Eumolpus

Eumolpus was a son of Poseidon and Chione who became a Thracian king and an early priest of Demeter at Eleusis. He is named in the Homeric Hymn to Demeter among the first men to whom the goddess taught her rites. He died fighting the Athenians in a war between Athens and Eleusis.

Birth and Family

Chione was a daughter of Boreas and Orithyia, the sister of Zetes, Calais and Cleopatra (Apollodorus, Library 3.15.2; Pausanias 1.38.2). She was seduced by Poseidon and bore Eumolpus, and to hide the birth from her father she threw the child into the sea. Poseidon picked up the baby and took him to Ethiopia, where he gave him to Benthesicyme, his own daughter by Amphitrite, to raise (Apollodorus, Library 3.15.4). When he was grown, Benthesicyme’s husband gave him one of his two daughters as wife. Eumolpus then tried to force his wife’s sister and was banished for it.

Thrace and Eleusis

Eumolpus and his son Ismarus went to Tegyrius, the king of Thrace, who married his daughter to Eumolpus’ son. Eumolpus then plotted against Tegyrius and was discovered, and fled to the Eleusinians, who befriended him. After the death of Ismarus, Tegyrius sent for him, they ended their quarrel, and Eumolpus succeeded to the Thracian kingdom (Apollodorus, Library 3.15.4). Pausanias, who says that Eumolpus came from Thrace, notes that the Eleusinians and the Athenians agreed on the location of his tomb at Eleusis (Pausanias 1.38.2).

Eumolpus and the Eleusinian Mysteries

In the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, the goddess, after finding her daughter, showed her rites to the rulers of Eleusis: Triptolemus, Diocles, “the strong Eumolpus”, and Celeus the leader of the people. She taught them the performance of the sacred rites and explained her mysteries (Hymn to Demeter 473–479; compare 153–155). Pausanias names Eumolpus and the daughters of Celeus as the ministers of the Two Goddesses (Pausanias 1.38.3).

The War with Athens

When war broke out between Athens and Eleusis, the Eleusinians called in Eumolpus, who fought for them with a large Thracian army (Apollodorus, Library 3.15.4). Thucydides gives it as an example of Athens before Theseus, when the Eleusinians and Eumolpus made war on Erechtheus (Thucydides 2.15.1). Erechtheus asked the oracle how to win and was told to sacrifice one of his daughters. He killed his youngest, and the others killed themselves. In the battle Erechtheus killed Eumolpus. Poseidon then destroyed Erechtheus and his house, and Cecrops, the eldest son of Erechtheus, became king (Apollodorus, Library 3.15.4–5).

Pausanias reports a different outcome. In the war with the Eleusinians, King Erechtheus was killed, and also Immaradus, son of Eumolpus. Peace was made on the terms that the Eleusinians would have charge of the mysteries but be subject to Athens in all else (Pausanias 1.38.3). Pausanias thinks that on the Acropolis, the bronze fighter said to be Eumolpus is really Immaradus (Pausanias 1.27.4). Eumolpus’ younger son Ceryx survived him; the Ceryces, however, said that Ceryx was a son of Aglaurus and Hermes (Pausanias 1.38.3).

Eumolpus Sources

Homeric Hymn to Demeter 153–155, 473–479; Thucydides 2.15.1; Apollodorus, Library 3.15.2, 3.15.4–5; Pausanias 1.27.4, 1.38.2–3.

See Also: Poseidon, Chione, Boreas, Demeter, Erechtheus, Eleusinian Mysteries, Triptolemus, Celeus