When you enter the archaeological site you first encounter the Roman entrance, the Greater Propylaea (pictured above), and then see the original Propylaea, known as the Lesser Propylaea. Greater Propylaea and the Lesser Propylaea The pilgrimage symbolized the journey of Demeter and Persephone.īut the Sacred Way was more than just a road to travel to receive the Mysteriesof Demeter, it is also a symbol of the journey to the Underworld that Ancient Greeks believed everyone took at the end of their life. Thousands of people made the journey along the Sacred Way from Athens to be initiated into the Eleusinian Mysteries. Two days before the greater Mysteries were performed at the autumn equinox, sacred objects were carried by youths on horseback from Athens to the Sanctuary of Eleusis. The Sacred Way and Street of the Tombs, the road from Athens to Eleusis, in Kerameikos, Athens, Greeceīeginning at the Agora of Athens, the Sacred Way passed through the central gates of the city of Athens, the Kerameikos Cemetary, and led to Eleusis where it ended at the Sanctuary of Demeter. The ancient Athenians created a mostly paved road from the center of Athens to Eleusis. The Sanctuary includes the Well that Demeter sat upon, disguised as an old woman. She ate seeds from the pomegranate fruit and was doomed to spend each winter in the Underworld for eternity.ĭemeter had settled at Eleusis until Persephone’s return to the world of the living. Learning Persephone was in the Underworld, she begged Zeus to get Pluto to give Persephone back to her.Īccording to the laws of the Underworld, Persephone would be doomed to remain with Hades for all eternity if she ate while there. Demeter searched the world for her daughter. Pluto fell in love with Persephone (also called Kore), and in abducting her to the Underworld, she died. More accurately, they were constructed around the myth of the King of the Underworld, Pluto or Hades, his abduction of Persephone, and Demeter’s journey to be reunited with her daughter. Ancient Site of the Eleusinian Mysteries abutting onto the homes of people in Elefsina, Athens, Greece
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