136 SARAH HITCH exegetai of Eleusinian matters.®* The Eumolpidae had strict control over the performance of exegesis in relation to Eleusis, as attested in Ando- cides’ account of a false exegesis by Callias, who has no right to expound as a member of the Kerukes, another family holding hereditary priest- hoods at Eleusis, but not that of the exegefai. Andocides contrasts the authority of an ancestral religious law, which can only be recited by the Eumolpidae, with the law inscribed on a sfele which can be observed by all: néiav 6 Kaddiag orag Pheyey dn ety vopog adtgiog, el tig (xetmgiay dein dv th Exevowiy, dxgutov dxodaveiv, xai 6 mcenjg xov abrod ‘Inadwixoc #rppijoutto tavta “AO vaiowg, dxoborte 38 Sm Eye Osiny Tiy Geermgiav. évredbey divainmdg Kéqarhos otro} xai Aéyer: b Kadi, adytuy dyBodizuy dveodrare, Todtov pév Enyf| Knowuwy dy, oby Sov oor Enyeiodeu: Ererca dé Fléorynag yidine doayue “Ehevowicp. ‘Again, Callias, standing up, said that under an ancestral law, if someone put a suppliant’s bough in the Eleusinium, the penalty was instant death, as expounded on a former occasion for the Athenians by his own father, Hipponicus, and he had heard that | put the suppliant’s bough there. Then this man Cephalus leapt to his feet and said: “Callias, you are the most impious of all men, first you, a member of the Kerukes, are giving exegesis, although it is not permitted for you to give exegesis. Then you talk of an ‘ancestral law! but you are standing beside a stele which dictates, if someone puts a suppliant’s bough in the Eleusinium, the penalty will be a thousand drachmae”." (On the Mysteries 115-116) Andocides contrasts the exclusive performance context for exegesis with the plainly visible law inscribed on the stele. Writing empowers mul tudes, who would be able to read ritual inscriptions for themselves, and would therefore cnervate the position of religious officials in their com- munities as keepers of sacred knowledge. Andocides also distinguishes the stele from the ancestral customs which dictate religious law, one of numerous references in the orators to the correct performance of rit-