Eleusis- Greek LocationLocation · Landmark

Demeter at the Well

The Homeric Hymn to Demeter tells how, after Hades seized Persephone, Demeter wandered the earth in disguise and came to Eleusis. She sat by the Maiden's Well and was taken into the household of King Celeus and Queen Metaneira. Calling herself Doso, she nursed their infant son Demophon and each night laid him in fire to burn away his mortality. When Metaneira found her child in the flames and screamed, Demeter cast off the old woman's shape. Divine light filled the doorway. She commanded the people of Eleusis to build her a great temple, then withdrew into it and withheld grain from the earth. Famine spread across the world until Zeus forced Hades to return Persephone for part of each year. In gratitude for the city's hospitality, Demeter taught her secret rites to Eleusis's leaders.

The Procession

Each autumn, initiates left Athens on foot and walked the Sacred Way to Eleusis, fasting, carrying sacred objects, calling the name of Iacchus. Twenty kilometers of road, and at the end of it, the Telesterion: a great hall rebuilt and expanded over centuries, large enough to hold thousands in its final form. At its center stood the Anaktoron, a small stone chamber where the Hierophant alone could enter.

What happened inside, no one would say. Pausanias wrote that a dream forbade him from describing what lay within the sanctuary walls. But those who emerged spoke of what it meant to them. Pindar said initiates knew "the end of life and the god-given beginning." Isocrates said the Mysteries gave humanity "hopes regarding both the end of life and all of eternity."

The rites continued for close to two thousand years. In 392 CE, Theodosius I closed the pagan sanctuaries. Four years later, Alaric and the Visigoths burned Eleusis to the ground.