College
bianca.dinkelaar@balliol.ox.ac.uk

Received October 2018 | Accepted October 2018

Abstract

Despite Plato’s repeated criticism of both μῦθοι and mystery cults, Orphism/
Pythagoreanism and the Eleusinian Mysteries feature frequently in his dialogues. This
paper uncovers the reason why, and the context in which, Plato employs motifs and
language associated with these cults. Prevailing explanations in scholarship are shown
to apply in some instances but not others, and to be largely insufficient in providing
an underlying reason for Plato’s use of mystery cults in general. Through a detailed
examination of various mystery motifs in the dialogues, this paper argues that Plato
has simply borrowed from religion what he could not achieve with philosophy alone:
emotional appeal.

Keywords

Plato – mystery cult – Orphism – Pythagoreanism – Eleusis

1 Introduction

At various points in his dialogues Plato criticizes or mocks the Eleusinians,

Orphics and Pythagoreans (notably R. 363c-d, 364-366, 378a, 560e; Tht. 155e-
156c).1 Yet he repeatedly refers to their doctrines and often employs language
associated with these mystery cults. To what purpose? According to Plato,

1  Despland 1985, 98-99.

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μῦθοι are ‘on the whole false, but contain some truth’ (R. 377a) and believing
them is ‘worth the risk’ (καλὸς γὰρ ὁ κίνδυνος, Phd. 114d).2 Their main function is
generally agreed to be to illuminate the theories he expounds in his dialogues
and to promote the practice of philosophy in an accessible way.3 But can we
infer a more specific function for Plato’s religious μῦθοι, in particular those de-
rived from Orphism/Pythagoreanism and the Eleusinian Mysteries? The most
popular explanations are: that Plato sought to give more authority to his texts
by associating them with these well respected cults;4 that he intended to make
his writings more accessible and appealing to his readers by aligning them
with familiar doctrines;5 and that he made use of mystery language to cover
topics (such as the afterlife) which were beyond the scope of dialectical or
scientific inquiry.6
To test the plausibility of these commonly accepted theories, this paper ex-
amines in detail Plato’s references to the mystery cults, and use of linguistic
motifs associated with them. I first give a brief overview of the most impor-
tant characteristics of the mystery cults, the differences between them, and
the language associated with them. I then discuss Plato’s use of Orphism/
Pythagoreanism through close analysis of passages in eight dialogues: Cratylus,
Gorgias, Laws, Meno, Phaedo, Phaedrus, Republic and Timaeus. Finally, I con-
sider references to the Eleusinian Mysteries in Gorgias, Sophist, Phaedrus,
Republic and Symposium. My examination aims to address the inconsistency
between the way Plato appears both to endorse and to disapprove of mystery
cults, and ultimately to show how Plato makes use of an established set of doc-
trines and linguistic registers to promote his own philosophical positions.

2 Orphism, Pythagoreanism and the Eleusinian Mysteries

Mystery cults arose early in Greek religious culture, with the Eleusinian
Mysteries being thought to predate Homer, and Orphism/Pythagoreanism first
appearing in the 6th century bc.7 Mystery religion seems to have arisen as a

2  Thayer 1988, 376.

3  Annas 1982, 121-122; Bernstein 1993, 56; Partenie 2018 provides a useful overview of Platonic
myth in general and summarizes recent views in scholarship on its function.
4  Edmonds 2004, 28; Rodriguez 2016, 119.
5  Dorter 1976, 299, 303; Keping 2009, 291.
6  Casadesús 2016, 4-5; Edelstein 1949, 467-468; Guthrie 1993, 239-240; Keping 2009, 285; Morgan
1990, 169; Sattler 2013, 152.
7  Graf and Johnston 2013, 69-70; Guthrie 1993, 46. Due to the fact that Orphism and
Pythagoreanism were so similar that it is often unclear which of the two Plato is referring

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counter-movement to Greek state religion, focusing on the individual rather

than the community and promising future everlasting blessedness rather than
immediate temporary benefits.8
The Eleusinian Mysteries centred around the sanctuary of Eleusis, where
each year a large procession of mystai arrived to be initiated. The rites them-
selves were kept secret, and most ancient accounts on the topic are by later
Christian authors, whose writings are biased and unreliable. This has led to un-
certainty about the content and order of the rites performed in the Eleusinian
Mysteries. One older but influential theory, as presented by Riedweg, proposed
that the mystai first had to undergo purification rituals, after which the Lesser
Mysteries, also called muesis (‘initiation’), took place at Agrai. These were held
in honour of Kore and consisted of instruction, through the experience of phys-
ical rituals, of the initiates. Subsequently, the Greater Mysteries in honour of
Demeter, called epopteia (‘beholding’), took place in the Telesterion at Eleusis.9
A different theory, most recently argued for by Bremmer and Edmonds, states
that the terms muesis and epopteia do not refer to the Lesser and Greater
Mysteries, but rather to two different parts within the Greater Mysteries.10
Clinton has moreover suggested that at the Greater Mysteries the same event,
epopteia, was experienced by all initiates, but that the mystai were blindfolded,
while the epoptai (those who participated as mystai the year before) were al-
lowed to see.11 In this scenario, however, muesis is not the first-time experience

  to, and since they are often confused or grouped together, I will henceforth treat them
under a single header. I by no means aim to imply that they formed a single religious
current, but rather that these cults and their doctrines were sufficiently similar that Plato
himself felt no great distinction and refers to them in the same contexts and manner. For
a brief discussion of Orphism’s relation to Pythagoreanism see Parker 1995, 501-502; for a
more elaborate discussion see Burkert 1982, 1-22.
8   Evans 1993, ix; Evans 2006, 6.
9   Riedweg 1987; μύησις may be compared to the Latin word initia (‘beginnings’) or its deriva-
tive initiatio (‘initiation’), denoting introduction into secret things: the verb μυέω signi-
fies the action. The verb μύω, from which the noun μύησις derives, means ‘to close (one’s
eyes)’, implying the element of secrecy and the metaphorical (or literal) blindness of the
initiate. See Kerenyi 1967, 46; Dowden 1980, 414. Ἐποπτεία (from ἐφοράω, to look upon)
refers to the ‘beholding’, supposedly of sacred objects and/or rites, in the Telesterion, and
appears to have been used exclusively in reference to the Eleusinian Mysteries. See Farrell
1999, 126-127.
10  Bremmer 2014, 9-10; Edmonds 2017, 197-199. While I will henceforth follow this distinc-
tion of the terms muesis/epopteia from the terms Lesser/Greater Mysteries, I do not agree
with Edmonds’ and Bowden’s dismissal of Gorgias 497c and maintain with Riedweg and
Clinton that the Lesser Mysteries too are an educative stage of initiation that one must
participate in before being initiated into the Greater Mysteries.
11  Clinton 2003, 50-52, 66-67; also Bowden 2010, 44.

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of the epopteia, but rather a preliminary purification rite required before the
Greater (and potentially also the Lesser) Mysteries. Although the main point
of relevance here is the central idea of progression through various stages of
initiation, regardless of what these stages are, I will nevertheless settle, for the
sake of clarity, on the following order: (potentially) muesis—Lesser Mysteries
(performed only once)—muesis (before procession to Eleusis)—first initia-
tion into Greater Mysteries—epopteia (one year later).12
The Lesser Mysteries were held at a different time of the year from the
Greater Mysteries, and it is the latter that are often referred to simply as ‘the
Mysteries’. The Greater Mysteries, an eight-day festival, started with purifica-
tion rituals (muesis), perhaps consisting of a bath in the sea and the sacrifice
of a piglet or ewe, a subsequent procession from Athens to Eleusis, and the
celebrations at Eleusis itself.13 Throughout the various rituals the mystai were
guided by a mystagogos.14 The procession and the Mysteries themselves were a
festive occasion, open to everyone and celebrated happily alongside the city’s
own religious events. The more private part of the festival, the initiation and ep-
opteia, took place for a select group of initiates in and around the Telesterion. It
is supposed that this secret rite was a visual experience, likely involving bright
light, the presentation of sacred objects, or perhaps a dramatic performance.15
Edmonds stresses the importance of recognizing the Eleusinian Mysteries
as an “imagistic religion”, as opposed to doctrinal religion, where “particular
intense experiences impress themselves on the worshippers’ memories”. The
‘mystery’ of Eleusis was thus not the bestowing of some secret knowledge or
set of ideas, but a unique experience, an encounter with the divine itself.16

12  This order, which summarizes my observations from other scholars, I have found most
convincingly argued for by Dowden 1980, who blames the confusion in scholarship main-
ly on the misuse of certain terms, misinterpretation of Plato’s Symposium, and lack of
knowledge about the Lesser Mysteries (which had by then fallen out of use) among the
Christian authors. However, though Dowden argues that at the Greater Mysteries only the
epoptai were allowed inside the Telesterion, I think that Clinton’s theory, that both mystai
and epoptai experienced the same event in the Telesterion but that the former were blind-
folded, is equally plausible.
13  Bowden 2010, 30-35; Bremmer 2014, 4-7; Clinton 1988, 69-70; Clinton 2003, 52.
14  Bremmer 2014, 3; Evans 1993, 193; Farrell 1999, 33.
15  Kerenyi 1967, 45, 48; Lebeck 1972, 272; Boyancé 1962, 464-474, though not ruling out other
possibilities, argues specifically for the unveiling of statues of the gods, while Clinton
1993, 118-119; 2003, 66-67 and Sourvinou-Inwood 2003, 29-34 argue for an interactive drama
based on the myth of the rape of Kore. For more aspects of the festival and the sanctuary
at Eleusis see Bowden’s full account, 2010, 26-48.
16  Edmonds 2017, 202; Bowden 2010, 44-48; For more detail on imagistic religion see also
Whitehouse 2000, Whitehouse and Martin 2004, and Martin and Panayotis 2009.

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While the Eleusinian Mysteries were widely known and participated in by

large groups of ordinary Athenians, Orphism/Pythagoreanism was more ob-
scure and elitist, partly because it was a literary cult, for which teaching and
initiations involved writings that would have been accessible only to the edu-
cated. Most of the evidence available on Orphism deals with the afterlife: the
Orphics/Pythagoreans believed that the divine soul, which is immortal, sepa-
rates from the mortal body which serves as a kind of prison.17 On death, the
soul travels to the underworld, and eventually returns to a new human body in
a cycle of reincarnation.18 In the underworld the soul encounters two springs,
the spring of Memory and the spring of Forgetfulness, ‘guardians’ whom they
are required to give certain passwords, and a two-forked road which leads the
uninitiated to lie in the mud and carry water in a sieve while the initiated were
led to a banquet in the sacred meadows or Isles of the Blessed.19 The Orphics/
Pythagoreans are also thought to have held a doctrine of original sin: a myth
tells how the Titans killed the infant Dionysus, here the son of Persephone and
Zeus, tore his body to pieces and ate his flesh. Zeus, having saved Dionysus’
heart, resurrected him and punished the Titans by hurling a lightning bolt at
them. From the smoke of the burning Titans the human race is said to have
sprung, and is forever being imprisoned in bodies as punishment for this ‘origi-
nal sin’. Through this story the cult associated itself with Persephone, to whom
humans owe recompense for the murder of her child, and Dionysus, as a sym-
bol of rebirth.20
Although both cults revolve around ideas of ritual purification, gaining in-
side status, and securing individual divine favour, Orphism/Pythagoreanism is
heavily focused on texts and can be considered a doctrinal religion, whereas the
Eleusinian Mysteries focus on visual experience and are therefore closer to im-
agistic religion. In addition, the main aim of Orphism/Pythagoreanism seems
to have been eschatological, the securing of a happy afterlife, whereas the

17  Guthrie 1955, 311; Parker 1995, 487.

18  Burkert 1987, 87 asserts that before Plato, the Orphics/Pythagoreans were the only Greeks
known to have believed in transmigration. That is not to say that the concept of trans-
migration was invented by the Orphics/Pythagoreans, in fact its origin is disputed: while
ancient authors, such as Herodotus (2.123), seemed to think that the concept came from
Egypt, modern scholars, most recently Ducceur and Muckensturm-Poulle 2016, have
drawn parallels with Indian and Oriental conceptions. On the concept and its origins in
relation to Orphism and Pythagoreanism in specific see e.g. Bernabé 2007 and 2011, 97-114,
Mendoza 2008, and Bernabé and Mendoza 2013. On the concept and its origins in relation
to Plato’s Myth of Er see e.g. Biesterfeld 1969 and Calabi 2007.
19  Dieterich 1893, 73; Edmonds 2004, 50-51; Guthrie 1993, 160.
20  Alderink 1981, 73-74; Bremmer 2014, 62-63, 76; Graf and Johnston 2013, 66-93, 98-100;
Parker 1995, 495.

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Eleusinians, though likely assuming that their acquired personal connection

with Demeter would ensure post-mortem blessings, mainly celebrated fertil-
ity and agriculture. Orphism/Pythagoreanism, furthermore, was mostly male-
centered, exclusive to men who honoured Orpheus, Pythagoras, and Dionysus;
Persephone is mentioned only occasionally.21 The Eleusinian Mysteries, on the
other hand, admitted women as well as men, involved female priestesses, and
honoured Demeter and Kore (and only rarely Dionysus).22

3 Orphism/Pythagoreanism in Plato

Around 387/386 bc Plato made his first trip to Sicily,23 where he encountered
Orphism/Pythagoreanism. Given the significance of this encounter, it is im-
portant that the texts relevant to us, namely Gorgias, Meno, Cratylus, Phaedo,
Phaedrus, and Republic (the exact order is uncertain), were probably written
after the visit. The Timaeus and Laws were written near the end of Plato’s life.24
Most of the ideas that Plato had in common with Orphism/Pythagoreanism
only surface in his works after this first journey to Sicily. Plato frequently at-
tributes certain doctrines specifically to the Orphics/Pythagoreans, and, even
without naming them, certain wording or imagery, specifically in his writ-
ing concerning the afterlife, resembles that of the Orphic/Pythagorean texts
to such a degree that it cannot be a coincidence: Plato purposefully adopt-
ed Orphic/Pythagorean motifs.25 He engages with three particular Orphic/

21  There may however be a difference here between Orphism and Pythagoreanism: while the
latter was an all-male community, for the former a female following may be inferred from
the presence of Orphic Gold Tablets in female graves. See Bremmer 2014, 69; Edmonds
2011, 41-48.
22  Evans 1993, 137; Evans 2006, 2; Boyancé 1962, 481-482 argues that a third goddess is wor-
shiped under the name of Themis/Ananke, or ‘Necessity’. Note also that Kore, goddess of
agriculture and fertility, should not be confused with Persephone, queen of the under-
world: while Orphism/Pythagoreanism seems to have worshipped Persephone only in her
function as queen of the underworld, it is uncertain whether in the Eleusinian Mysteries
she is known merely as the maiden Kore or whether she has some additional eschatologi-
cal function. See e.g. Bowden 2010, 47-48.
23  Commonly accepted as the approximate date for his journey, e.g. Brandwood 1990, 15;
Thesleff 2015, 9.
24  Brandwood 2006, 109-110.
25  Bernabé’s 2011 monograph on the influence of Orphism on Plato, an influence that is now
generally agreed to have occurred, outlines the various doctrines and themes of Orphic
origin that appear in Plato. Since the main objective of this paper is to discuss the func-
tion of these motifs within Plato’s writing rather than to deliberate on the extent to which

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Pythagorean motifs: the body as prison; reincarnation; and post-mortem re-

ward and punishment.
As mentioned, the Orphics/Pythagoreans saw the body as a kind of prison
for the soul, from which it would be released at death. Plato attributes this
doctrine directly to the Orphics at Cratylus 400c and indirectly to the Orphics/
Pythagoreans at Phaedo 62b, as well as mentioning it in Phaedo 67c-d, 81e,
82e-83a, 92a, Phaedrus 250b-c and Timaeus 74a.26 In Phaedo Plato calls the
doctrine ‘weighty and not easy to understand’ (μέγας τέ τίς μοι φαίνεται καὶ οὐ
ῥᾴδιος διιδεῖν, 62b), which some scholars have interpreted as meaning that Plato
disagreed with it.27 However, the phrase can also indicate simply that Plato did
not want to elaborate too much on this topic because it was complicated and
would distract from the matter at hand. This interpretation is reinforced by
the use of the body/prison idea in several other places in Plato’s texts, as well
as by Plato’s repeated use of cognates of λύω (‘release’) to describe the separa-
tion of the soul from the body upon death (e.g. ἀπολύων, Phd. 65a; διάλυσις,
Grg. 524b).28 In Phaedo 67c-d, Socrates explains why the philosopher need not
fear death:

κάθαρσις δὲ εἶναι ἆρα οὐ τοῦτο συμβαίνει, ὅπερ πάλαι ἐν τῷ λόγῳ λέγεται, τὸ

χωρίζειν ὅτι μάλιστα ἀπὸ τοῦ σώματος τὴν ψυχὴν καὶ ἐθίσαι αὐτὴν καθ᾽ αὑτὴν
πανταχόθεν ἐκ τοῦ σώματος συναγείρεσθαί τε καὶ ἁθροίζεσθαι, καὶ οἰκεῖν κατὰ
τὸ δυνατὸν καὶ ἐν τῷ νῦν παρόντι καὶ ἐν τῷ ἔπειτα μόνην καθ᾽ αὑτήν, ἐκλυομένην
ὥσπερ ἐκ δεσμῶν ἐκ τοῦ σώματος;
πάνυ μὲν οὖν, ἔφη.
οὐκοῦν τοῦτό γε θάνατος ὀνομάζεται, λύσις καὶ χωρισμὸς ψυχῆς ἀπὸ
σώματος;

they are of Orphic/Pythagorean origin, I refer to Bernabé for a detailed discussion of the
arguments.
26  Bernabé 2011, 115-144; Ferwerda 1985, 274. Unsurprisingly the majority of references to
Orphism/Pythagoreanism can be found in Phaedo: this dialogue is particularly suited for
adopting the often eschatological motifs of the cult because it revolves around the topic of
death. In addition, Phaedo is connected with Pythagoreanism through the location where
Socrates’ story is retold, namely Phlius, one of the centers of mainland Pythagoreanism,
and through Socrates’ main interlocutors, Simmias and Cebes, who were pupils of the
Pythagorean Philolaus at Thebes. See Cornford 1991, 245; and Morgan 1990, 57. For a de-
tailed comparison between the Phaedo’s final eschatological myth and the Orphic Gold
Tablets see Edmonds 2004.
27  Bluck 1958, 163.
28  Gordon 2012, 189-190.

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“And is purification not this, which we mentioned earlier, to separate the

soul as much as possible from the body and to make it accustomed to
gathering and collecting itself from everywhere in the body, and to live,
as far as it can, both now and hereafter, released from the body as from
fetters?”
“Very much so.”
“Then is this not what we call death, a release and separation of the
soul from the body?”29

The aim of Plato’s argument here is to convince the reader that the soul is bet-
ter off without the body. But why does he invoke Orphic/Pythagorean imag-
ery here? As mentioned, some suppose that he wished to lend authority to his
theory, but if he wanted to connect this passage to the Orphic/Pythagorean
cult, surely he would have made this connection more explicit, for example
by naming it. Even if the link was clear to his contemporaries, which was not
necessarily the case, the authority would lie in the name, or at least an allusion
to the name. Besides, the fact that Plato at other points criticizes the Orphics/
Pythagoreans makes it unlikely that he thought they held any authority.30 Nor
does it seem plausible that he used the body/prison metaphor to make his the-
ories more accessible and appealing by aligning them with familiar doctrines.
The references to Orphism/Pythagoreanism are brief and few, and would have
had little influence on the appeal of the dialogue as a whole. Besides, the cult
and its doctrines were not very, if at all, familiar to Plato’s Athenian readers.
The other explanation proposed, that Plato used the mysteries to discuss a
topic that could not be sufficiently covered by dialectical or scientific enquiry,
also does not seem to apply to the Phaedo passage. Socrates spends a signifi-
cant part of the dialogue explaining the immortality of the soul and its relation
to the body in rational terms. It remains, then, to examine the passage further.
It is evident that the comparison of the body to fetters principally empha-
sizes its limiting nature. Plato does not call the body a prison because it is a
banishment of the soul for some original sin, as was proposed in Orphism/
Pythagoreanism, but because it is imagined as an unpleasant enclosure that re-
strains the soul and keeps it from reunification with the divine (i.e. the Forms).31
The metaphor conjures up a dramatic image in the mind of the reader which

29  All translations are my own.

30  Bernabé 2011, 42-47 argues that while Plato greatly valued certain Orphic doctrines and
ideas, he was no fan of Orpheus himself and his priests. For this reason he often avoids
naming them and rather attributes their doctrines to ‘ancient sources’.
31  Bernabé 2011, 145-154; Bluck 1958, 164; Graf and Johnston 2013, 66-93; de Vries 1953, 430.

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aims to evoke certain emotions: dread at the mention of the δεσμοί, and hope
at the prospect of λύσις. If Plato had merely said: ‘after death the good soul will
continue existing separately from the bad body’, the reader would have under-
stood the concept but would not have been encouraged to feel any real disdain
for the body or desire for separation from it, because the argument would not
appeal to their imagination. The same tactic is used at Phaedo 82e-83a:

γιγνώσκουσι γάρ, ἦ δ᾽ ὅς, οἱ φιλομαθεῖς ὅτι παραλαβοῦσα αὐτῶν τὴν ψυχὴν

ἡ φιλοσοφία ἀτεχνῶς διαδεδεμένην ἐν τῷ σώματι καὶ προσκεκολλημένην,
ἀναγκαζομένην δὲ ὥσπερ διὰ εἱργμοῦ διὰ τούτου σκοπεῖσθαι τὰ ὄντα ἀλλὰ
μὴ αὐτὴν δι᾽ αὑτῆς, καὶ ἐν πάσῃ ἀμαθίᾳ κυλινδουμένην, καὶ τοῦ εἱργμοῦ τὴν
δεινότητα κατιδοῦσα ὅτι δι᾽ ἐπιθυμίας ἐστίν, ὡς ἂν μάλιστα αὐτὸς ὁ δεδεμένος
συλλήπτωρ εἴη τοῦ δεδέσθαι.

“For the lovers of knowledge”, he said, “know that when philosophy first
receives their soul it is absolutely imprisoned in the body and glued to it,
forced to behold the realities not alone by itself, but through the body as
if through a cage, and wallowing in complete ignorance. And (philoso-
phy) sees that the most terrible thing about the cage is that it is there be-
cause of desires, so that most of all the prisoner himself is the accomplice
of his imprisonment.”

Again Plato seems to have used the Orphic/Pythagorean doctrine to empha-

size the negative influence of corporeal existence on the soul’s progress. On a
linguistic level this is a simple technique: Plato associates the body with vari-
ous ‘red-flag words’, thereby lending to it negative connotations. It is not just
individual words, however, but the entire myth that Plato builds around the
concepts of body and soul, to engage the reader’s imagination so that one pic-
tures the unfortunate fate of the trapped soul behind the bars of its prison cell.
The emotional response to this picture will encourage readers to view the body
as negative regardless of whether they agree with, for example, Plato’s theory
of the immortality of the soul. A similar explanation for Plato’s use of religious
or ‘ethical’ myth was first proposed in 1949 by Ludwig Edelstein, who claimed
that “the ethical myth is rooted in man’s irrational nature, and it cannot be
banished from philosophy because both these parts of the human soul must be
equally tended by the philosopher”.32 Plato recognizes that, although the phi-
losopher must strive to follow reason, the passions that are inherent in human
nature cannot be ignored and must therefore be guided properly, through the

32  Edelstein 1949, 474.

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medium they best respond to: myth.33 As shown from the passages discussed
above, Edelstein’s theory can also be applied to the Orphic/Pythagorean mo-
tifs. A final example of the body/prison doctrine appears at Phaedrus 250b-c:

κάλλος δὲ τότ᾽ ἦν ἰδεῖν λαμπρόν, ὅτε … ἀπαθεῖς κακῶν ὅσα ἡμᾶς ἐν ὑστέρῳ
χρόνῳ ὑπέμενεν … καθαροὶ ὄντες καὶ ἀσήμαντοι τούτου ὃ νῦν δὴ σῶμα
περιφέροντες ὀνομάζομεν, ὀστρέου τρόπον δεδεσμευμένοι.

At that time Beauty was shining bright, when … we were without experi-
ence of the evils which awaited us in later times …, being pure and not
entombed in that which we now carry around and call the body, in which
we are imprisoned like an oyster (in a shell).

Here not only the metaphor of a prison, but also of a tomb, is used to express
the ill effects of the body. The gloomy view of Orphism/Pythagoreanism on
embodied life adds an almost eerie quality to Plato’s theory of dualism, and
seems designed to evoke antipathy towards the body. We may infer that the ef-
fect of the Orphic/Pythagorean myth on the reader’s irrational passions, which
I will henceforth refer to as ‘emotional appeal’, has led Plato to adopt the motif
time and again in his philosophical discourse.
Related to the body/prison doctrine is the Orphic/Pythagorean belief in re-
incarnation, which Plato refers to in Meno 81b, Phaedo 81d-82b, Phaedrus 248c-
249b, Republic 618-620, Timaeus 42b-c and Laws 870d-e.34 In Phaedo Plato has
Socrates discuss what happens to the souls which, after death, are ‘weighed
down’ to earth by the heavy corporeal element that has stuck to them. Tyrants
and robbers return to life as wolves, hawks and kites (82a), while those who
have practiced justice, but without philosophy, become bees, wasps, ants or
even humans again (82b). Why does Plato bring this somewhat fantastical story
of reincarnation into his rational discussion of the immortality of the soul? We
find the answer at 82c-d, where Plato explains that only the true philosopher
can escape the cycle of reincarnation, through refraining from bodily desires.
The evident reason, then, for Plato’s allusion to the Orphic/Pythagorean doc-
trine of metempsychosis, is to suggest that readers steer clear of bodily desires

33  Edelstein 1949, 464, 474-477. He writes at 477: “supposing that the main points of my dis-
cussion are correct, it would still be necessary to work out the details of my thesis”. Farrell
1999 has since made an attempt to provide such an analysis, but focuses specifically on
Eleusinian motifs and does not explain Plato’s use of mystery motifs in general; I have
used her work extensively in the second half of this paper.
34  For the argument for, and more detail on, Plato’s transposition of the Orphic/Pythagorean
theme of reincarnation see Bernabé 2011, 97-114.

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and practise philosophy by presenting them with the long-lasting consequenc-

es of doing otherwise. In the Timaeus we similarly read:

ὁ μὲν εὖ τὸν προσήκοντα χρόνον βιούς … βίον εὐδαίμονα καὶ συνήθη ἕξοι,
σφαλεὶς δὲ τούτων εἰς γυναικὸς φύσιν ἐν τῇ δευτέρᾳ γενέσει μεταβαλοῖ· μὴ
παυόμενός τε ἐν τούτοις ἔτι κακίας, τρόπον ὃν κακύνοιτο, κατὰ τὴν ὁμοιότητα
τῆς τοῦ τρόπου γενέσεως εἴς τινα τοιαύτην ἀεὶ μεταβαλοῖ θήρειον φύσιν.35

He who has lived his appointed time well … will have a blessed and con-
genial (after)life, but whoever fails will be changed into a woman’s form
at second birth: and if in this shape he still does not refrain from evil, he
will each time be changed into some bestial form after the similitude of
his own nature, according to the manner in which he is corrupted.

This passage clearly functions as a warning against straying from a true philo-
sophical path. The doctrine of reincarnation suits Plato because it indicates
that bad behaviour has consequences not only in the afterlife, but also in the
lives that will ensue thereafter. It is safe to assume that Plato did not actually
think that one might return to life as a bee, and indeed he may not even have
believed in reincarnation at all; but he recognized the intended effect of the
Orphic/Pythagorean doctrine on the initiates, and its philosophical potential:
the thought of enduring an endless cycle of miserable lives could evoke feel-
ings that might persuade listeners of the benefits of living a philosophical life
better than any rational account.
The Orphics/Pythagoreans also held that in the afterlife the initiated would
enjoy various blessings, while the uninitiated would lie in the mud and carry
water in a sieve. This doctrine is mentioned by Plato at Gorgias 493a-c, Phaedo
69c, 111d, 113a-b and Republic 363c-d.36 In the Republic we read:

Μουσαῖος δὲ τούτων νεανικώτερα τἀγαθὰ καὶ ὁ ὑὸς αὐτοῦ παρὰ θεῶν διδόασιν
τοῖς δικαίοις· εἰς Ἅιδου γὰρ ἀγαγόντες τῷ λόγῳ καὶ κατακλίναντες καὶ
συμπόσιον τῶν ὁσίων κατασκευάσαντες ἐστεφανωμένους ποιοῦσιν τὸν ἅπαντα
χρόνον ἤδη διάγειν μεθύοντας … τοὺς δὲ ἀνοσίους αὖ καὶ ἀδίκους εἰς πηλόν τινα
κατορύττουσιν ἐν Ἅιδου καὶ κοσκίνῳ ὕδωρ ἀναγκάζουσι φέρειν.37

35  Ti. 42b-c.

36  For the argument for, and more detail on, Plato’s transposition of the Orphic/Pythagorean
theme of afterlife punishment and reward see Bernabé 2011, 155-188.
37  R. 363c-d.

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Musaeus and his son attribute to the just more enjoyable blessings from
the gods: in their story they lead them into Hades, make them recline and
prepare a symposium of the pious, and crowning them they make them
spend the whole time drinking … but the impious and unjust they bury in
some sort of mud in Hades and make them carry water in a sieve.

If the prospect of reincarnation into a kite does not suffice in steering the lis-
tener away from the corporeal, Plato emphasizes the more immediate rami-
fications of the unphilosophical life and the benefits of a philosophical one.38
He does not merely point out that the just will be rewarded and the unjust pun-
ished, but discusses these rewards and punishments in detail, again invoking
the reader’s imagination. The passage has a humorous overtone: νεανικώτερα
implies a certain level of frivolity, and the ‘blessings’ which the gods bestow are
endless drinking and partying. It is clear that Plato is lightly mocking the doc-
trine and its followers here, but that does not necessarily negate its effect on
the reader. The passage follows Plato’s discussion on the definition of justice,
and illustrates his argument that justice is beneficial. The argument is thus af-
forced by a religious motif that bids to appeal to the emotions: the dramatic
scene of unfortunate souls lying in the mud would have been as abhorrent
to the living as the banquet with the gods would have been alluring.39 While
most of the Republic consists of dialectical and rational discourse, these reli-
gious myths and images stand to be imprinted on readers’ memory: just as in
Orphism/Pythagoreanism there was no possibility of a blessed afterlife except
through initiation, for Plato’s readers there was no possibility of a blessed after-
life except through philosophy.40 The motif of punishment in the mud is used
in a similarly illustrative, but more serious manner in Phaedo, where Socrates
explains why only non-philosophers ought to fear death:

οἱ τὰς τελετὰς ἡμῖν οὗτοι καταστήσαντες … πάλαι αἰνίττεσθαι ὅτι ὃς ἂν

ἀμύητος καὶ ἀτέλεστος εἰς Ἅιδου ἀφίκηται ἐν βορβόρῳ κείσεται.41

38  Plato here, as often, compares the philosopher to someone initiated into the mysteries,
see Morgan 1990, 64. Broadly speaking philosophers, the initiated, and the just were all on
the same side of the spectrum and were used interchangeably by Plato.
39  Rodriguez 2016, 118. An interesting detail that Morgan 1990, 77 points out is the relation of
mud to impurity. The oppositions between pure and impure, just and unjust are empha-
sized repeatedly in passages related to this motif of mud in the underworld.
40  Macchioro 2004, 104.
41  Phd. 69c.

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They who established the mysteries … foreshadowed long ago, that who-
ever goes into Hades uninitiated and unsanctified will lie in the mud.

By confronting the readers not just once but repeatedly with such gloomy im-
ages, Plato “moulds” (as Edelstein phrases it) a deeply rooted fear in their souls,
in the same way that the descriptions of banquets and other afterlife blessings
“mould” feelings of hope.42
Finally, in the Gorgias Plato attributes a particular meaning to the motif of
carrying water in a sieve:

καὶ τοῦτο ἄρα τις μυθολογῶν κομψὸς ἀνήρ, ἴσως Σικελός τις ἢ Ἰταλικός …
ἐνδείκνυται ὡς τῶν ἐν Ἅιδου … οἱ ἀμύητοι καὶ φοροῖεν εἰς τὸν τετρημένον
πίθον ὕδωρ ἑτέρῳ τοιούτῳ τετρημένῳ κοσκίνῳ. τὸ δὲ κόσκινον ἄρα λέγει … τὴν
ψυχὴν εἶναι· τὴν δὲ ψυχὴν κοσκίνῳ ἀπῄκασεν τὴν τῶν ἀνοήτων ὡς τετρημένην,
ἅτε οὐ δυναμένην στέγειν δι᾽ ἀπιστίαν τε καὶ λήθην.43

Some clever man, some Sicilian or Italian,44 … showed that of those in

Hades … the uninitiated carry water into a leaky jar with some other
leaky sieve. And by the sieve … he means the soul: and the soul of the
thoughtless he likened to a sieve as being leaky, since it cannot hold any-
thing because of its unbelief and forgetfulness.

Using the sieve as a metaphor for the soul, a motif not associated with Orphism/
Pythagoreanism elsewhere, fits with the doctrine of memory and forgetfulness
(cf. the two springs in the Underworld): blessedness can only be achieved if the
immortal soul retains its knowledge and identity. This reference is an early sign
of Plato’s thoughts about anamnesis and memory of the forms, and recalls the
Myth of Er, where the souls have to drink from the water of Lethe before re-
turning to life. Plato himself later gives his reason for telling this story, namely
to ‘persuade (the listener) to change, and instead of an insatiate and undis-
ciplined life to choose one that is orderly, and sufficient and contented with
what it has’ (Grg. 493c). He achieves this, however, not by graphically describ-
ing the punishment that awaits the uninitiated in the Orphic/Pythagorean af-
terlife, as he did in the other passages related to the underworld, but by using
this punishment as a metaphor to demonstrate the bad influence of the body
on the soul, as he did in the passages discussed earlier concerning the body/

42  Edelstein 1949, 474.

43  Grg. 493a-c.
44  ‘Sicilian’ might refer to the Orphic Empedocles and Italian might refer to one of the
Pythagoreans. See Graf 2011, 58.

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prison motif. In this way Plato is killing two birds with one stone: he is showing
the threat that the body forms for the soul as well as reminding the listener of
the fate that awaits the non-philosopher after death. It may also be suggested
that Plato used this particular metaphor to associate the corporeal, to nega-
tive effect, with the realm of Hades. Linforth notes that Plato brings death into
the conversation already at 492e, where Callicles says: οἱ λίθοι γὰρ ἂν οὕτω γε
καὶ οἱ νεκροὶ εὐδαιμονέστατοι εἶεν (‘in this way stones would make the happiest
corpses’, and Socrates quotes Euripides in reply: τίς δ᾽ οἶδεν, εἰ τὸ ζῆν μέν ἐστι
κατθανεῖν, τὸ κατθανεῖν δὲ ζῆν (‘who knows whether life be death, and death be
life?’); Subsequently, in 493a, he adds to this: ἤδη γάρ του ἔγωγε καὶ ἤκουσα τῶν
σοφῶν ὡς νῦν ἡμεῖς τέθναμεν καὶ τὸ μὲν σῶμά ἐστιν ἡμῖν σῆμα (‘for I once heard
wise men say that we are now dead and the body is our tomb’). Linforth then
argues that Plato deliberately obscures the distinction between life and death
to prepare the listener for the idea that the story of the sieve applies not only
to the dead, but also to those who we call alive but are in fact dead.45 This
seems to me rather farfetched, but I do agree with Linforth in that the religious
motif “reinforces by its unforgettable images the conviction of a truth which is
established independently by rational argument”: Plato makes an appeal to the
emotions by connecting life closely with death.46
After considering these examples it appears that Plato mostly refers to
Orphic/Pythagorean doctrines in eschatological contexts, such as the fate of
the soul upon death and the restraining influence of the mortal body on the
immortal soul. Regarding Plato’s reason for using the doctrines, we may ten-
tatively conclude that he illustrates his theories with (often graphic) Orphic/
Pythagorean passages in order to add a dramatic effect to his argument which
might evoke strong emotions in his listeners, who are thereby (unknowingly)
more easily persuaded. This, in fact, demonstrates the very difference between
philosophy and religion: while the former is rational and stimulates people’s
intellect, the latter is imaginative and stimulates people’s emotions. Plato, re-
markably, was aware of this and eagerly uses the language of the mysteries to
support his own cause.

4 The Eleusinian Mysteries in Plato

Since the Eleusinian Mysteries were widely known to the Athenians, it is no

surprise that we find references to them in Plato’s writings, notably in the
Gorgias, Sophist, Symposium, Phaedrus, and Republic. However, Plato was

45  Linforth 1944, 309-310.

46  Linforth 1944, 295.

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not simply picking up on some common usage of mystery motifs in everyday

speech, since, as we will see, his references to the mysteries often contribute
to his argument and Plato engages with their content as well as with their im-
agery.47 I will test Edelstein’s theory of emotional appeal, which I have shown
to apply to the Orphic/Pythagorean references, on Eleusinian motifs and lan-
guage in Plato’s texts, by examining examples of three of the most well-known
motifs of the Eleusinian Mysteries: the progression of the initiate through dif-
ferent stages of initiation; the visual experience of the epopteia; and the guid-
ance of a mystagogos.48
At Gorgias 497c, when Callicles complains about Socrates’ persistent ques-
tioning, the latter tells him: ‘Lucky you, Callicles, that you have been initiated
into the Greater Mysteries before the Lesser!’ (εὐδαίμων εἶ, ὦ Καλλίκλεις, ὅτι τὰ
μεγάλα μεμύησαι πρὶν τὰ σμικρά). Evidently it was required that one first went
through the preparatory stages of initiation before reaching the final stage.
These stages are replicated closely in the Symposium.49 Prior to initiation, the
candidate is ignorant and filled with impurities, of which he must be purified.
This process is depicted by Plato in the scene prior to Socrates’ speech. In the
Eleusinian Mysteries, the purification consists of a physical ritual, muesis, but
Plato replaces this with a katharsis through elenchos:50 in 199b-201c Socrates
interrogates Agathon to show the flaws in his argument and ‘purify’ him of his
false beliefs, in the same way that, as Socrates points out, the priestess Diotima
previously enlightened himself (201d-e). This idea of elenchos as purification
is elaborated on by Plato in the Sophist (230b-e), where the Athenian Stranger
says: τὸν ἔλεγχον λεκτέον ὡς ἄρα μεγίστη καὶ κυριωτάτη τῶν καθάρσεών ἐστι. The
aim of the muesis, in the Mysteries, is to remove any blemishes that might
prevent the initiate from coming into contact with the hiera, the divine, and

47  Farrell 1999, 68.

48  These are three of the five important Eleusinian themes in Plato as discussed by Farrell
1999. There is little doubt in scholarship of the presence of these themes in the Eleusinian
mysteries: they are confirmed even by the pre-Platonic sources, as discussed by Sattler
2013. Most references to the themes can be found in the ‘Myth of the Soul’ in Phaedrus and
Socrates’ speech in the Symposium, but I will also make brief mention of the ‘Myth of the
Cave’ in the Republic, and a single passage in the Gorgias.
49  As mentioned I will follow the stages outlined by Dowden 1980 (potential muesis—Lesser
Mysteries—muesis—first initiation into Greater Mysteries—epopteia), taking into
account Edmonds 2017 and Clinton 2003 in not identifying the term muesis with the
Lesser Mysteries but rather with a preliminary ritual required before the Greater, and
potentially also the Lesser, Mysteries. Important is that all theories share the concept of a
progression through different levels of initiation. On the replication of these stages in the
Symposium see Casadesús 2016, 14-17; Farrell 1999, 105-115; Riedweg 1987, 21.
50  Farrell 1999, 73, 75, 82, 86, 105, 116, 134, 137; Riedweg 1987, 18-21.

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herein we may find Plato’s reason for using this religious metaphor: assimi-
lating the elenchos to a purification emphasizes the importance to the phi-
losopher of removing false beliefs and desires in preparing himself for true
knowledge of the forms. No one likes to admit they are wrong, but when this
concession is portrayed as a dignified ritual one conceives a kind of respect for
it, and looks at it as a positive, and necessary, step in the right direction rather
than a shameful experience. Both Plato and his readers know that elenchos is
not truly a purification ritual: no water is poured, no sacrifices made. And no-
where does Socrates give any rational arguments for why elenchos is necessary,
why Diotima could not just give him the correct answers upfront. But through
the Eleusinian metaphor it is suggested that the irrational, passionate part of
the soul is affected, and the rational part will follow. The depiction also adds to
Plato’s portrayal of the forms as holy and divine: in order to be allowed, or in-
deed able, to behold them, one must be pure. Subsequently we have Diotima’s
narrative about Eros, the inner layer of the dialogue. The Symposium starts at
the outer layer of Apollodorus’ conversation, then moves inwards to Agathon’s
symposium, then to yet another layer in Socrates’ speech, to finally reach
Diotima’s narrative, much like the mystes reaches the epopteia after moving
through the different stages of initiation. Diotima’s speech itself is full of mys-
tery terminology and mirrors the structure of the Eleusinian Mysteries, start-
ing with muesis (her elenchos of Socrates) and then processing through to the
epopteia, of which Diotima says:51

ταῦτα μὲν οὖν τὰ ἐρωτικὰ ἴσως, ὦ Σώκρατες, κἂν σὺ μυηθείης: τὰ δὲ τέλεα καὶ
ἐποπτικά, ὧν ἕνεκα καὶ ταῦτα ἔστιν, ἐάν τις ὀρθῶς μετίῃ, οὐκ οἶδ᾽ εἰ οἷός τ᾽ ἂν
εἴης.52

Into these mysteries of love, Socrates, even you may be initiated: but I
don’t know if you could be (initiated) into those rites and epoptika, for
which these, if pursued correctly, are a preparation.

Interesting here is the word τὰ τέλεα, cognate with τέλειος, ‘perfect’, high-
lights the belief that through initiation the mystai became complete. By using
this word in addition to ἐποπτικά Plato suggests that true knowledge of the
forms makes one perfect and complete.53 The erotika that Diotima refers to
are the physical, human loves which she has previously discussed and which

51  Evans 1993, 143, 153; Farrell 1999, 103.

52  Smp. 209e-210a.
53  Farrell 1999, 95.

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function as instructive experiences for the philosopher, whereas the epop-

tika/epopteia refers to the spiritual love of the forms which she will relate
thereafter.54 μυηθείης need not be taken to refer, as Edmonds has claimed, spe-
cifically to the ritual of muesis, but can also denote the general act of being
initiated.55 Following this interpretation we may either, along with Riedweg,
compare the initiation into the erotika with the Lesser Mysteries, or alterna-
tively with the first initiation into the Greater Mysteries. In this way the stages
in Diotima’s speech (purification, instruction and revelation) correspond with
the stages in the Eleusinian Mysteries (muesis, Lesser and first-time Greater
Mysteries, epopteia). The Ladder of Love itself, where the philosopher moves
through the different types of love towards the highest love of the Beautiful,
also reminds us of these stages, and of the physical ascent up to the Telesterion
at Eleusis. Its function in the text is that of the first-time initiation into the
Greater Mysteries: one may catch a first glimpse of what the epopteia pertains
to, but is not yet allowed to really see and understand it. The reader is, as it
were, still blindfolded. In this way the Eleusinian metaphor helps Plato em-
phasize that in order to know the forms the philosopher must first change, be
educated and prepare himself through living a philosophical life.56
Phaedrus is similarly structured in terms of the Eleusinian Mysteries. The di-
alogue takes place on the banks of the river Ilissos near Agrai (Phdr. 229), which
is the site of the Lesser Mysteries. Socrates relates Agrai to a myth concerning
the ravishment of a nymph by Boreas: the Lesser Mysteries are believed to be
celebrated in honour of Kore, who was kidnapped by Hades and whose reunion
with Demeter was celebrated at Eleusis. It is evident, then, that Plato wants his
listeners to connect the dialogue with the Eleusinian Mysteries.57 Phaedrus’
subsequent suggestion to walk in the ‘pure’ (καθαρά) river (entering the river is
suggested as part of the purification rituals at the Lesser Mysteries), hints that
Socrates and Phaedrus are about to participate in the mysteries themselves.
Central to these mysteries is the palinode, Socrates’ speech in praise of love, at
the start of which Socrates says:

ἐμοὶ μὲν οὖν, ὦ φίλε, καθήρασθαι ἀνάγκη.58

Now I, my friend, must purify myself.

54  Kerenyi 1967, 45.

55  Clinton 2003, 52-53. For Edmonds’ interpretation see 2017, 199.
56  Farrell 1999, 66, 68-69.
57  Farrell 1999, 87; Kołakowska 2010, 44; Kerenyi 1967, 45; Rinella 2000, 66.
58  Phdr. 243a.

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In this way Plato presents the speech as a kind of purification ritual, a mue-
sis, in order to regain his vision and be able to behold the forms, just like the
Eleusinian mystes had to be purified in preparation for the epopteia. Socrates
unveils his head prior to the palinode (243b), just as the Eleusinian initiates
are thought to have removed their veil after the purification, as a symbol of
renewed vision.59 In the palinode Plato subsequently relates the story of the
soul as consisting of a pair of winged horses and a charioteer (246a f.), which
ascend through the sky towards the forms in a religious procession of gods
and spirits (246e-247e), reminding strongly of the procession from Athens to
Eleusis which culminated in the epopteia.60 At 250b-c we read:

κάλλος δὲ τότ᾽ ἦν ἰδεῖν λαμπρόν, ὅτε σὺν εὐδαίμονι χορῷ μακαρίαν ὄψιν τε καὶ
θέαν, ἑπόμενοι μετὰ μὲν Διὸς ἡμεῖς, ἄλλοι δὲ μετ᾽ ἄλλου θεῶν, εἶδόν τε καὶ
ἐτελοῦντο τῶν τελετῶν ἣν θέμις λέγειν μακαριωτάτην.

At that time Beauty was shining bring, when with a blessed chorus, our-
selves following Zeus and others following other gods, they saw a bliss-
ful and divine sight, and were initiated into what are rightfully called the
most blessed of mysteries.

The passage, indeed the whole palinode, is perfused with mystery lan-
guage, adding weight to Plato’s statement that knowledge of the forms is the
μακαριωτάτην of mysteries, implying that it is superior even to the Eleusinian
Mysteries. In addition, the plethora of religious terms in this particular passage
is similar to, and has the same effect on the reader as the Orphic/Pythagorean
references to the rewards in the afterlife: it evokes hope and a desire to pur-
sue the path necessary to obtain such blessings. In the remainder of the pal-
inode Plato tells how the human souls were separated from the gods, much
like Eleusinian Demeter was separated from them when she searched for her
daughter Kore on earth (h.Cer. 300, 325, 345).61 Subsequently, as in Symposium,
the spiritual love of the forms can only be regained by beginning on the level of
physical love, just as the spiritual Greater Mysteries can only be reached by first
passing through the more practical Lesser Mysteries and muesis.62 By shaping
his argument about the progress required of the philosopher in terms of the
religious progress in the Eleusinian Mysteries, and perfusing it with mystery

59  Evans 1993, 186; Farrell 1999, 81-82, 87; Mylonas 1961, 205-208, 236, 241-242.
60  Lebeck 1972, 271.
61  Evans 1993, 201.
62  Kerenyi 1967, 46, 98-99; Rinella 2000, 67, 69, 76.

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terminology, Plato attributes to his philosophy an air of the divine, seeking to

appeal to people’s spiritual or irrational as well as their rational minds. In this
way both Symposium and Phaedrus show how Plato uses the structure and
rituals associated with the Eleusinian Mysteries to persuade his listeners of
the importance of developing oneself by going through the various stages of
philosophy.
The most well-known motif of the Eleusinian Mysteries is that of the epop-
teia and visual experience. Due to this focus on the visual aspect of the myster-
ies, the language associated with Eleusis encompasses many terms related to
sight, as well as to light (the ritual in the Telesterion is said to have incorporated
bright lights). Plato’s use of such terminology is found in the aforementioned
passage of Phaedrus about the vision of the forms:

κάλλος δὲ τότ᾽ ἦν ἰδεῖν λαμπρόν, ὅτε σὺν εὐδαίμονι χορῷ μακαρίαν ὄψιν τε
καὶ θέαν … εἶδόν τε καὶ ἐτελοῦντο τῶν τελετῶν … ὁλόκληρα δὲ καὶ ἁπλᾶ καὶ
ἀτρεμῆ καὶ εὐδαίμονα φάσματα μυούμενοί τε καὶ ἐποπτεύοντες ἐν αὐγῇ καθαρᾷ.63

At that time Beauty was shining bright, when with a blessed chorus they
saw a blissful and divine sight … and were initiated into the mysteries …
initiated into and beholding in the pure sunlight the perfect, simple, calm
and happy apparitions.

Plato could not be more obvious in his allusion to the Eleusinian Mysteries
here, as we find the motifs of sight, bright light, initiation, blessedness and
purification all in one passage.64 Diotima’s speech in the Symposium too is full
of such language of vision:65

ὃς γὰρ ἂν μέχρι ἐνταῦθα πρὸς τὰ ἐρωτικὰ παιδαγωγηθῇ, θεώμενος ἐφεξῆς τε

καὶ ὀρθῶς τὰ καλά, πρὸς τέλος ἤδη ἰὼν τῶν ἐρωτικῶν ἐξαίφνης κατόψεταί τι
θαυμαστὸν τὴν φύσιν καλόν.66

When someone has thus far been educated in the mysteries of love, hav-
ing correctly beheld one beautiful thing after another, approaching the
culmination of his dealings with love, he suddenly sees some wondrous,
beautiful form.

63  Phdr. 250b-c.

64  Burkert 1985, 324; Evans 1993, 197-198; Farrell 1999, 93; Lebeck 1972, 272.
65  Evans 2006, 18; Farrell 1999, 126-127; Kranz 1926, 446; Riedweg 1987, 22-26.
66  Smp. 210e.

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Plato and the Language of Mysteries 55

This series of visuals leading up to a sudden and overwhelming revelation

has traditionally been connected with the Eleusinian Mysteries and dem-
onstrates the imagistic nature of the cult. By presenting the theory of forms
as precisely such an intense religious experience, which could never be ad-
equately described in rational terms alone, Plato aims to evoke the appropri-
ate feelings of awe and reverence in his listeners that will lead them to desire
knowledge of the forms.67
A final example may be taken from Plato’s Myth of the Cave in the Republic,
which is thought by some to refer to a cave at the sanctuary of Eleusis which
was associated with the underworld deities, where perhaps the initiates were
led before ascending to the bright light of the Telesterion.68 The following pas-
sage describes the experience of one of the prisoners after leaving the cave:

καὶ πρῶτον μὲν τὰς σκιὰς ἂν ῥᾷστα καθορῷ … ἐκ δὲ τούτων τὰ ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ

καὶ αὐτὸν τὸν οὐρανὸν νύκτωρ ἂν ῥᾷον θεάσαιτο, προσβλέπων τὸ τῶν ἄστρων
τε καὶ σελήνης φῶς … τελευταῖον δὴ οἶμαι τὸν ἥλιον, … αὐτὸν καθ᾽ αὑτὸν ἐν τῇ
αὑτοῦ χώρᾳ δύναιτ᾽ ἂν κατιδεῖν καὶ θεάσασθαι οἷός ἐστιν.69

And first he would most easily see the shadows … and from these he
would behold the things in heaven and heaven itself, more easily at night
looking at the light of the stars and the moon … and finally I suppose he
would be able to look at the sun itself, by itself and in its own place, and
see what it is like.

In all these examples Plato describes the experience of gaining knowledge of

the forms as the visual ritual of beholding wondrous sights and bright light,
which took place in the Telesterion at Eleusis.70 Since the forms in themselves
were not necessarily visual, but rather abstract concepts, we may wonder why
Plato repeatedly chose to use this particular religious metaphor. The most obvi-
ous reason is the strong emotional impact of images, conjured by the sensuous
language of the Eleusinians. Since people by nature associate the good with
light and beauty, and the bad with darkness and unattractiveness, it makes
sense for Plato to want his readers to associate philosophy and the forms with

67  Edmonds 2017, 202-203.

68  Clinton 1992, 16-19; Cornford 1945, 227; Farrell 1999, 96-97.
69  R. 516a-b.
70  Evans 1993, 193, 197; Farrell 1999, 67, 92; Boyancé 1962 points out how this use of the
Eleusinian ‘illumination’ motif, and of the Eleusinian mysteries in general, as a metaphor
for obtaining intellectual knowledge later became more commonplace, applied amongst
others by Aristotle and Philo of Alexandria.

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the former, and the unphilosophical and ignorant with the latter, ensuring
that they feel more affinity for the philosophical ‘good’ and are therefore more
likely to follow his advice. This contrast is most clearly depicted in the Myth
of the Cave, where the prisoners spend their life in darkness, ignorant of real-
ity, until after ascending into the light they can behold the true forms: philo-
sophical knowledge, here, is a bright and beautiful enlightenment, whereas
a lack thereof is a dark and gloomy prison.71 Moreover, by making his entire
description of the philosophical process a journey from darkness into the
light, perfused with religious terms of vision, Plato actually presents the myth
as a religious experience itself, alike to that of Eleusis:72 the listener is guid-
ed by the text through different stages of emotions (fear, wonder, disbelief)
toward a feeling of enlightenment and excitement triggered by the descrip-
tion of the forms as religious visions. In this way Plato tries to demonstrate
the intimate, overwhelming nature of acquiring knowledge of the forms: one
does not merely understand the forms in an intellectual way, but experiences
some sort of direct acquaintance with them, an almost physical contact that
affects the senses, as the divine vision in the epopteia affected the senses of the
Eleusinian initiates.
The final Eleusinian motif that I will discuss is that of the mystagogos.
The procession from Athens to Eleusis for the Greater Mysteries was led by a
kind of religious leader or guide: this mystagogos, who had himself seen the
revelations in the Telesterion many times, guided the initiates through the
preparatory rituals. Plato refers to this custom, for example, at two points in
Diotima’s speech:

πρῶτον μέν, ἐὰν ὀρθῶς ἡγῆται ὁ ἡγούμενος, ἑνὸς αὐτὸν σώματος ἐρᾶν καὶ
ἐνταῦθα γεννᾶν λόγους καλούς.73

First, if one is led correctly by his leader, he will love one body and engen-
der beautiful words therein.

71  Whether or not Plato intended this story as a reference to the previously discussed
Orphic/Pythagorean doctrine of the body as a prison, it conveys the same meaning: the
body and its desires restrain our soul and prevent it from gaining true knowledge (of the
forms): we must escape the corporeal and follow the immortal, divine aspect of our soul.
72  Farrell 1999, 65, 69-70, 99, 128, 136. The same technique is used, as we have seen, in the
Symposium and, to an extent, in the Phaedrus.
73  Smp. 210a.

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τοῦτο γὰρ δή ἐστι τὸ ὀρθῶς ἐπὶ τὰ ἐρωτικὰ ἰέναι ἢ ὑπ᾽ ἄλλου ἄγεσθαι.74

For this is the correct way to approach, or be led by another, to matters

of love.

In fact, Diotima herself, who as we have seen makes elaborate use of Eleusinian
mystery language in her speech, is presented as a mystagogos by Socrates:

διὰ ταῦτά τοι, ὦ Διοτίμα, ὅπερ νυνδὴ εἶπον, παρὰ σὲ ἥκω, γνοὺς ὅτι διδασκάλων
δέομαι.75

For this reason, Diotima, as I just mentioned, I have come to you, know-
ing that I needed a teacher.

In her role as mystagogos, Diotima purifies Socrates of his false beliefs through
an elenchos and leads him towards knowledge of the forms through an account
of the different steps on the Ladder of Love, just as the Eleusinian guide led
the initiates to the epopteia through the various rituals.76 Plato’s choice of a fe-
male mystagogos may be either to associate her with the female-centered cult
at Eleusis, or to signal the unconventional nature of her message. Diotima’s
name emphasizes her role as mystagogos: Μαντινικῆς Διοτίμας seems to suggest
‘Zeus-honored mantic’ and has strong religious connotations.77 By extension,
Socrates also serves as a mystagogos, namely to the attendees of Agathon’s
symposium, and Plato serves as a mystagogos to us, his readers.78 As we see
in the case of Diotima, the attribution of religious characteristics to a speaker
gives them a numinous quality designed to evoke reverence in the listener.
This means that Diotima does not need to present any actual arguments for
her claims: her doctrine will be accepted on the basis of her inspired wisdom.
Putting his words in the mouth of such a character and assuming for himself
too the status of mystagogos transfers some of this ‘mystic authority’ to Plato.
Another example of the mystagogos motif can be found in the Republic, where
one of the prisoners is forcibly dragged out of the cave into the light (515e) and
subsequently returns to attempt the same with his fellow prisoners:

74  Smp. 211c.

75  Smp. 207c.
76  Casadesús 2016, 14, 16; Evans 1993, 98-99, 101, 137; Evans 2006, 18-19; Farrell 1999, 88, 120;
Kranz 1926, 445-446.
77  Evans 2006, 8; Robinson 1998, 137.
78  Evans 1993, 154-155; Evans 2006, 19.

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καὶ τὸν ἐπιχειροῦντα λύειν τε καὶ ἀνάγειν, εἴ πως ἐν ταῖς χερσὶ δύναιντο λαβεῖν
καὶ ἀποκτείνειν, ἀποκτεινύναι ἄν;79

And if they could somehow lay hands on and kill this man who was trying
to release them and lead them up, would they not do so?

The concepts of ‘release’ and ‘ascent’ are presented inside the murky cave to
show the benefits of following the mystagogos. This passage, forming both a
reference to Socrates’ tragic fate and a warning about the difficulties of trying
to enlighten the ignorant, perhaps explains why Plato repeatedly chooses to
present his theory of forms as a religious myth or initiation instead of a dialec-
tical account: so as not to evoke any suspicion or aversion for his theories, but
rather the reverence, hope, wonder and awe that were felt by the initiates at
Eleusis. In this way, as Edelstein phrases it, “the inner core of man’s existence
receives the commands of the intellect in terms that are adequate to its irra-
tional nature”.80

5 Conclusion

Having discussed the relevant examples of Plato’s use of the Orphic/

Pythagorean motifs of the body as prison, reincarnation, and afterlife rewards
and punishment, as well as examples of his use of the Eleusinian motifs of
stages of rituals, visual experience, and the mystagogos, we may draw several
conclusions. It appears that Plato used the Orphic/Pythagorean motifs mainly
in eschatological contexts such as discussions about the immortality of the
soul and its fate upon death, whereas the Eleusinian motifs mainly appear in
relation to the theory of Forms. This may be explained by the nature of the
cults: Orphism/Pythagoreanism has a strong focus on the afterlife journey,
while the Eleusinian Mysteries are more concerned with the process toward
‘beholding the divine’.
I have argued that the explanations commonly provided for Plato’s adop-
tion of religious motifs are subject to doubt. Due to the relative paucity and
obscurity of the Orphic/Pythagorean references, his criticism on the cult else-
where in the texts, and the presence of a dialectical approach to the same
topics, it seems implausible that Plato uses Orphic/Pythagorean mystery lan-
guage to give authority to his texts, to make his theories more appealing and

79  Pl. R. 517a.

80  Edelstein 1949, 477.

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comprehensible to the public by aligning them with familiar doctrines, or to

cover areas which were beyond the scope of dialectical or scientific inquiry.
In the case of the Eleusinian Mysteries, however, due to the renown of the
cult, the relative frequency of the references and their prominence in some
of the dialogues, the latter two of these explanations can be applied to some
instances of Eleusinian metaphor and language, but not all.
As has become evident, we may infer, along with Edelstein, a much simpler
reason for Plato’s use of the mystery cults, one that can be applied to all ex-
amples adduced of both mystery cults in every relevant dialogue: emotional
appeal. The religious references often consist of graphic descriptions or sensu-
ous language, which conjure up evocative images in the mind of the listener or
reader, who is thereby the more gravely affected.
Plato’s understanding of the effect of religious motifs on man’s passions
shows his insight into the human psyche, indicating his proficiency not only
as a philosopher but also as a psychologist: “it is the saving grace of Plato’s
intellectualism that it can do justice to the emotions without infringing upon
the prerogatives of reason”.81 The philosopher’s tactic of borrowing religious
motifs is fittingly described by Despland with a musical metaphor: Plato has
taken a familiar song and rewritten it in a different key, so that “the tune is
recognizable, but its character, its tone, its impact are entirely changed”.82 He
attempts to affect his audience in a manner similar to that of the mystery cults,
by appealing to their emotions, and for that means appeals to their doctrines
and language, even while the content of his message is different: philosophy
rather than religion, and knowledge rather than divinity.83

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