Hierophant , (Gr. from sacred, and to make known), the presiding priest in the Eleusinian mysteries, who conducted the ceremonies of initiation. He could be chosen only from the family of the Eumolpidae, whose ancestor Eumolpus was regarded as the founder of the mysteries. His body must be without defect, his voice sweet and sonorous, and his life without reproach. If he married, he thereby renounced the sacred office. A diadem adorned Lis brow, his hair hung down over his shoulders, and in the mysteries he represented the creator of the world with mystical symbols. He preserved and transmitted the secret and unwritten knowledge which was the object of the institution. In the last ages of paganism the hierophants seem to have become thaumaturgi and magicians.