the stupendous
caverns artificially excavated out of the solid rock, which were
appropriated to the initiations in the ancient Indian Mysteries.

ELEUSINIAN MYSTERIES. Of all the Mysteries of the ancients these were the
most popular. They were celebrated at the village of Eleusis, near Athens,
and were dedicated to Demeter. In them the loss and the restoration of
Persephone were scenically represented, and the doctrines of the unity of
God and the immortality of the soul were taught. See _Demeter_.

ENTERED APPRENTICE. The first degree of Ancient Craft Masonry, analogous
to the aspirant in the Lesser Mysteries.

It is viewed as a symbol of childhood, and is considered as a preparation
and purification for something higher.

EPOPT. (From the Greek [Greek: e)po/Ptes], _an eye witness_.) One who,
having been initiated in the Greater Mysteries of paganism, has seen the
aporrheta.

ERA OF MASONRY. The legendary statement that the origin of Masonry is
coeval with the beginning of the world, is only a philosophical myth to
indicate the eternal nature of its principles.

ERICA. The tree heath; a sacred plant among the Egyptians, and used in the
Osirian Mysteries as the symbol of immortality, and the analogue of the
masonic acacia.

ESSENES. A society or sect of the Jews, who combined labor with religious
exercises, whose organization partook of a secret character, and who have
been claimed to be the descendants of the builders of the temple of
Solomon.

EUCLID. The masonic legend which refers to Euclid is altogether
historically untrue. It is really a philosophical myth intended to convey
a masonic truth.

EURESIS. (From the Greek [Greek: ey)/resis], _a discovery_.) That part of
the initiation in the ancient Mysteries which represented the finding of
the body of the god or hero whose death was the subject of the initiation.

The euresis has been adopted in Freemasonry, and forms an essential part
of the ritual of the third degree.

EVERGREEN. A symbol of the immortality of the soul.

Planted by the Hebrews and other ancient peoples at the heads of graves.

For this purpose the Hebrews preferred the acacia, because its wood was
incorruptible, and because, as the material of the ark, it was already
considered as a sacred plant.

EYE, ALL-SEEING. A symbol of the omniscient and watchful providence of
God. It is a very ancient symbol, and is supposed by some to be a relic of
the primitive sun-worship. Volney says (