Editing Kerykes (section)

==Overview==
In ''[[Iliad]]'', the Homeric epic,  heralds serve heroic nobility in humble tasks, as cooks, fire-kindlers, wine-pourers, and  waiters during feasts and symposia, as scavengers of corpses on the battlefield for cremation or as umpires during funeral games, as messengers between enemies, allies, and warriors during battle, as announcers of public assembly and as language translators (''hermeneus''),  and in other odd jobs that earned them the rank of ''demiourgoi'', public workers.<ref>Homer ''[[Odyssey]]'' 19.135.</ref> Their ubiquitous yet invisible presence behind the scenes requires concentration, for to understand what they did demands a shift in focus, like watching the black and white striped referees in a football game, rather than the players competing and scoring. Accordingly, ''demiourgoi'' alone demonstrate declining status,<ref>Bjorn Qviller "Homeric ''Demiourgoi'',"  ''Symbolae Osloenses'' '''55''' (1980): 5–21.</ref> hence the heraldic office itself declined in sanctity and authority,<ref>Robert Mondi ''The Function and Social Position of the Kerux in'' ''Early'' ''Greece,'' PhD Harvard University 1978: 1, 87, 116–117.</ref>  even though its exalted status survived in archaic Athens.<ref>Wm. Vocke ''The Athenian Herald''s, PhD University of  Cincinnati 1970.</ref> Two of the most prominent kerykes were the Spartan herald Talthybios, and the Trojan herald Idaios, both being spear-carriers;<ref>Homer ''[[Iliad]]'' 7.281.</ref> they were known by the epithet ''pepnumenō''.<ref>"awesome". Homer ''Iliad'' 7.274.</ref>

By the archaic period 700-650 BC, [[Hesiod]]<ref>Hesiod ''[[Theogony]]'' 938, ''[[Works and Days]]'' 80.</ref> identifies [[Hermes]] with the herald of the Olympian gods that has special control over the daimonic winged [[Keres (mythology)|Keres]] in-flight into and out of Demeter [[Pandora]], personified wine-storage jars blamed for all of the ills of humans, where only [[Elpis (mythology)|Hope]] lingered at the rim. She was Demeter ''Anesidora'', one aspect of the grain-goddess at Athens who preceded the revenge-filled Demeter Erinys 'at [[Eleusis]].The Homeric Hymn to Demeter (147) names her Maia, also the mother of Hermes Kêryx. The burial spot of herald Anthemokritos<ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] ''Description of Greece'' 1.36.3</ref> helps identify the larger grave-mound of the Athenian Kerykes with the massive Tomb 9 along the Eridanos River outside the Dipylon Gate.<ref>Ursula Knigge ''The Athenian Kerameikos'' (1991) pp. 94–98.</ref>

By the classical period, the Kerykes, sons of Hermes,  were one of the sacred Eleusinian families of priests that ran the [[Eleusinian Mysteries]]. They popularized the [[cult]] and allowed many more to be initiated into the great secrets of [[Demeter]] and [[Persephone]], including the concoction ''kukeion,'' or ''[[kykeon]]''. Starting about 300 BC, the state took over control of the Mysteries, specifically controlled by two families: the [[Eumolpidae]] and the Kerykes. This led to a vast increase in the number of initiates. The only requirements for membership were a lack of "blood guilt" (meaning having never committed [[murder]]) and not a [[barbarian]] (i.e. Greek and able to speak Greek). Men, women and even [[slavery|slaves]] were allowed to be [[initiation|initiated]].

Kerykes (which means "heralds" in Greek), were also part of the ritual and competitors at the Olympic Games (see [[Herald and Trumpet contest]]).