Destinations: The Gateway to Hell
Eleusis, Greece was the site of the infamous Eleusinian Mysteries
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In Greek myth when the lovely maiden Persephone is abducted by Pluto, god of the underworld, her mother, the harvest goddess Demeter, punishes the earth with drought and famine. Not until Persephone is permitted to return from Hades—though for only part of the year—does Demeter relent and make the earth fertile again. Hence, winter and spring.
Searching for Persephone, Demeter wanders throughout Greece, eventually arriving at Eleusis, a modest hilltop village overlooking the Saronic Gulf. Here, she stops beside a well, to mourn for her lost child. When the local ruler, Celeus, takes pity on the goddess and offers her his hospitality, she reveals her divine nature and persuades him to build her a temple nearby.
According to tradition, the first temple to Demeter at Eleusis was the one built by the mythical Celeus. This is where the Eleusinian mysteries were first practiced—probably in celebration of the renewal of the seasons.
The cult rituals, dedicated to Demeter, were so shrouded in secrecy that even after thousands of years we do not know exactly what they entailed. Held twice a year, in March and September, they always began with nine days of public processions and celebrations (staged along the 14-mile Sacred Way that led from Eleusis to Athens); but the most important rituals took place behind the walls of Demeter’s sanctuary in Eleusis. Some historians have speculated that the secret rites were a symbolic reenactment of Persephone’s journey to the underworld and that the sanctuary contained sacred objects associated with Demeter. But since everyone initiated into the Eleusinian cult was sworn to silence, there are no eyewitness accounts to confirm these theories.
Although archaeologists have found evidence of a settlement from the early second millennium B.C. on 063the site, it is likely that the first temple was built in the Mycenean period around 1350 B.C. The foundations of a small Mycenean temple, called Megaron B, have been tentatively identified as the remains of the earliest sanctuary of the earth goddess. This modest structure was eventually incorporated into a series of much more elaborate temples built by the Athenians and Romans.
Originally a local cult, the semiannual celebration of Demeter became panhellenic sometime in the mid-eighth century B.C. In the sixth century B.C., the Athenian ruler Solon officially established the Eleusinian Mysteries as one of Athens’s sacred festivals. To shield the secret rites from prying eyes, he constructed the first walled precinct around Demeter’s sanctuary. Subsequent Athenian rulers, including Pisistratus (600–527 B.C.) and Pericles (495–429 B.C.), enlarged the sacred complex.
In the second century A.D., three successive Roman emperors, Hadrian (117–138 A.D.), Antoninus Pius (138–161 A.D.), and Marcus Aurelius (161–180 A.D.), made the final expansions of the sanctuary, adding the Lesser Propylaea and Greater Propylaea (“propylaea” means gateway) and a pair of triumphal arches.
The religious community at Eleusis continued to flourish until 379 A.D., when the Roman emperor Theodosius I (379–395 A.D.), a recent convert to Christianity, forbade the practice of Eleusinian Mysteries and shut the sanctuary down. A mere 16 years later, much of the complex was destroyed by Alaric’s invading Visigoths. But Demeter’s sanctuary at Eleusis had flourished for over 1,700 years.
Visitors to Eleusis start their tour of the ruins in the sanctuary’s marble-paved courtyard, laid out during the Roman period. A pair of triumphal arches stood at the eastern and western ends of this plaza. The arch to the east, whose pediment now rests on the ground, is a copy of Hadrian’s Arch beside the Temple of Zeus in Athens. In the middle of the courtyard are the foundations of a temple dedicated to Artemis and Poseidon.
The Kallichoron Well, where Demeter is said to have paused while searching for Persephone, sits beside the steps leading to the Greater Propylaea. During Roman times, the Greater Propylaea, modeled on the famous Propylaea at the Acropolis, served as the main entrance to the sanctuary.
Just past the sanctuary’s gateways, lie the crumbling remains of a temple to Pluto. Its ancient foundation stands guard over two gaping black caverns in a nearby cliff face. According to tradition, one of these caves is the gateway to Hell—the portal through which Persephone made her annual pilgrimages to and from the underworld. On a recent visit to Eleusis, I stood poised between the two entrances, unable to decide which one looked more sinister. Finally, I was forced to consult one of the site’s caretakers. “Take your pick,” he jokingly advised me. “Personally I think they’re his and her entrances.”
Near the center of the sanctuary, at the terminus of the Sacred Way, visitors will find the impressive remains of Demeter’s main temple, the Telesterion. A sprawling jumble of ruins, the temple features architecture from four distinct building phases from 600 B.C. to 400 B.C., but its central structure, or anaktoron, remains largely unaltered. Built on the same site as the ancient village’s original Mycenean temple, this large rectangular shrine is believed to be where the sacred objects associated with Demeter were stored.
The western side of the Telesterion is still lined with rough-hewn tiers of stone seats, where the temple’s initiates—perhaps as many as 3,000—once sat to watch the mysteries. Throughout the grounds of the sanctuary, and just outside its extensive system of walls, lie the crumbling ruins of other temples, priest’s quarters, baths and housing for ancient visitors. In its heyday, Eleusis must have been a beehive of activity; but today only occasional visitors pick their way among the grassy ruins.
In Greek myth when the lovely maiden Persephone is abducted by Pluto, god of the underworld, her mother, the harvest goddess Demeter, punishes the earth with drought and famine. Not until Persephone is permitted to return from Hades—though for only part of the year—does Demeter relent and make the earth fertile again. Hence, winter and spring. Searching for Persephone, Demeter wanders throughout Greece, eventually arriving at Eleusis, a modest hilltop village overlooking the Saronic Gulf. Here, she stops beside a well, to mourn for her lost child. When the local ruler, Celeus, takes pity on the goddess and offers […]
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