ELEUSIS
Attica, Greece.
A small hilly site
about 22 km to the W of Athens, lying at the head of
the Thriasian plain and on the coast of a lake-like sea
bordered by Salamis. Because of its location, it has been
inhabited from the Early Bronze Age to the present. Its
periods of fame were due to the secret cult of Demeter,
known as the Eleusinian Mysteries, celebrated once a
year. The cult, introduced during the Mycenaean Age,
became Panhellenic in the 6th c. B.C. and acquired universal status in Roman Imperial times. In the Classical
period the township was identified with the Sanctuary of
the Goddess. It was devastated first by the army of Xerxes
in 480-479 B.C., then by the Kostovoks in 170 B.C., and
finally by the hordes of Alaric in A.D. 395. The first two
destructions were followed by rebuilding; the site never
recovered from the last destruction and by the end of the
5th c. it was completely ruined by the Christians.
Excavations, continuous since 1882, have revealed the
ruins of the famous Sanctuary of Demeter. For privacy
its area was surrounded by fortifications in successive
eras, in Geometric and archaic times, in the days of Peisistratos, Kimon, and Perikles, and in 380-370 B.C. Surviving in good length, they prove that an ever increasing
popularity of the cult was followed by enlargements of
the sanctuary area.
At its N edge is the outer court, 65 x 40 m, paved in
Roman times. Along the E side of the court we find the
remains of a fountain-house, 11.30 m in length, dating
from the Roman period. At its two corners, the SE and
the SW, triumphal arches identical to that of Hadrian
in Athens were erected after A.D. 129. The SW arch,
now being restored, is better preserved. Above its single
archway we read the inscription, “All the Greeks to
the Goddesses and the Emperor.” That arch opened to
a road running along the peribolos wall of Kimon,
strengthened in Roman times. On its N side survive remnants of buildings in which the initiates once could find
temporary accommodations.
On the paved court stands the high podium, made of
Roman concrete, of the Temple of Artemis of the
Portals and Father Poseidon. Built of Pentelic marble
before the reign of Marcus Aurelius, it had a front and
rear portico with Doric columns. Beyond its NE corner
is a well-preserved, unique ground altar of baked brick
set in a rectangular court, dating from Roman times. To
the S and E the outer court was blocked by the Greater
Propylaia and by a fortification wall of Peisistratean
times, which was continued to the SE to enclose the
township of Eleusis.
The Greater Propylaia face NE, toward Athens, and
form the main entranceway to the sanctuary. They stand
on a stepped platform rising 1.70 m above the floor of
the court. Of Pentelic marble, they are an exact duplicate of the central section of the Periklean Propylaia
of the Acropolis, with an inner and an outer portico
fronted by Doric columns. The outer portico, 15.24 m
in depth, uses six Ionic columns in two rows in its depth.
The inner portico, facing the sanctuary, is only 7.36 m in
depth. The cross-wall between the porticos was pierced
by five doorways. The floor has survived, as have fragments of the entablature, and even some blocks of its
pediment decorated with a bust of its builder, Marcus
Aurelius, in a shield. The lowermost step on the E side
was interrupted to allow access to one of the sacred landmarks of Eleusis, a well rebuilt by Peisistratos and since
then known as the “Kallichoron.”
To the S of the Greater stand the Lesser Propylaia.
They were built of Pentelic marble after 50 B.C. by
the nephews of Appius Claudius Pulcher in fulfillment of
his vows over the Peisistratean Gate, the N Pylon, whose
flanking tower can be seen under its platform of Roman
concrete. At the depth of a forecourt (9.80 x 10.35 m)
paved with large slabs, is the doorway, 2.95 m wide. It
was sheltered by a prothyron on the outside and a vestibule on the inside. The prothyron, 4.40 m in depth, has
two Corinthian columns whose bases and elaborate capitals with winged animals among the corner tendrils have
survived. The entablature has an Ionic architrave, on
which is cut the Latin dedicatory inscription, and a frieze
of triglyphs and metopes embellished with cists, bukrania,
and stylized double poppies. The inner vestibule, facing
the sanctuary, was fronted by two Caryatids set on high
podia. One of these is in the local museum, the other
in the Fitzwilliam.
To the SW of the Lesser Propylaia, separated by a
wall built by Valerian, are foundations of structures
which served the functionaries of the sanctuary.
From the Lesser Propylaia begins the ascending Sacred
Way, paved in Roman times, which terminated to the S
at the Temple of Demeter known as the Telesterion,
since in it was completed the Telete, the initiation service.
Immediately to the right of the Sacred Way is a cave
within which survive the foundations of a 4th c. B.C.
temple (2.98 x 3.77 m) dedicated to Pluto. Built of poros
stone in the form of a templum in antis, it stands in a
triangular court retained by a wall of poros stone. Adjacent to the cave on the S is a stepped platform cut out
of the rock, 10.50 x 6.25 m, which perhaps served as a
stand from which the initiates followed an act of the
sacred pageant, for somewhere in front of it was the
Mirthless Stone, another sacred landmark. Above its S
side stood a small treasury, some 6 x 2.90 m, by the side
of which, still to be seen, is a boulder used as a donation box for small gifts.
Next to the platform on the S is a deep cutting in the
rock in which can be seen the foundations of a building,
14.10 x 11.20 m, whose front was built over an artificially constructed terrace. It was in the form of a templum in antis with a wide stairway in its front elevation.
The building was at first identified as the pre-Persian
Temple of Demeter, but it is proved to have been constructed in Roman times and perhaps was dedicated to
Sabina, the New Demeter. Between this temple and the
Telesterion exists a narrow stairway cut in the rock,
an ascent to another Roman temple built on the hill.
No building was constructed along the E, or left-hand
side of the Sacred Way. Beyond its edge and limited by
the Kimonian wall can be seen remains of the Peisistratean peribolos composed of a stone sole surmounted by
a mudbrick wall, as well as foundations of a variety of
buildings. Most important of these is a triangular structure of Periklean times with three rows of square pillars: the famous Siroi, or magazines, where the tithes
to the goddess were stored. Again on the left-hand side,
as we approach the Telesterion, we can see the retaining
walls built in the Geometric, archaic, and Periklean periods and in the 4th c. B.C. to support the terrace on
which were constructed the successive Telesteria of
Demeter.
On that terrace, above the Mycenaean remains, a fragment of an apsidal wall, built ca. 750 B.C., seems to belong to the earliest Telesterion of the historic period.
To that temple and terrace access was obtained through
a stairway on the S side near which remains of sacrificial
pyres attest to the sacred character of the terrace and
its building. Mound 600 B.C. a larger Telesterion, known
as the Solonian, was built over the same area of the
slope, but on an enlarged terrace. Its SW corner survives, proving that at least the lower part of the temple
was built of bluish-gray Eleusinian stone in the Lesbian
polygonal style. The temple had an oblong plan, 24 x
14 m, with a double sloping roof ending in triangular
pediments. In front of it spread a triangular court where
the altars of the goddesses stood. Below the terrace to
the NE a stepped platform faces a lower court bordered
by an altar and a well. In the archaic period it served
the initiates to follow the sacred dances held in front of
the well in honor of the goddess.
In the days of Peisistratos and his sons, 550-510 B.C.,
the Solonian Telesterion was replaced by a larger one,
built of well-cut poros stone over the same area of the
slope. Its foundations of hard limestone were lowered to
rock level. The temple possesses an almost square naos
or cella, 25.30 x 27.10 m, fronted on the E side by a
prostoon with perhaps 10 Doric columns in its facade.
The roof of the naos was supported by 22 Ionic columns.
In the SW section of the naos was the anaktoron, a
separate shrine, where the hiera were kept. On three
lengths of its walls, interrupted only by the shrine, rose
tiers of nine steps from which the initiates could follow
the rites. Three doors opened from the naos to the prostoon. The entablature was of poros stone, but its raking
cornice and the simas, with ornamental rams' heads at
the corners, were of Parian marble.
The Peisistratean Telesterion was devastated by the
Persians in 480-479 B.C. Using its foundations, Kimon
began the building of a new Telesterion whose scanty
remains prove that it was never completed. Literary
(Vitruvius, Strabo, Plutarch) and epigraphical evidence
indicates that two different buildings were attempted in
the Periklean Age. One was designed by Iktinos and its
construction was begun but soon abandoned. The few
surviving remains, especially foundations of columns, indicate that it was composed of an almost square naos
whose roof, supported by 20 columns, had an opaion or
lantern in the center. Its W side was cut deeply into the
rock of the hillside. The second building was designed
and executed by Koroibos, Metagenes, and Xenokles. It
was burned in 170 B.C. and was rebuilt by Marcus Aurelius. The only change made in the original plan was
to increase the length of the naos by 2.15 m. What we
can see today belongs to the rebuilt temple.
The Telesterion designed by Koroibos was composed of
a square naos, ca. 51 m in length (increased to ca. 53 m
in Roman times) and ca. 51 m in width. A good part of
its W section was cut out of the living rock. The roof
was supported by 42 columns arranged in seven rows of
6 columns in each row. The floor columns supported a
second tier of lighter columns and in the middle of the
roof there was an opaion. Under the opaion in the naos
was the anaktoron, scanty traces of which have been recently recognized; at its NE comer stood a niche containing the throne of the Hierophant. Tiers of eight steps
for the initiates were arranged along the walls on all four
sides of the naos, interrupted by two doorways on each
of three sides, the N, E, and S. In the 4th c. B.C. a portico was built in front of its E side, known as the Philonian
Stoa from the name of its architect. Today we have the
foundations of the stoa, the stereobate or its floor, some
drums of its columns, and parts of its superstructure, all
built of Pentelic marble, while the foundations were of
poros stone. The stoa measures 54.50 x 11.35 m. The
exterior aspect of the naos with its unbroken wall of
gray-blue stone unrelieved by columns, solemn and austere, must have been awe-inspiring, well suited to its mystic function.
Behind the Telesterion, some 7.35 m above its floor,
a terrace, 11.45 m in width, is cut in the rock. This terrace, as well as the narrow stairway to the N and the
broad stepped platform cut in the rock to the S, are of
Roman date. The terrace led to a stepped approach of
a Roman temple built on the NE extremity of the hill.
The temple had a cella, 18 x 12 m, roofed by a vault
and a portico, ca. 4.5 m in depth, with four columns in
antis. Perhaps it was dedicated to Faustina the elder,
who also had the title of New Demeter. The terrace and
the temple extended to the wall—known as the diateichisma, few remains of which survive—that separated the
sanctuary area from the summit of the hill.
The broad stepped platform to the S of the Telesterion
faced the S court, where perhaps the rites of the balletys,
the pelting with stones, was performed and was witnessed
by people standing on the platform. The S court to the
E is bound by fortification walls built by Perikles and
extended in 370-360 B.C. to the SE and S. The 4th c.
wall, averaging 2.55 m in thickness, is the best-known
example of Greek fortification walls. Along its inner
side was built a long structure divided by cross-walls
into six compartments. Its use is problematical; perhaps
it served important members of the personnel, or was
used for storing the tithes. Along the S section of the
4th c. B.C. wall, where we find the well-preserved Gate
to the Sea, exist the foundations of a 3d c. building identified as the bouleuterion, where the City Council, and occasionally the 500 of Athens, met. Farther W from the Gate to the Sea scanty remnants of a long stoa survive,
dating perhaps from the 4th century B.C.
The sanctuary area, cleared to the rock, has yielded
remains that enable us to piece together the history and
the architectural activity of the site. Of the village itself
very little survives. Most important are the remains of
the Peisistratean fortification wall that surrounded the
N section of the village with its gate toward Athens, the
Asty Gate. On the S slope of the hill a well-known
relic in the form of a vaulted round chamber with a
passage attached to its E side, was taken to be a tholos
tomb of Mycenaean times. It has been proved to be a
cistern of the 4th c. B.C. belonging to the village.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
“Eleusinische Beitraege,”
AthMitt 24
(1899); P. Foucart,
Les Mysteères d'Éleusis (1914); F.
Noack, Eleusis,
die baugeschichtliche Entwicklung des
Heiligtumes (1927); K. Kourouniotes & J. N. Travlos,
Τελεστήριον καὶ ναὸς τῆς Δήμητρος,
Deltion 15 (1933-1935);
K. Kourouniotes,
Ὁδηγὸς τῶν ἀνασκαφῶν καὶ τοῦ Μουσείου*
(1934); “Das eleusinische Heiligtum von den Anfaengen
bis zu vorperikleischen Zeit,”
ArchRW 32 (1935); K.
Kourouniotes & J. N. Travlos,
Συμβολὴ εῖς τὴν οἰκοδομικὴν ἱστοπίαν τοῦ Ἐλευσιν ιακοῦ Τελεστηρίου,
Deltion 16 (1935);
K. Kourouniotes,
Eleusiniaka I (1937); G. E. Mylonas,
The Hymn to Demeter and Her Sanctuary at Eleusis
(1942); J. N. Travlos, “The Topography of Eleusis,”
Hesperia 18 (1949);
Τό ἀνάκτορον τῆς Ἐλευσῖνος,
Ephemeris (1951); G. E. Mylonas,
Ἑλευσὶς καὶ Διόνυσος,
Ephemeris (1960);
Eleusis and the Eleusinian Mysteries
(1961);
Τὸ δυτικὸν νεκροταφεῖον τῆς Ἐλευσῖνος (1975).
G. E. MYLONAS
