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Eleusis 173 pictures 7 minutes HQ video Eleusis lies close to Athens, facing the island of Salamina (Salamis). At the foot of the Acropolis of the ancient city stand the remains of one of the most important sanctuaries of the ancient world, dedicated to Demeter and Kore-Persephones. The sanctuary also included a large cult room known as the Telesterion, where the famous Eleusinian Mysteries were celebrated. The ruins visible today are the remains of an impressive series of monumental building projects from the 6th century B.C. to Roman times. Entrance Square The entrance to the site lies at the spot where the ancient Sacred Way meets the partially porticoed square. The porticoes and two triumphal arches in honor of the Goddesses Demeter and Kore and of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius were built in Roman times. Temple of Artemis Propylaia In the middle of the court stands the crepidoma of the temple, which was tetrastyle amphiprostyle Doric and built of pentelic marble, with a timber roof and terracotta tiles. The columns were monolithic. Its construction dates to the reign of Marcus Aurelius. Greater Propylaia The remains of the Greater Propylaia are preserved in approximately the middle of the south side of the court, facing Athens. They formed the main entrance to the sanctuary in the Roman period and were probably built on the site of the older Cimonian Pylon. The Propylaia, a close copy of the central section of the Propylaia of the Acropolis of Athens, consisted of two porches, an exterior one on the north and an interior one on the south, each with a facade of Doric columns. At the time of the invasions by the Goths and Herulians (267 A.D.) the facade of the Propylaia was closed by a strong wall to guard the Sanctuary, and only one door on the east side gave entry to it. Telesterion The remains visible today date to the reconstruction undertaken in the second half of the 2^nd century A.D. This is the most sacred and important edifice in the Sanctuary. Tradition has it that the first Telesterion was built in the Mycenean period as a home for Demeter. Later it became the hall in which events connected with the lives of Demeter and Kore were reenacted and the faithful were initiated into the Mysteries. The crowd of initiates sat along the steps in a solemn atmosphere rendered even more ominous by the shadows of the dense stone forest of the colonnade that, with heavy timber trusses, supported the roof. Lesser Propylaia The Lesser Propylaia were the entrance to the main part of the sanctuary. They were built over the north Pylon of Pisistratus from Pentelic marble and dedicated, according to the Latin inscription on the architrave, to Demeter by Appius Claudius Pulcher, the consul in 54 A.D. In front of it, on the north, was a paved court, reached by two steps. Plutoneion in the middle of the precinct court are the foundations of a small building in antis that has been identified as the temple of Pluto. In the 4^th century this temple replaced an older one of the time of Pisistratus that was on the same spot. Here the faithful may have watched the reenactment of the annual return of Kore to Eleusis. Roman Walls Exedra South of the Plutoneion, cut into the side of the rock, an exedra is preserved that was approached from the Processional Way by a flight of steps that was also cut into the rock. Perhaps from this exedra the faithful watched some sacred rite being performed nearby. The Road to the Acropolis Pisistratan Wall The Pisistratan Wall consists of three parts: the foundation, a low structure built of large flat unworked stones, the base, of polygonal masonary in blue-grey Eleusinian stone, and the upper part built with unbaked clay bricks. Back to Greece Index