May 10: Laura and Jackie Reporting

Date: Tuesday May 10, 2005
Partners for the day: Laura (text) Jackie (images)
Site(s): Eleusis
Museum(s): Eleusis Archaeological Museum
Principal Buildings/Monuments: Greater Propylaea, Lesser Propylaea, Telesterion, Sacred House, “Plutonion”
Time Spent on Each Site: from ca. 12:30 PM to ca. 3:00 PM [ __2.5__ hours]
Weather:Hot and sunny, with a few wispy clouds

At the refreshingly early hour of 5:45 AM, this band of travelers was heading by taxi to the Samos Airport. While our flight to Athens was a mere forty minutes, we had beautiful views of the sea and mountains. We landed in Athens around 8:15 AM, and were all happy to check back into our beloved Pan Hotel. We had a short break to grab food and drop off some laundry before we all met up to head to Eleusis. Located 15 km outside of Athens, Eleusis was a sanctuary of Demeter and Kore and the site of the famous Eleusinian Mysteries, a cult festival whose secrets are still unknown. At Eleusis, we walked around the site, examining the two propylaea, or gateways; the Mirthless Stone where Demeter was said to have sat; and the enormous Telesterion, a temple of Demeter. After our tour, we visited the site’s museum, the home to various artifacts from the site including mostly statuary and ceramics. The highlight of the museum was easily the huge 7th century amphora that depicts Odysseus blinding the Cyclops Polyphemos, and Perseus fighting the gorgons. We then examined the site’s fortification walls that span many centuries before heading back to Athens around 3:00 PM.

The history of Eleusis is much easier to understand after seeing both its geographic location in Greece and the layout of the site itself. Eleusis is located right on the water and consequently, the sea played a large role in its history. The dark limestone bedrock known as Eleusinian limestone was a favorite import to other areas of the Mediterranean, thanks not only to the high quality of the stone, but to the site’s location on the sea. Stone was far easier and cheaper to transport over water than land. Even the Acropolis made use of this stone, with Eleusinian limestone used for color accents in the Propylaia and for the background of the Erectheion frieze. And until around 600 BC, the sanctuary at Eleusis was oriented towards the sea, with the main gateway opening towards the water. Standing on a terrace at Eleusis with a commanding view of the sea and overlooking an exposed patch of limestone bedrock, it was much easier to see how the geographic location of the area and the natural resources in that area shaped the history of the site.

But while the sea was very important to Eleusis, more important was its location in relation to Athens. As we saw on our bus ride to Eleusis, the site is a mere 15 km to the northwest of Athens and, being able to cut between two hills and then follow the coast, the land is mostly flat. In other words, getting between Eleusis and Athens could not have been very difficult (though we did have a little trouble finding the bus at first!) Consequently, very early on, Eleusis was tied to Athens; at the end of the 7th century, Solon made Eleusis part of the Athenian state. In the 6th century, the layout of the sanctuary of Demeter was changed to reflect this. While he was sprucing up the sanctuary, the Athenian tyrant Peisistratos replaced the gateway that had opened onto the sea with a gateway that opened directly onto the road to Athens, emphasizing the connection between the two cities. Interestingly, the architecture of some of Eleusis’ buildings also reflects this connection. The Greater Propylaea, built either by Marcus Aurelius or his predecessor, is a very close copy of the Propylaia on the Acropolis in Athens. Additionally, two triumphal arches were set up in the court in front of the Greater Propylaea, notable because the arches were copies of Hadrian’s Arch set up in Athens. Eleusis’ proximity to Athens not only affected its political history, but also influenced the look of the site and the architecture of its buildings. The orientation of the site would not have been reversed, nor would famous Athenian structures have been copied had not Eleusis been so close to Athens.

Having driven the road from Athens to Eleusis, a road that mirrors the ancient Sacred Way between the two, another aspect of Eleusis can be appreciated. Part of the nine-day festival of the Eleusinian Mysteries was a procession of thousands on the fifth day from the southeast corner of the Agora, through the gateways of Athens and the Kerameikos, down the Sacred Way, and into the Sanctuary of Demeter. We’ve now been to the Agora, the Kerameikos, and the Sanctuary of Demeter, and we’ve driven by the Sacred Way. While it only took us forty minutes to travel between the two cities, it would have taken the ancient Greeks a full day to walk that distance. Having now seen all these principal sites of the route, we can better appreciate and understand the size, importance, and scale of the Procession. And only by seeing Eleusis can its powerful connection to Athens be fully understood.