By Nicole Findlay
When she was a child, Shelley Hartman dreamed of becoming an archeologist. Her father had other ideas. Women got sensible jobs as secretaries and teachers. So, she shelved her aspirations and became a disk jockey for Chez 106.
It would be forty-five years before Hartman was able to pursue her first career choice.
detail of Hartman's sketchbook
Now a third-year Greek and Roman Studies student, she was one of a group of 20 who traveled to Greece last summer as part of a course trip organized by Susan Downie, professor in the College of the Humanities.
Participants were given the choice of writing an essay or giving an on-site lecture in Greece.
The decision to opt for a lecture was almost made for Hartman with the serendipitous discovery of marzipan pigs at a local mall.
For her presentation at Eleusis, Hartman decided to explore the three thousand year old Eleusinian mysteries, the secret rituals for Demeter and Persephone.
“I wanted us to try and recapture the amazement and awe the people must have felt when they went through this initiation twenty-five hundred years ago,” said Hartman.
She decided to crack the books to piece together what had been recorded about the cult of Demeter and especially the sacred drink, Kykeon. One source was Homer’s The Iliad.
Little is known about the secret cult and its ritual, other than it was one of the few in that ancient world that was egalitarian. Slaves, women, senior citizens and craftsmen could participate provided they speak Greek. To enter the cult, each of the participants had to buy and sacrifice a piglet.
sketch of the acropolis museum
They also consumed the beer-like drink made from pennyroyal, barley and water, Kykeon. All other aspects of the ritual have been lost to time as participants were forbidden to reveal its secrets on the pain of death.
After finding the marzipan pigs, Hartman set about tracking down pennyroyal to make an approximation of the ancient beverage. Once she’d found all the ingredients she sewed them into tea bags for easy transport to Greece.
On reaching the temple precinct in Eleusis, she and her fellow travelers re-enacted the ancient ritual – feasting on candy pigs and made up mead.
“Two students were priestesses,” said Hartman. “They mixed up the drink, and passed around the pigs on the exact spot where the first house of Demeter is thought to have been.”
Hartman's notebook sketch of a chariot
The trip has solidified Hartman’s conviction to learn more about the ancients. She plans to pursue graduate studies in archaeology. Perhaps years from now another intrepid student will re-enact the Eleusinian mysteries with new evidence people like Hartman will have uncovered.