Editing Eleusinion (section)

===Votive deposits===
Seventh century BC votive deposits consist of terracotta figurines, miniature vessels, pottery, spindles, loomweights, and disks.{{sfn|Miles|1998|p=18}} The figurines are called "columnar females" because the body is formed from a long column that flares out at the bottom to represent a skirt. There are two outstretched arms and a ball for the head that was pinched to make the nose. Sometimes breasts were added.{{sfn|Miles|1998|p=19}} They differ from the figurines found in contemporary deposits elesewhere in the Agora, which are mostly horses and shields.{{sfn|Miles|1998|p=19}} 
[[File:Plemochoe MET sf41162257.jpg|thumb|A 5th-century BC [[plemochoe]] (lid missing), a typical Eleusinian dedication.]]
[[File:The upper part of one of the caryatids that flanked the Lesser Propylaea of Eleusis, made in Attica in about 50 BC, Eleusis Museum (16172984501).jpg|thumb|Plemochoe depicted on the front of a cista supported by a [[caryatid]], at Eleusis.]]
A pottery vessel called a ''plemochoe'' ({{langx|grc|πλημοχόη}}) is a common votive find in the sanctuary from the beginning of the 4th century BC until the end of the 2nd century BC. They consist of a high foot supporting a  wide bowl, ranging in diameter from 0,024 metres to 0.26 metres, with a handle on either side. Originally they had peaked lids with holes in them. They are rarely decorated and are made of soft or coarse clay, suggesting that they were only intended to be used once. They are depicted on the relief from the inner propylon and a similar relief from Eleusis. A large marble plemochoe (0.62 metres high) was found in Section II of the Eleusinion, suggesting an association specifically with the shrine of Plouton. In processions, women carried them on top of their heads. According to [[Athenaeus of Naucratis|Athenaeus]], on the last day of the Eleusinian Mysteries two plemochoae were filled with liquid and then tipped over, one to the west and one to the east, while a magic formula was recited.<ref>Athenaeus, ''Deipnosophistai'' 11.496a</ref> Their close connection with the Eleusinian cult is shown by the fact that they are rarely found in any context aside from the Eleusinion and the sanctuary of Demeter and Kore at Eleusis. In many cases they were buried in holes specifically cut for them in the bedrock, a chthonian setting, which corroborates the association with Plouton.{{sfn|Pollitt|1979}}{{sfn|Miles|1998|pp=95-103}}

From the fifth century BC through the 4th century AD, various individuals dedicated monuments in the sanctuary, mostly statues. Twenty-six inscribed bases from these statues are known, of which the earliest is a dedication of two crowns by the priestess Lysistrate around 450 BC.<ref>{{cite web |title=IGI3 953: Dedication of two crowns in the City Eleusinion by the priestess Lysistrate |url=https://www.atticinscriptions.com/inscription/IGI3/953 |website=Attic Inscriptions Online |access-date=27 August 2023 |language=en}}</ref>{{sfn|Miles|1998|p=66}} Of the rest, eleven were dedicated in the 4th century BC, one in the 3rd century BC, five in the 2nd century BC, four in the 1st century BC (including a herm of [[Phaedrus the Epicurean]]), and one each in the first four centuries AD.{{sfn|Miles|1998|pp=67, 84}} Nineteen pieces of sculpture have been recovered, including thirteen votive reliefs. Most of these depict Demeter and Kore and belong to the 4th century BC. Three depict Triptolemus; others show the Eleusinian heroes Iacchus, Eubouleus, and Ploutus; and two show [[Hecate]]. There are also fragments from two marble torches.{{sfn|Miles|1998|pp=67-68}} By the second century BC, the priestesses of Demeter and Kore had the right to erect a painted portrait of themselves in the temple of Demeter and Kore.<ref name="AXVI277">{{cite web |title=Agora XVI 277 |url=https://epigraphy.packhum.org/text/233185?&bookid=395&location=1700 |website=PHI Greek Inscriptions |access-date=27 August 2023}}</ref>{{sfn|Miles|1998|p=66}}