Greek Mysteries

Eleusinian Mysteries - 1500 BCE – 392 CE — Eleusis (Attica, Greece)
Colchian (Medean) Mysteries - 1300 – 1200BCE - mythic / pre-Greek legendary era, referenced in Greek texts 8th c BC onward — Colchis (western Caucasus / modern Georgia)
Samothracian Mysteries - 7th c BCE – 4th c CE — Samothrace (northern Aegean)
Cabiric Mysteries - 6th c BCE – 3rd c CE — Lemnos, Samothrace, Thebes (Aegean / Boeotia)
Dionysian (Bacchic) Mysteries - 7th c BCE – 4th c CE — throughout Greece, Thrace, and later the Roman world
Orphic Mysteries - 6th c BCE – 4th c CE — widely distributed in the Greek world (especially Magna Graecia and Thessaly)
Delphic / Pythian Mysteries - 8th c BCE – 4th c CE — Delphi (Phocis, Greece)
Sibylline Mysteries - 8th c BCE – 4th c CE — Anatolia and the Aegean (Erythrae, Phrygia, Cumae, etc.)
Cybele (Phrygian) Mysteries (Great Mother Cult) - 7th c BCE – 5th c CE — Phrygia and western Anatolia (especially Pergamum and Pessinus).

Asclepian Healing Mysteries / Incubation Cult - 6th c BC – 5th c AD, >300 of them in total. Epidaurus was the original and most prestigious sanctuary of Asclepius, but existed across the Greek world. Kos is where Hippocrates (rational medicine) coexisted alongside Asclepius (temple healing).
- The Asclepian healing cult (incubation temples such as Epidaurus) involved initiation-like purification and dream revelation, but it is usually classified as a healing cult rather than a mystery cult.

Musterion in the Lexicon

μυστήρι-ον , τό, (μύστης, μυέω)
A.mystery or secret rite: mostly in pl., τὰ μ. the mysteries, first in Heraclit.14, cf. Hdt.2.51 (of the mysteries of the Cabiri in Samothrace), etc.; esp. those of Demeter at Eleusis, A.Fr.479, S. Fr.804, E.Supp.173, Ar.Ra.887, etc.; μυστηρίοις τοῖς μείζοσιν, τοῖς ὀλείζοσιν μ., IG12.6.93,96; but usu., τὰ μεγάλα, τὰ μικρὰ μ., Sch.Ar. Pl.846, cf. IG12.313.144, 22.1672.4, Pl.Grg.497c, etc.; “πρὸ τῶν μεγάλων μ. τὰ μικρὰ παραδοτέον” Iamb.Protr.2; ἀπιέναι πρὸ τῶν μ., i.e. before you have reached the heart of the matter, Pl.Men.76e; τὰ τῆς θεοῦ (sc. Μεγάλης Μητρὸς）“ μ.” OGI540.21 (Pessinus, i A.D.); “οἱ θεοὶ οἷς τὰ μ. ἐπιτελεῖται” IG5(1).1390.2 (Andania, i B.C.); “τὰ μ. ποιεῖν” And.1.11, Lys.14.42, cf. Th.6.28 (Pass.); μ. ἐρεῖν And.l.c.: later in sg., PMag.Leid.W.3.42 (ii/iii A.D.).

2. mystic implements and ornaments, “σεμνὰ στεμμάτων μυστήρια” E.Supp.470; esp. properties, such as were carried to Eleusis at the celebration of the mysteries, ὄνος ἄγω μυστήρια, prov. of an over-loaded beast, Ar.Ra. 159.
b. later, object used in magical rites, talisman, “δότε πνεῦμα τῷ ὑπ᾽ ἐμοῦ κατεσκευασμένῳ μ.” PMag.Leid.V.10.19 (iii/iv A.D.).
3. metaph., “ὕπνος, τὰ μικρὰ τοῦ θανάτου μ.” Mnesim.11; τῆς Ῥωμαίων ἀρχῆς σεμνὸν μ., of the military sacramentum, Hdn.8.7.4: generally, mystery, secret, Pl.Tht.156a; “μυστήριόν σου μὴ κατείπῃς τῷ φίλῳ” Men.695, cf. LXX Si.27.16, To.12.7; προσήγγειλε τὰ μ. τοῖς πολεμίοις ib.2 Ma.13.21; “μυστήρια βίου” Sor.1.3; τοὐμὸν τὸ μ. [the remedy] is my secret, Aret.CD2.7: hence, of a medicine, Gal.13.96, Alex.Trall. 5.4.
4. secret revealed by God, i.e. religious or mystical truth, Corp. Herm.1.16, etc.; “τὰ μ. τῆς βασιλείας τῶν οὐρανῶν” Ev.Matt.13.11; “πνεύματι λαλεῖν μυστήρια” 1 Ep.Cor.14.2; τὸ μ. τῆς ἀνομίας the mystery of iniquity, 2 Ep.Thess.2.7; “τὸν Ἀντιπάτρου βίον οὐκ ἂν ἁμάρτοιτις εἰπὼν κακίας μ.” J.BJ1.24.1; esp. of the Gospel or parts of it, “τὸ μ. τοῦ εὐαγγελίου” Ep.Eph.6.19, cf. 3.9, Ep.Col.1.26, al.; symbol, “τὸ μ. τῶν ἑπτὰ ἀστέρων” Apoc.1.20, cf. 17.7.
5. σύνηθές τι μ. some vulgar superstition, Sor.1.4.
II. Dionysius the tyrant called mouse-holes μυστήρια （μῦς, τηρεῖν), Ath.3.98d.

Greek Mysteries

Related Traditions

Musterion in the Lexicon

See Also