The Sacred Way

The Road from Athens to Eleusis

Every year, initiates would undertake the journey from Athens to Eleusis on the Sacred Way, or the Hieros Hodos, as part of the Eleusinian Mysteries (Keller, 31). Setting out from the Sacred Gate in Athens, initiates traveled about 21 kilometers to reach the shrines at Eleusis (Camp, 129). They passed many sacred sites along the journey, which were often incorporated into the rituals of the Mysteries (Keller, 34). The Mysteries were one of the most important aspects of Attic religion (Wright).

Sites Along the Sacred Way

  • Sacred Gate

    • Initiates left city through this gate (Keller, 34)

  • Kerameikos

    • Initiates passed through this area as they began their procession (Paga, 160-161)

    • Likely didn't pass through demosion sema itself, but the connection to death and the Underworld definitely holds significance (Paga, 161)

  • Shrine of Iakchos

    • Iakchos is a god associated with the Eleusinian Mysteries, said to have accompanied Demeter on her search (Wright)

    • Plutarch references a point in the Mysteries during which "the god Iacchus is conducted from the city to Eleusis" (Plutarch)

    • The statue of Iakchos, which carried a torch, was taken from his shrine to lead the initiates to Eleusis (Wright)

  • River Kephisos

    • Youths would offer a lock of hair (Keller, 34)

    • This was probably a coming of age ceremony (Keller, 34)

    • Could be a raging torrent (Camp, 208)

    • Bridged by Xenokles (Camp, 208)

  • Daphni

    • At temple precinct of Apollo, Demeter, Persephone, and Athena (Keller, 34)

  • Sanctuary of Aphrodite

    • Walled open-air enclosure against low outcrop (Camp, 130)

    • Votive offerings could be made (Keller, 34)

      • Marble doves have been found (Camp, 131)

  • Rheitoi

    • Rivers and lakes at boundary between Athens and Eleusis (Keller, 34)

    • Initiates met by descendants of the first inhabitant there, Krokos (Keller, 34)

    • Descendants tied yellow strands to the right wrists and left ankles of the initiates, signaling a connection to the Mother Goddess (Keller, 34)

    • Bridged for processional route by Demomeles (Camp, 131)

      • Used stones from the old temple at Eleusis (Camp, 130)

      • Wagons could not cross the 5-foot-wide bridge, so only those traveling on foot could cross (Camp, 130)

  • Bridge of Jests

    • Initiates were mocked by masked jesters, who were led by an old woman named Baubo or Iambe (Keller, 34)

    • Baubo/Iambe was an old woman reference in the Homeric Hymn of Demeter who lifted the goddess's spirits when she came to Eleusis in despair (Lopez-Ruiz, 528)

Boundary stone of Sacred Way- "HOROS TES ODO TES ELEUSINADSI" (boundary stone of the road to Eleusis)
Columns of shrine at Daphni in British Museum
4th century BCE marble doves dedicated to Aphrodite

History of the Mysteries and the Sacred Way

  • ca. 1450 BCE- Possible beginning of the Mysteries (Keller, 28)

  • ca. 700-600 BCE- Composition of Homeric Hymn to Demeter (Wright)

  • 480-479 BCE- Telesterion destroyed by the Persians (Wright)

  • 421 BCE- Rheitoi bridged by Demomeles (Camp, 131)

  • 320-319 BCE- Kephisos bridged by Xenokles (Camp, 208)

  • 2nd century BCE- Polemon writes about the sites visited along the procession to Eleusis in a now-lost account (Camp, 284)

  • 2nd century CE- Pausanias writes about sites visited along the procession to Eleusis (Camp, 284)

  • 364 CE- Valentinian publishes a law prohibiting nocturnal rites but is convinced to revoke it by Praetextus so that the Mysteries can continue (Wright)

  • Beginning of the 5th century CE- Theodosius the Great prohibited and virtually extinguished paganism in the Roman Empire (Wright)

  • The Mysteries likely continued in secret, possibly through the dark ages (Wright)

Works Cited

Camp, John M. The Archaeology of Athens. Yale University Press, 2008.

Keller, Mara Lynn. “The Ritual Path of Initiation into the Eleusinian Mysteries.” Rosicrucian Digest, vol. 2, 2009, pp. 28–42.,

www.academia.edu/22963500/Ritual_Path_of_Initiation_into_the_Eleusinian_Mysteries.

Lopez-Ruiz, Carolina. “The Homeric Hymn to Demeter.” Gods, Heroes, and Monsters, 2nd ed., Oxford University Press, 2018, pp. 523–534.

Paga, Jessica. Building Democracy in Late Archaic Athens. Oxford University Press, 2021.

Plutarch, Phocion, trans. Bernadotte Perrin (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1920), Perseus Digital Library. http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text

doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2008.01.0057%3Achapter%3D28%3Asection%3D1 (accessed April 25, 2021)

Wright, Dudley. The Eleusinian Mysteries and Rites. The Theosophical Publishing House, 2011.

Images Cited

Rape of Proserpina- Alvesgaspar - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=43569142

Daphni Columns- britishmuseum.org/collection/image/1613040799

Map of Sacred Way- Davide Mauro - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=68644919

Return of Persephone- Frederic Leighton, 1st Baron Leighton - cgfa.sunsite.dkThe Bridgeman Art Library, Object 100045, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=770280

Votive Doves- Giovanni Dall'Orto. - Own work, Attribution, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=29341739

Boundary Stone of Sacred Way- Marsyas - Self-published work by Marsyas, CC BY-SA 2.5, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=482221

Ninnion Tablet- Marsyas assumed (based on copyright claims). - No machine-readable source provided. Own work assumed (based on copyright claims)., CC BY 2.5, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=468881