On Wednesday we were lucky enough to have our second Classics seminar, where we discuss classical topics outside the curriculum to better prepare us for our future Classics and Archaeology university degrees.

This session was about the Eleusinian mysteries, an ancient mystery cult centred around the worship of Persephone and Demeter. We looked at the little surviving information we have left, including the Ninnion tablet, to deduce what could have happened within these cults.

We saw that rituals mimicking the suffering of Demeter were a key part of the initiation ceremony and that initiates had to experience a metaphorical death in order to understand the importance of life, something that likely persists in certain cults today. This helped us apply concepts from the ancient world to the modern day, which is what classics is all about!

Beatrice and Francesca, Upper VI Greek students