It was therefore natural that in this legend of Osiris, Ptolemy should find the desired point of contact between the religions of the Egyptians and the Greeks. The religious institution which commanded the most respect among the Greeks of his time was undoubtedly the Mysteries of Eleusis[128], which were yearly celebrated with a circumstance that drew upon them the attention of the whole Hellenic world. Messengers went forth every year from Eleusis to all countries where Athenians could be found, to proclaim the Sacred Truce that was to ensure peace during the celebration of the Mysteries. Then on the appointed day in September, enormous numbers of Greeks from all parts of the world gathered together in Athens for a festival that lasted for nearly two weeks. First came the assembly of the worshippers and the proclamation of the hierophant that none but those unpolluted by crime and of intelligible speech (_i.e._ not barbarians) might take part in the Mysteries. Then followed the solemn procession when the sacred objects, upon which none but the initiated might look, were brought from Eleusis under strong guard and lodged in the Eleusinion at the foot of the Acropolis, their arrival being formally notified to the priestess of Athena, the tutelary deity of the city. Next was made the proclamation of “To the sea, the initiates!” when all who were to take part in the ceremonies descended to the harbour of Phalerum[129] to wash themselves and the animals intended for sacrifice in the salt water, in the belief that, as Euripides said, “Sea-waves wash away all sin.” After a time spent in sacrificing and austerities very proper for bringing the worshippers into a receptive state of mind, there was formed the long procession which paced the Sacred Way, twelve miles long, from Athens to Eleusis, beguiling the road with hymns and choruses addressed to Iacchos, the infant Dionysos[130], who was supposed to lead the procession from his Athenian temple, the Iaccheion, with a pause at the bridge over the Cephisus, where the crowd exchanged coarse jokes and sarcasms in a manner peculiarly Attic. Then came the arrival by night of the procession at the Telesterion or Hall of Initiations at Eleusis, the sky above which was made light by the glare of the torches[131]. There, after more sacrifices, a sacred banquet, in which it is not impossible that the mystic _cyceon_ or consecrated drink was partaken of, and sacrifices in the temples of Demeter, of Hades, and of Persephone with which the Hall was surrounded, the initiates were shown a sacred drama, like the mystery-plays of the Middle Ages, acted by the priests of the cult, whose office, contrary to the custom of Greek cults generally, was confined to two families in which it was hereditary and highly paid. This drama, the details of which were kept strictly secret and can only be gathered from hints appearing in writers of a comparatively late date, seems to have set forth the Rape of Persephone, daughter of