In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, Eubuleus or Eubouleus (Ancient Greek Εὐβουλεύς Eubouleus means "good counsel"[Rosemarie Taylor-Perry, The God Who Comes: Dionysian Mysteries Revisited (Algora, 2003), p. 10.] or "wise in counsel"[Robin Hard. The Routledge Handbook of Greek Mythology (2004)]
) is a god known primarily from devotional epigraphy for mystery religions. The name appears several times in the of the so-called Totenpass spelled variously, with forms including Euboulos, Eubouleos and Eubolos.[Fritz Graf and Sarah Iles Johnston, Ritual Texts for the Afterlife: Orpheus and the Bacchic Gold Tablets (Routledge, 2007), pp. 5, 13, 123.] It may be an epithet of the central Orphic god, Dionysus or Zagreus,[Jane Ellen Harrison, Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion (Cambridge University Press, 1908, 2nd ed.) pp. 585–587.] or of Zeus in an unusual association with the Eleusinian Mysteries.[Used as an epithet of Zeus in some inscriptions; J.G. Frazer, Pausanias's Description of Greece (London, 1913), vol. 2, p. 70.] Scholars of the late 20th and early 21st centuries have begun to consider Eubuleus independently as "a major god" of the mysteries, based on his prominence in the inscriptional evidence. His depiction in art as a torchbearer suggests that his role was to lead the way back from the Greek underworld.[Kevin Clinton, "The Mysteries of Demeter and Kore," in A Companion to Greek Religion (Wiley-Blackwell, 2010), pp. 347–353 online. For assertions of his growing importance to scholars, see also Kevin Clinton, "The Sanctuary of Demeter and Kore at Eleusis," in Greek Sanctuaries: New Approaches (Routledge, 1993), p. 113, where Eubuleus is called "a principal god in the Mysteries and co-equal with Triptolemus," and Pierre Bonnechere, "Trophonius of Lebadea: Mystery Aspects of an Oracular Cult in Boeotia," in Greek Mysteries: The Archaeology and Ritual of Ancient Greek Secret Cults (Routledge, 2003, 2005), p. 181.]
Genealogy and identity
Literary texts provide only scant evidence of the
Greek mythology of Eubuleus. He is not mentioned in the
Homeric Hymns.
[Clinton, Greek Sanctuaries, p. 113.] Differences among genealogies and cross-identifications with other gods raise the question of whether all the sources using a form of the name refer to the same figure.
[Susan G. Cole, "Landscapes of Dionysos and Elysian Fields," in Greek Mysteries: The Archaeology and Ritual of Ancient Greek Secret Cults (Routledge, 2003), p. 199.] Diodorus Siculus says that he was a son of
Demeter and the father of Karme, thus grandfather of
Britomartis.
[Diodorus Siculus 5.76.] One of the Orphic tablets identifies him as the son of
Zeus, as does one of the
Orphic Hymns.
[ Hymn 30.6, as cited by Graf and Johnston, Ritual Texts, pp. 123–124 ( Hymn 29 in the translation of Thomas Taylor).] Hesychius identifies him with
Hades,
[The entry in Hesychius reads: Εὐβουλεύς (sch. Nic. Al. 14) · ὁ Πλούτων. παρὰ δὲ τοῖς πολλοῖς ὁ Ζεὺς ἐν Κυρήνη ( Eubouleus: ho Ploutôn. para de toîs polloîs ho Zeus en Kyrene), 643 (Schmidt).] who is also hailed as
Euboulos in the
Orphic Hymn to Plouton, but other contexts distinguish the two.
In art
In visual representations, Eubuleus resembles
Iacchus. Both are often depicted with a "dreamy" or "mystical" expression,
[Ugo Birachi, The Greek Mysteries (Brill, 1976), p. 24 online.] and long hair styled in a particular manner.
["Archaeological News" (unsigned), American Journal of Archaeology 10 (1895), p. 552 online.] Both figures can also be represented as torchbearers. Eubuleus is sometimes identified as one of the figures on the so-called
Regina Vasorum ("Queen of Vases"), a mid-4th-century BC
hydria from
Cumae that depicts various figures from Eleusinian myth.
[Karl Kerényi, Eleusis: Archetypal Image of Mother and Daughter (Princeton University Press, 1967, translated from the original German of 1960), pp. 153ff; Clinton, "The Mysteries of Demeter and Kore," p. 350.]
A sculptural head most often attributed to the Athenian artist Praxiteles has sometimes been identified as Eubuleus. Uncovered by archaeologists in 1883 in the Ploutonion of Eleusis, it may instead represent Triptolemus. Alternatively, the head could be an idealized portrait of the type frequently made of Alexander, perhaps of Demetrius Poliorcetes, as it agrees in respects with Plutarch's description.[Plutarch, Life of Demetrius; American Journal of Archaeology 10 (1895), p. 552.] The identification as Eubuleus is based on comparisons with other sculptural heads that have the name inscribed, and the presence of the name on a base found separately but also within the Eleusinian Ploutonion.
Eubuleus is also identified as the youthful figure holding a torch on the right side of the fragmentary Lacrateides Relief, a second-century BC votive relief found in Eleusis.
Myth
The
Scholia to Lucian[Note on the reference to the Thesmophoria in Lucian's Dialogues of the Courtesans 2.1.] say that Eubuleus was a swineherd who was feeding his pigs at the opening to the underworld when
Persephone was abducted by Hades. His swine were swallowed by the earth along with her. The scholiast presents this narrative element as an
origin myth for the ritual at the
Thesmophoria in which piglets are thrown into a sacrificial pit (
megara) dedicated to Demeter and Persephone. Ritual attendants called "bailers" (ἀντλήτριαι,
antlêtriai) then descended into the pit and retrieved the decayed remains, which were placed on altars, mixed with seeds, then planted.
[John Fotopoulos, Food Offered to Idols in Roman Corinth: A Social-Rhetorical Reconsideration (Mohr Siebeck, 2003), pp. 74–74 online; Taylor-Perry, The God Who Comes, p. 34. The passage in the Scholia in Lucianum may be found in Rabe's edition, pp. 275–276.] Pits rich in organic matter at Eleusis have been taken as evidence that the Thesmophoria was held there as well as in other
of
Attica.
[Clinton, Greek Sanctuaries, p. 113.]
In keeping with his ritualist approach to myth and other preoccupations in The Golden Bough, J.G. Frazer thought that the pigs, rather than merely accompanying Persephone in her descent, were an original feature of the story, representing the "Vegetation deity" that was later anthropomorphism as the young goddess.[J.G. Frazer, The Golden Bough: Spirits of the Corn and of the Wild (London, 1912), vol. 2, p. 19 online. Frazer appears not to have made use of the inscriptional evidence pertaining to Eubuleus.]
Cult role
The "First Fruits Decree" (5th century BC) requires sacrifices for Demeter and Kore ("the Maiden," usually identified with Persephone),
Triptolemus,
Theos (God),
Thea (Goddess) and
Eubolos. The inscription with the Lakrateides
relief identifies the person making the dedication as a priest of the God and Goddess — that is, of the King and Queen of the Underworld, in reference to mystery cult — and of Eubouleus.
[Clinton, "The Mysteries of Demeter and Kore," p. 347, citing IG 13 78, lines 38–40, Greek text online.] In the Orphic tablets, Eubuleus is invoked four times along with
Eucles ("Good Fame"), following a declaration in the first line to the Queen of the Underworld, Persephone. He is also invoked in the Gurôb Papyrus of the mid-3rd century BC.
[Graf and Johnston, Ritual Texts, p. 189.]
Because Eubuleus seems to be a human being in the narrative alluded to by the scholiast to Lucian, he has sometimes been considered a hero who received cult veneration, as are Triptolemus and even Iacchos.[William Henry Denham Rouse, Greek Votive Offerings: An Essay in the History of Greek Religion (Cambridge University Press, 1902), p. 28.]
