The little that is known of the Greek Mysteries has been very variously interpreted. Some have supposed them to have been a course of agriculture, taught secretly, others a mummery carried on for centuries by the priests. What is known with certainty is the high esteem in which they were held and the strict secrecy which attended them. The word means silence; to be initiated was "to be made silent."

Access to the lesser mysteries was easy. Tens of thousands were initiated. The temples in which the rites were practiced were under the protection of the state. In them were enacted the lives of the gods in whose name the mysteries were celebrated, and great use was made of music. The mysteries were held to remove the fear of death and to give assurance of the survival of the departed. Those who had been initiated were believed to be happy after death, while others led a dismal life hereafter, clinging to their graves.

The preparatory training for the greater mysteries was very severe. Fasting was undergone, abstinence of all sorts, extremes of heat and cold had to be endured, and the candidates swam through water for days and had to walk through fire. The training often lasted many years. After initiation, in the beginning all was darkness, dread and dismay; then a marvelous light was seen and shining forms came to meet the initiate.

The initiate experienced while on earth the state of the soul dissociated from the body. A Greek writer says, "Here all instruction ceases; one beholds the nature of things."

Apuleius, who had received all the initiations of the mysteries, says,

"I went to the boundary between life and death, I passed through the four elements, I stood on the threshold of Proserpina, at the time of deepest midnight I saw the sun shine in brightest splendor, I saw the greater and the lesser gods and revered them near at hand."

The initiate was said to be received, while living on earth, among the immortal gods, and made as one of them.