Are there secretive groups of people lurking in the shadows who have changed the course of history?
It is a common trope of conspiracy theories that there are hidden fraternities meddling in the world’s affairs. These secret societies are said to offer a network of power, an exclusive membership, and sometimes mystical knowledge. Despite being called secret, in fact many such groups are well known and have now been extensively studied by historians.
The anxieties surrounding the existence of secret societies is not always unjustified. Many hidden groups have influenced history in unexpected ways. The underground Christians of the early Roman Empire managed to convert the state to their religion after all. Whether in the ancient past or present, nefarious or not, the power and influence of secret societies are waiting to be uncovered.
Eleusinian Cult Unknown – 392 CE
21 kilometres outside of Athens lies one of the most important religious sites in the ancient world. Eleusis was home to a temple of the agricultural goddess Demeter. According to the Homeric Hymns the goddess attempted to make Demophon, son of the king of Eleusis, immortal when she grieved the loss of her daughter Persephone to Hades. She also taught the locals certain mysterious rites.
At first the worship of Demeter at Eleusis was a strictly small-scale affair, but when the town became part of Athenian territory its fame grew. Each year people would throng to the temple to be inducted into the Eleusinian Mysteries. Part of the rituals performed there was a solemn pledge never to reveal the secrets that you were taught there. This veil of secrecy seems to have been remarkably effective. The playwright Aeschylus was charged with the crime of leaking some of the mysteries in his play, though he was acquitted. The philosopher Diagoras was less lucky and was executed. No one today can say for sure what occurred at Eleusis.
When Greece was conquered by the Romans many flocked to Eleusis to take part. Everyone from Cicero to the Emperor Hadrian were introduced to the mysteries until it was finally suppressed along with other pagan sects by Emperor Theodosius I in 392 CE.
The Cult of Mithras 1st century CE – 4th century CE
Across the Roman Empire strange underground spaces have been excavated that were once home to the mystery cult of the god Mithras. Many of these temples were dominated by an image of the tauroctony – Mithras slaying a bull. Other enigmatic images show Mithras being born from a rock, a snake and a dog licking the bull’s blood, and a naked lion-headed man.
The cult seems to have derived from an Iranian god known as Mithra, but it became hugely popular among members of the Roman army and spread to the furthest parts of the empire. Little is known about the belief system of those who wor
