Editing Elefsina (section)

=== Ancient ===

Eleusis was a [[deme]] of [[ancient Attica]], belonging to the [[phyle]] [[Hippothoöntis]]. It owed its celebrity to its being the chief seat of the worship of [[Demeter]] and [[Persephone]], and to the mysteries celebrated in honour of these goddesses, which were called the ''[[Eleusinian Mysteries|Eleusinia]]'', and continued to be regarded as the most sacred of all the Grecian mysteries down to the fall of paganism.

Eleusis stood upon a height at a short distance from the sea, and opposite the island of [[Salamis Island|Salamis]].<ref>{{Cite EB1911 |wstitle=Eleusis |volume=9 |page=262 |first=Ernest Arthur |last=Gardner}}</ref> Its situation possessed three natural advantages. It was on the road from [[ancient Athens|Athens]] to the [[Isthmus of Corinth]]; it was in a very fertile plain; and it was at the head of an extensive bay, formed on three sides by the coast of Attica, and shut in on the south by the island of Salamis. The town itself dates from the most ancient times.

The caves on the coast of Eleusis are home to a mythological place for the Greek world. There is a cave said to be the very spot where Persephone was abducted by Hades himself and the cave was considered a gateway to Tartarus. At the spot of this abduction was a sanctuary ([[Ploutonion]]) dedicated to Hades and Persephone.<ref>{{Cite web|date=16 April 2013|title=Archaeologists Find a Classic Entrance to Hell|url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/article/130414-hell-underworld-archaeology-mount-olympus--greece|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210428212646/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/article/130414-hell-underworld-archaeology-mount-olympus--greece|url-status=dead|archive-date=28 April 2021|access-date=3 May 2021|website=Adventure|language=en}}</ref>

The Rharian plain is also mentioned in the ''[[Homeric Hymn]] to Artemis'';<ref>''[[Homeric Hymn]] to Artemis'' 450</ref> it appears to have been in the neighbourhood of the city; but its site cannot be determined.

==== Mythology and Proto-history ====

It appears to have derived its name from the supposed advent (ἔλευσις) of Demeter, though some traced its name from an eponymous hero Eleusis.<ref name="Cite Pausanias|1|38|7">{{Cite Pausanias|1|38|7}}</ref> It was one of the 12 independent states into which Attica was said to have been originally divided.<ref>{{Cite Strabo|ix. p.397}}</ref>

"When Athens had only just become Athens, it went to war with another city built thirteen miles away: Eleusis," [[Roberto Calasso]] wrote of the ancient provenance of the relationship between temple-city and the [[Attica|Attic]] seat of power.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Calasso|first=Roberto|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1114975938|title=The celestial hunter|date=2020|others=Richard Dixon|isbn=978-0-241-29674-5|location=[London], UK|pages=361|oclc=1114975938}}</ref> "It was a war usually described as mythical, since it has no date. And it was a theological war, since Athens belonged to [[Athena]] and Eleusis to [[Poseidon]]. [[Eumolpus]] and [[Erechtheus]], the founding kings of the two cities, both died in it."<ref name=":0" />

It is related that in the reign of [[Eumolpus]], king of Eleusis, and [[Erechtheus]], king of Athens, there was a war between the two states, in which the Eleusinians were defeated, whereupon they agreed to acknowledge the supremacy of Athens in everything except the celebration of the mysteries, of which they were to continue to have the management.<ref>{{Cite Thucydides|2.15}}</ref><ref>{{Cite Pausanias|1|38|3}}</ref> Eleusis afterwards became an Attic deme, but in consequence of its sacred character it was allowed to retain the title of ''[[polis]]'' (πόλις)<ref>{{Cite Strabo|ix. p.395}}</ref><ref name="Cite Pausanias|1|38|7" /> and to coin its own money, a privilege possessed by no other town in Attica, except Athens. The history of Eleusis is part of the history of Athens. Once a year the great Eleusinian procession travelled from Athens to Eleusis, along the [[Sacred Way]].

==== Eleusinian Mysteries ====

{{Main|Triptolemus}}
[[File:Great Eleusinian relief fragments Met 14.130.9 n01.jpg|thumb|200px|[[Great Eleusinian Relief]] (c 430 BC) depicting the ritual of the Mysteries, Athens museum]]

[[File:Large relief, marble, torso, Hades and Persephone, 100-90 BC, AM Eleusis, 081148.jpg|thumb|The large [[Lacrateides Relief]], 100-90 BC]]

[[File:Bust of Eubouleus (4th cent. B.C.) from Eleusis at the National Archaeological Museum of Athens on 15 September 2018.jpg|thumb|200px|Eubuleus (4th c. BC) from Eleusis (Athens Museum)]]

[[File:Eleusis (15986825818).jpg|alt=|thumb|280x280px|Roman relief with inscription and wheat decorations from the archeological site]]

Eleusis was the site of the [[Eleusinian Mysteries]], or the Mysteries of [[Demeter]] and [[Persephone|Kore]], which became popular in the Greek-speaking world as early as 600 BC, and attracted initiates during Roman Empire before declining mid-late 4th century AD.<ref name="CurtaHolt2016">{{cite book | author1=Florin Curta | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dgF9DQAAQBAJ&pg=PA64 | title=Great Events in Religion: An Encyclopedia of Pivotal Events in Religious History | publisher=ABC-CLIO | date=28 November 2016 | author2=Andrew Holt | page=64 | isbn=978-1-61069-566-4}}</ref> These Mysteries revolved around a belief that there was a hope for life after death for those who were initiated. Such a belief was cultivated from the introduction ceremony in which the hopeful initiates were shown a number of things including the seed of life in a stalk of grain. The central [[Greek mythology|myth]] of the Mysteries was Demeter's quest for her lost daughter (Kore the Maiden, or [[Persephone]]) who had been abducted by [[Hades]]. It was here that Demeter, disguised as an old lady who was abducted by pirates in [[Crete]], came to an old well where the four daughters of the local king [[Keleos]] and his queen [[Metaneira]] ([[Kallidike]], [[Kleisidike]], [[Demeter|Demo]] and [[Kallithoe]]) found her and took her to their palace to nurse the son of Keleos and Metaneira, [[Demophon of Eleusis|Demophoon]]. Demeter raised Demophoon, anointing him with nectar and ambrosia and placing him at night in the fire in order to endow him with immortality, until Metaneira found out and insulted her. Demeter arose insulted, and casting off her disguise, and, in all her glory, instructed Meteneira to build a temple to her. Keleos, informed the next morning by Metaneira, ordered the citizens to build a rich shrine to Demeter, where she sat in her temple until the lot of the world prayed to [[Zeus]] to make the world provide food again.

The Great Eleusian relief which was famous in antiquity and was copied in the Roman period, is the largest and most important votive relief found and dates to 440-430 BC. It represents the Eleusinian deities in a scene depicting a mysterious ritual. On the left Demeter, clad in a [[peplos]] and holding a sceptre in her left hand, offers ears of wheat to Triptolemos, son of Eleusinian king Keleos, to bestow on mankind. On the right Persephone, clad in chiton and mantle and holding a torch, blesses Triptolemos with her right hand. The original marble relief was found at the sanctuary of Demeter, the site of the Eleusinian mysteries. A number of Roman copies also survive.<ref>[[Gisela M. A. Richter]]. “A Roman Copy of the Eleusinian Relief.” The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, vol. 30, no. 11, 1935, pp. 216–221. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/3255443</ref>

==== Classical Greek and Roman History ====

During the [[Greco-Persian Wars]], the ancient temple of Demeter was burnt down by the [[ancient Persia|Persians]] in 484&nbsp;BC;<ref>{{Cite Herodotus|9.65}}</ref> and it was not until the administration of [[Pericles]] that an attempt was made to rebuild it. When the power of the [[Thirty Tyrants]] was overthrown after the [[Peloponnesian War]], they retired to Eleusis, which they had secured beforehand, but where they maintained themselves for only a short time.<ref>{{Cite Hellenica|2.4.8, ''et seq.''; 2.4.43}}</ref>

The town of Eleusis and its immediate neighbourhood were exposed to inundations from the river [[Cephissus (Athenian plain)|Cephissus]], which, though almost dry during the greater part of the year, is sometimes swollen to such an extent as to spread itself over a large part of the plain. [[Demosthenes]] (384 – 322 BC) alludes to inundations at Eleusis;<ref>[[Demosthenes]], ''c. Callicl.'' p. 1279.</ref>

[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] ({{Circa|110|180 AD}}) has left us only a very brief description of Eleusis;<ref>{{Cite Pausanias|1|38|6}}</ref>
{{quote|The Eleusinians have a temple of [[Triptolemus]], another of [[Artemis]] Propylaea, and a third of [[Poseidon]] the Father, and a well called Callichorum, where the Eleusinian women first instituted a dance and sang in honour of the goddess. They say that the Rharian plain was the first place in which corn was sown and first produced a harvest, and that hence barley from this plain is employed for making sacrificial cakes. There the so-called threshing-floor and altar of Triptolemus are shown. The things within the wall of the Hierum [i.e., the temple of Demeter] a dream forbade me to describe.}}

Under the [[Roman Greece|Romans]] Eleusis enjoyed great prosperity, as initiation into its mysteries became fashionable among the Roman nobles.

[[Hadrian]] was initiated into the Mysteries in about 125<ref>Eusebius: Chronicle</ref> and raised embankments in the plain of the river in consequence of a flood which occurred while he was spending the winter at Athens.<ref>Euseb. Chron. p. 81</ref>

To the same emperor most likely Eleusis was indebted for a supply of good water by means of the aqueduct, completed in about 160 AD. Apart from satisfying the need for drinking water, it also enabled the construction of public fountains and baths. It was fed by springs in Mount Parnitha and used mainly underground tunnels. It crossed the Thriasian Plain and turned abruptly towards the south at the outskirts of Eleusis. The best visible remains are on the east side of Dimitros Street.

It was destroyed by [[Alaric I]] in 396&nbsp;AD, and from that time disappears from history.