VIII Summary

Julian requests to be "initiated into the mysteries" by the Heirophant of Greece, a man charged as custodian of the mysteries of Eleusis, a city 14 miles from Athens. Julian describes the nine days of initiation into those mysteries, but is sufficiently vague to keep the process the mystery it is apparently supposed to be. He does tell of one part of the event. On the second day, those being initiated bathed a pig in the sea before offering it for sacrifice. He writes, "It is an amazing sight to watch several thousand people bathing in the sea, each with a squealing pig." Though Julian claims an open mind for worship of all deities, he says he disapproves of the worshipers at the shrine of Aphrodite, because those who visit the shrine have the option to "enjoy a priestess." As part of the initiation...