Larry J. Kreitzer, «The Plutonium of Hierapolis and the Descent of Christ into the 'Lowermost Parts of the Earth' (Ephesians 4,9)», Vol. 79 (1998) 381-393

After a general discussion of the myth regarding Demeter, Persephone and Hades/Pluto, the author discusses, in the light of coins of the early Neronian period (54-59 AD), the likelihood that the Plutonium of Hierapolis is the geographical spot the author wants his readers to imagine when they read in the Letter to the Colossians that Christ entered the lowermost parts of the earth.

        III. The Demeter/Persephone Myth and the Church at Hierapolis

        The substance of the Eleusinian rites was a celebration of the movement from sorrow to joy. Demeter’s sadness at being separated from Persephone is transformed into happiness at being reunited with her daughter as Persephone ascends from the underworld ³². In one sense, it is not difficult to see how the underlying idea of Persephone’s return from Hades might be viewed as something of a parallel to the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. The parallels are even stronger when we consider the localized Phrygian expression of the mother-goddess cult, namely, the worship of Cybele. Here the focus of comparison is on the figure of Attis, the lover and consort of Cybele, who is murdered and after three days rises from the dead ³³. Similarities to the basic Christian story of the death of Christ and his resurrection from the dead after three days are obvious, even if a clear explanation as to how they come about is not.

        Not surprisingly, some early Christian writers took it upon themselves to distance the claims of Christianity from what they perceived to be superstitious myths and cultic worship of these pagan deities, whether it was associated with the figures of Demeter and Persephone or Cybele and Attis. The classic case in point is Clement of Alexandria, whose Exhortation to the Greeks 2 contains a vitriolic attack on the Hellenistic mystery cults, including a condemnation of celebrations associated with the ‘mystic drama’ (dga=ma mustiko/n) of Demeter and Persephone enacted at Eleusis ³⁴. Clement’s