More than a century of excavation and study at Eleusis has uncovered the main features of the sanctuary.24 The Anaktoron or Telesterion which served as the hall of initiation dominates the center, while a series of heavy fortification walls enclosed the whole sanctuary, and gateways were inserted through them in various periods. In an example of excellent architectural detective work, D. Giraud identified the earliest preserved propylon to the sanctuary with remains substantial enough
To provide a confident reconstruction, located on the east side of the sanctuary where its high wall opened out toward the Sacred Way. Built originally circa 430 b. c.e., the propylon had a simple plan with the outside in the form of two Doric columns between two projecting antae (distyle in antis), probably surmounted by a Doric frieze and gabled pediment. On the interior, Giraud reconstructs two free-standing columns under a porch; the doorway itself was a narrow 2.01 meters. His reconstruction is based on blocks from the stylobate and crepidoma that were reused in a Roman building (traditionally referred to as the “Mithraion”), and an anta capital he found on the site.25 This marble propylon, modest in scale but handsome in design, is thus another addition to propyla in sanctuaries constructed in the 420s: the sanctuary of Poseidon at Sounion (a parallel discussed by Giraud), and the sanctuary of Demeter Malophoros at Selinous, which might have been partly inspired by the new propylon at Eleusis.26 Giraud’s reconstructed marble propylon at Eleusis was still fairly new when it framed the elaborate and well-protected staging of the Eleusinian procession by Alkibiades in 407 b. c.e.
World History
