Inside the Eleusinian Mysteries

Hilary Hope Guise is currently on the faculty of Florida State University. The rites, ceremonies, and beliefs were kept secret and consistently preserved from antiquity. For the initiated, the rebirth of Persephone symbolized the eternity of life which flows from generation to generation, and they believed that they would have a reward in the afterlife.

The Roman emperor Theodosius I closed the sanctuaries in 392 AD. The last remnants of the Mysteries were wiped out in 396 AD, when Arian Christians under Alaric, King of the Goths, destroyed and desecrated the sacred sites.