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Belvedere Apollo: *
ILLUSTRATION
Apollo is depicted as a standing archer having just shot an arrow to slay the serpent Python, the chthonic serpent guarding Delphi—making the sculpture a Pythian Apollo. The large white marble sculpture is 7 feet high, its complex contrapposto has been much admired, appearing to position the figure both frontally and in profile.
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Eleusinian Mysteries (as nocturnal): *
Much of what we know about these Mysteries is conjectural. The Greater Eleusinian Mysteries were held in the month of Boedromionrites over a 10 day period. On day 4 the Epidauria, a festival for Asklepios, was held to celebrate the healer’s arrival in Athens. A procession was followed by an all-night feast. On day 5 the initiates went on procession to Eleusis. After they arrived there was an all-night vigil (re-enacting Demeter’s anxious wait for Persephone). On day 7 the priests revealed the visions of the holy night, using a fire that represented the possibility of life after death, and various sacred objects. Day 8 (or 9) saw another all-night feast (Pannychis) accompanied by dancing and merriment in the Rharian Field; that evening a bull sacrifice was made.