Eleusis

In Greek mythology, Eleusis (Ancient Greek: Ἐλευσῖνι or Ἐλευσῖνα) or Eleusinus, was the eponymous hero of the town of Eleusis.

Family

Eleusis was a son of Hermes and the Oceanid Daeira, or of Ogygus.[1] Panyassis wrote of him as father of Triptolemus, adding that "Demeter came to him";[2] this version of the myth is found in the works of Hyginus and Servius.
Mythology

King Eleusis and Cothonea (Cyntinia), parents of Triptolemus, are visited by Demeter, who rears their son, feeding him divine milk by day and placing him into the fire at night, which makes Triptolemus grow faster than mortal children normally do. She eventually kills Eleusis for intervening when the fire ritual is performed.[3][4] The myth is closely parallel with the one that deals with Demeter visiting Celeus and Metaneira (also possible parents of Triptolemus) and nursing their son Demophon.[5]

In other accounts, Eleusis appears as a female character.[6]

My dream forbade the description of the things within the wall of the sanctuary, and the uninitiated are of course not permitted to learn that which they are prevented from seeing. The hero Eleusis, after whom the city is named, some assert to be a son of Hermes and of Daeira, daughter of Ocean; there are poets, however, who have made Ogygus father of Eleusis. Ancient legends, deprived of the help of poetry, have given rise to many fictions, especially concerning the pedigrees of heroes. Pausanias

See also

List of Greek mythological figures

Notes

Pausanias, Graeciae Descriptio 1.38.7
Cited in Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 1.5.2
Hyginus, Fabulae 147
Servius on Virgil's Georgics, 1.19
Homeric Hymn 5 to Demeter

Eleusis

References

Gaius Julius Hyginus, Fabulae from The Myths of Hyginus translated and edited by Mary Grant. University of Kansas Publications in Humanistic Studies. Online version at the Topos Text Project.
Pausanias, Description of Greece with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918. ISBN 0-674-99328-4. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
Pausanias, Graeciae Descriptio. 3 vols. Leipzig, Teubner. 1903. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
Pseudo-Apollodorus, The Library with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. ISBN 0-674-99135-4. . Greek text .
The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White. Homeric Hymns. Cambridge, MA.,Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Greek text available from the same website.

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