Key

A symbol of universal importance, the emblem of silence among the ancient nations. Represented on the threshold of the Adytum, a key had a double meaning: it reminded the candidates of the obligations of silence, and promised the unlocking of many a hitherto impenetrable my.stery to the profane. In the "CEdipus Coloneus" of Sophocles, the chorus speaks of "the golden key which had come upon the tongue of the mini.stering Hierophant in the mysteries of Eleusis", (1051). "The priestess of Ceres, according to Callimachns. bore a key as her ensign of office, and tlie key was, in the ^Mysteries of Isis. symbolical of the opening or disclosing of the heart and con.seience before the fortytwo assessors of the dead" {R. M. Cyclopaedia) .