Eleusis and the Kerameikos
Hello Again from Athens,
We had another good day here in Athens. I have one more day with the Mellon group. I have a group of Lee University students arriving for a two week study tour on Friday. I also have a blog for this trip which I have been using to get everyone ready for that trip to Turkey and Greece. I will also try to post to this blog each day as the trip progresses so people can keep track of our progress. You can find it at http://leeu2006.blogspot.com.
This morning we rode the bus to Eleusis. This site was an ancient center of the mystery religion associated with the goddess Demeter. Any Greek speaking person who was not a murder could join this group so thousands of people joined. Eleusis was associated with this religious activity from from Mycenaen times until abour AD 400 when the Christian Emperor Theodosis closed it down.
The beliefs of this group are shrouded in mystery because the participants were sworn to secrecy. But the basis for the practices are centered in the story of Demeter who grieves after her daughter Persphone is abducted by Hades. She is the goddess of fertility so she does not allow crops to grow until her daughter is released. According to the myth her daughter is held for 9 months each year. This is related to the growing cycle and harvest.
The participants and intiates would walk at night down the Sacred Way in procession from the Kerameikos to Eleusis and make sacrifices. They would cleanse themselves and wear special clothes. When they arrived they would enter the Telestrion which was built in the 5th century BC. By Roman times this temple could hold 1000's of people. People would sit in the temple which was filled with many columns and was dark. Rites would take place which probably included an offering of grain. During this night the priestess would reveal the secrets and visions of the cult. Once someone became a member of this group they beleived that they had eternal life. Some of the seats for the temple were cut into to the bedrock and are still visible today.
There is also a cave which had a temple built in front of it called the Ploutonion. This was the place that Persephone was returned and it was a sanctuary to Hades the god of the underworld. The Roman Emperor, Marcus Aurielius enlarged and furbished the site during the second century A.D.
After a visit to the site we toured the small but important museum at the site. It has a nice model of the site and several items found at the site.
This site is west of Athens and near the Sea. From the museum we had a nice view of the island of Salamis and the straights of Salamis the place where the famous battle of Salamis took place between the Persians and the Greeks.
Then the bus drove us back to Athens and dropped us off at the Kerameikos. This is the ancient cemetary of Athens. It is just outside the old walls and gates of the ancient city. The remains of the Sacred Way to the Acropolis and Eleusis are still visible. The walls and gates of the city have been exposed by excavation. The remains of the Sacred Gate and the Dipylon Gate are also visible. This was the main route in and out of town. It also is where the long double walls which extend from Athens to the harbor at Piraeus. This was the first place that the devasting plague stuck during the Peloponnessian War.
There are still grave markers visible on the site. Often elaborate stelae mark the graves. We then visited the small museum at the site which houses pottery, stelae, and other articfacts found at the site.
John Wineland, Athens
We had another good day here in Athens. I have one more day with the Mellon group. I have a group of Lee University students arriving for a two week study tour on Friday. I also have a blog for this trip which I have been using to get everyone ready for that trip to Turkey and Greece. I will also try to post to this blog each day as the trip progresses so people can keep track of our progress. You can find it at http://leeu2006.blogspot.com.
This morning we rode the bus to Eleusis. This site was an ancient center of the mystery religion associated with the goddess Demeter. Any Greek speaking person who was not a murder could join this group so thousands of people joined. Eleusis was associated with this religious activity from from Mycenaen times until abour AD 400 when the Christian Emperor Theodosis closed it down.
The beliefs of this group are shrouded in mystery because the participants were sworn to secrecy. But the basis for the practices are centered in the story of Demeter who grieves after her daughter Persphone is abducted by Hades. She is the goddess of fertility so she does not allow crops to grow until her daughter is released. According to the myth her daughter is held for 9 months each year. This is related to the growing cycle and harvest.
The participants and intiates would walk at night down the Sacred Way in procession from the Kerameikos to Eleusis and make sacrifices. They would cleanse themselves and wear special clothes. When they arrived they would enter the Telestrion which was built in the 5th century BC. By Roman times this temple could hold 1000's of people. People would sit in the temple which was filled with many columns and was dark. Rites would take place which probably included an offering of grain. During this night the priestess would reveal the secrets and visions of the cult. Once someone became a member of this group they beleived that they had eternal life. Some of the seats for the temple were cut into to the bedrock and are still visible today.
There is also a cave which had a temple built in front of it called the Ploutonion. This was the place that Persephone was returned and it was a sanctuary to Hades the god of the underworld. The Roman Emperor, Marcus Aurielius enlarged and furbished the site during the second century A.D.
After a visit to the site we toured the small but important museum at the site. It has a nice model of the site and several items found at the site.
This site is west of Athens and near the Sea. From the museum we had a nice view of the island of Salamis and the straights of Salamis the place where the famous battle of Salamis took place between the Persians and the Greeks.
Then the bus drove us back to Athens and dropped us off at the Kerameikos. This is the ancient cemetary of Athens. It is just outside the old walls and gates of the ancient city. The remains of the Sacred Way to the Acropolis and Eleusis are still visible. The walls and gates of the city have been exposed by excavation. The remains of the Sacred Gate and the Dipylon Gate are also visible. This was the main route in and out of town. It also is where the long double walls which extend from Athens to the harbor at Piraeus. This was the first place that the devasting plague stuck during the Peloponnessian War.
There are still grave markers visible on the site. Often elaborate stelae mark the graves. We then visited the small museum at the site which houses pottery, stelae, and other articfacts found at the site.
John Wineland, Athens
posted by John Wineland at 9:20 AM
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