The hiera hodos in Attica is hardly unique, as sacred ways may be found leading to many Greek sanctuaries. A less common characteristic is
4.1. Detail of Ninnion pinax (Athens, National Museum 11036). Photo M. M. Miles.
That the Athenian Sacred Way had overlapping portions designated as primary for two major festivals (the Eleusinian Mysteries and the Panathenaia) and also continued on westward outside of Attica across the territories of neighboring poleis to Delphi, as a sort of “international” Sacred Way. This route was followed by Athenian Pythaistai, a theoria sent to Delphi at appropriate intervals (when lightning was sited over
A particular spot on Mt. Parnes).10 The Sacred Way as the processional road to Eleusis was designated with boundary markers, of which three have been found that read “haras of the road to Eleusis” (IG I3 1095, earlier fifth century b. c.e.; IG I3 1096, c. 420 b. c.e.; IG H2 2624, fourth century B. C.E. ). Two other inscriptions attest further to the care taken to maintain the processional route to Eleusis: a decree for the bridge over the Rheitoi salt-springs (IG I3 79, 422/1 b. c.e.) - it specifies that the construction provide a safe passage for the priestesses carrying ta hiera - and an honorary decree awarded to Xenokles in part for paying for the upkeep of a bridge over the Kephisos river close to Eleusis that benefited both the annual procession and local Eleusinians (IG H2 1191, 321/20? B. C.E.).11
By far the fullest ancient account of the Sacred Way that linked Athens and Eleusis is found in Pausanias (1.36.3-38.6), who might have read Polemon of Hion’s book on the Sacred Way (now lost) before or after his own visit.12 Pausanias begins his description of the Sacred Way where it emerges from the city near the Dipylon Gate. Earlier in his account he describes the publicly accessible part of the City Eleusinion, and states that a dream forbade a full description of its interior (1.14.3-4).13 He also mentions a Temple of Demeter located near the Dipylon on the inside of the gate, beside the Pompeion; in it were statues by Praxiteles of Demeter, Kore, and lakchos, who was depicted holding a torch (1.2.4).14 Now at the Kerameikos, Pausanias picks up the Eleusinian theme and continues it methodically (without digression) until he reaches the forecourt of the sanctuary at Eleusis. His procedure is to describe the monuments “worth seeing” along the road itself, with commentary, so that in effect the reader can reenact the public passage vicariously.1 5 Pausanias makes no attempt to recall the private ceremony of initiation: on the contrary, he brings the reader to the forecourt at Eleusis but declines to describe the sanctuary, confining his remarks only to the outer, public areas in the forecourt that precedes the sanctuary. As he reminds the reader once his account reaches Eleusis, he was warned in a dream not to include descriptions of areas accessible only to the initiated.16 Rather, the Sacred Way and its monuments were worthy of notice in and of themselves, and by the time of Pausanias’ s visit (c. 165 C. E. ) this stretch of road was dense with historical and religious associations.
Pausanias selects the most outstanding tombs: those notable for the circumstance of death of the deceased, or the prominence of the deceased, including the tomb of the best harpist, the best tragic actor, and, the very best tomb of all ancient tombs in Greece. Harpalos, the sometime treasurer of Alexander the Great, built this very best tomb for his wife Pythionike.17 Because she was a former courtesan, this spectacular marble monument became a cause ce lebre as a conspicuous transgression against “normal” commemoration and is frequently mentioned by ancient authors, especially those decrying Macedonian political control and attacking their excessive consumption. i 8 Surely Pausanias included it as a much-discussed, conspicuous landmark, but also because of its high quality and its position, just at the crest of the pass over Mt. Aigaleos. Here, for those coming from Eleusis, the plain below with the Athenian Acropolis and Parthenon suddenly comes into view, a famous sight often remarked by early modern travelers.
There are shrines of several heroes, some of them obscure even to Pausanias, and altars and temples to various deities. But the whole narrative and Pausanias’s selection of what to include is punctuated with landmarks associated with Demeter and Kore and other Eleusinian figures, a stream of signs that this is the Sacred Way to Eleusis, with a steady buildup of Eleusinian reminders. Skiros, a soothsayer from Dodona, was buried by Eleusinians. The tomb of Akestion is noted, and he remarks on her several male relatives who were prominent officials in the Mysteries {Dadouchoii their names epigraphically attested). i 9 There is a sanctuary of Demeter, Kore, Athena, and Poseidon near an altar of Zephyr and the place where Demeter gave the sacred fig-tree to Phytalos. Another tomb commemorates a doctor, Mnesitheos, who dedicated an image of lakchos. In a sanctuary of Apollo (under the present monastery at Daphne) were images of the Two Goddesses. At the Rheitoi salt-springs, Pausanias notes that only priests at Eleusis were allowed to fish there.20 Nearby was the tomb of Eumolpos, the first Hierophant in the Mysteries, and near the river Kephisos Pausanias comments on the place where Pluto descended into the underworld after abducting Persephone. Even after leaving the forecourt at Eleusis, and moving onward toward Megara, Pausanias continues to remark on landmarks associated with Demeter, such as the Flowered Well, where she sat in disguise, mourning
Her daughter, and was found by the daughters of the king Keleos and invited to Eleusis.
Such landmarks doubtless became resting places on the long journey for those walking in the annual procession from Athens or journeying to the sanctuary from other directions. Thus the reader acquires a detailed picture of the sacred geography of the road and the region around Eleusis, with Eleusis itself as the focal point, but left as a blank for the uninitiated. Pausanias’ s immediate audience in the later second century C. E. could witness vicariously the ancient passage along the Sacred Way.
World History
