Eleusis 1

vol. V p.2336-2338

1) Eleusis (Ἐλευσίς)

The most famous place of this name was in Attika, and, because of its mysteries, it had been a place of pilgrimage for almost a millennium. A description of the mysteries-site uncovered by D. Philios, as well as a description of the telesterion which developed into a large room of worship from small beginnings, are connected and given in the article mysteria; that article is also where a history of the city Eleusis belongs, since it only owes its importance to the mysteries. <40> Here, we will begin with a few notes about the location of Eleusis.

The place Eleusis, today Elevsina or Levsina, which is named the same as the sordid Albanian village near the ruins and the relevant station on the railway between Athens and Corinth, lies in the bay of Eleusis, opposite the northern part of the island of Salamis. The plain of Eleusis named after it, the eastern part of which was called Θριάσιον πεδίον, <50> was separated from the plain of Athens by the barren mountain range, often called Aigaleos, which the pass of Dafni, through which the ἱερὰ ὁδός lead to Athens, split into two equal halves (see Milchhöfer vol. I p. 948 [corrected from p. 947]). The impression which a traveller gets when they descend over the heights surrounding Athens down to the plain of Eleusis, and “the blue sea lies at our feet like a mountain lake”, have been described by nobody better than E. Curtius in his speech about Athens and Eleusis (22nd March 1884. Altertum und Gegenwart III¹ 90ff.). <60> About the holy street leading from Athens to Eleusis, cf. F. Lenormant La voie sacrée Eleusinienne, I. Paris 1864. D. Philios Ἐφημ. ἀρχ. 1904, 61ff. and the article Ἱερὰ ὁδός.

According to Paus. I 38, 4, the heroon of Hippothoon could be found shortly before the street crossed the Eleusinian Kephisos (cf. Milchhöfer Text zu den Karten von Attika zu Heft VII und VIII 1895, 21. 24), <page break 2336/2337> as well as the heroon of Zarex, a singer of Apollo and the father of Anios, the locations of which heroa can’t be determined with certainty today. About the funerary monuments found here, cf. Milchhöfer Athen. Mitt. XII (1887) 325 nr. 463ff. The path to Eleusis was very marshy in this part which went along the sea, both because of the many floods as well as because of the lagoons called the Ῥειτοί (see there). <10> This part of the ἱερὰ ὁδός seems to have been first sorted out in Hadrian’s time (Euseb. Chron. II 285 γεφυρώσας Ἐλευσῖνα κατακλυσθεῖσαν ὑπὸ Κηφισοῦ ποταμοῦ; Milchhöfer Text p. 24). However, even in the 5th century, the eastern lagoon of the Ῥειτοί was fitted out with a bridge intended for the processions (cf. the decree published by D. Philios, Athen. Mitt. XIX 1894, 163 Taf. VII Z. 5ff. τὸν Ῥειτὸν τὸν παρὰ τοῦ [ἄ]στεως γεφυρῶσαι λίθοις χρωμένους Ἐλευσινόθεν τῶν καθῃρημένων ἐκ τοῦ νεὼ τοῦ ἀρχαίου, οὓς ἔλιπον εἰς τὸ τεῖχος ἀναλίσκοντες, ὡς ἄν τὰ ἱερὰ φέρωσιν αἱ ἱέρειαι ἀσφαλέστατα). <20> Stone bridges over Kephisos built by Xenokles, son of Xeinis from the Demos Sphettos, D. Philios Ἐφημ. ἀρχ. 1892, 101ff. = IG II 5 p. 143 nr. 574 e (Psephisma from the year 321/20 or 218/17 BCE); F. Hiller von Gaetringen Herm. XXVIII 1893, 469f. cf. 471, 2. <30>

The place Eleusis lay close to the sea at ‘a rocky outcrop which, though it was narrow at around 1 ½ km long, it was isolated all around, and was more than 50 m in hight (at the ends: west 57 m, east 63 m)’ (Milchhöfer 25). It was split into the lower-city lying on its east foot, and the acropolis, the foot of which the temenos of Demeter stretched out to (cf. Hom. Hymn. Dem. v. 270ff. Büch. ὑπαὶ πόλιν αἰπύ τε τεῖχος Καλλιχόρου καθύπερθεν ἐπὶ προύχοντι κολωνῷ). Ruins of the lower-city definitely cannot be traced today. <40> It was probably surrounded by two connecting walls going from the acropolis to the sea, as Milchhöfer and others have also concluded from Xen. hell. II 4, 8. According to Paus. I 38, 6, there was a temple of Triptolemos in the lower-city, which people have previously looked for at the Chapel of Holy Zacharias, because in 1859 the famous relief with the extract of Triptolemos was found there (Kabbadias Γλυπτὰ τοῦ Ἐθνικοῦ Μουσείου p. 119 nr. 126), <50> until D. Philios demonstrated the baselessness of this hypothesis (cf. Philios Eleusis, ses mystères, ses ruines et son musée, Athen 1896, 16f.). The Chapel of Zacharias is, instead, the remains of a large Byzantine church which was built over the remains of a Roman house. Before people would enter the σηκός of Demeter, according to Paus. loc. cit. they would be able to see a temple dedicated to Artemis Propylaia and Poseidon Πατήρ, <60> the ruins of which are now about thirty steps from where the great propylaeae are today, and are described as temple d’Artemis on the plans attached to Philios’ small book. Nothing about the location of the temple can be concluded from Pausanias’ words. Only the name of Artemis suggests that the temple was actually near the entrance to the σηκός. The fact that this temple was dedicated to Artemis and her father Poseidon, <page break 2337/2338> meaning that we should assume there was only one temple, and not two, was correctly noted by O. Rubensohn Die Mysterienheiligtümer in Eleusis und Samothrake 1892, 34. 211 according to C. Bursian’s presentation (cf. Blümner-Hitzig Paus. I p. 356f.). About the small and large propylaeae, as well as the whole holy area of Eleusis, see above. Philios made a very important discovery at the end of his excavations of Temenos by finding the famous Kallichoros-well, <10> which was very close to the large propylaea and is represented on Philios’ plan with the letter A; on this, cf. Philios loc. cit. p. 28. 57 and the article Καλλιχόρου φρέαρ. To the right and to the left of the great propylaea, the ruins of two triumphal arches in Corinthian style have been uncovered, which, according to the inscription, were dedicated to both the great goddesses by the emperor Hadrian. <20> On the left triumphal arch, the remains of a house from Roman times have been found, and alongside it a bathing complex has very likely also been found (Philios Plan D). For all details, you should refer to Philios Berichte in den Πρακτικά. The location for the theatre attested at Eleusis (cf. Rubensohn loc. cit. 121f.), despite many investigations, is still yet to be able to be determined with certainty. <30>

The acropolis, which is famous from its occupation by the thirty tyrants (Ed. Meyer Geschichte des Altertums V 36ff.), bears today as a landmark of Eleusis, bears the Chapel of Holy Nikolaos in the east which can be seen from a long way away, and in the west it bears a Franconian tower, in which many ancient artifacts are buried. Between these two points, the land sinks in. From there, to descend to the sea you would pass by an ancient cave, which served as a tomb (Lolling in Bädeker’s Griechenland³ 1893, 121). The walls surrounding the acropolis, which are still partially around today, <40> are represented on Winterperg’s Plan Karten von Attika Bl. XXVI. The remains of an ancient pier are also marked there. There was an artificial harbour there made up of two solid crescent-shaped piers, since the natural open bay wasn’t suitable for a harbour (Michhöfer Text S. 25. Lolling loc. cit.).

[Kern.]

This article is referenced by: Ap. Claudius Pulcher (297), Dionysos (1-2), Hiera Hodos, Iakchos