The Eleusinian Mysteries: Images
 

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Demeter and Persephone



  the abduction of Persephone   (statue by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, c 1622 CE)
 
 
 

  the abduction of Persephone  (fresco from a tomb at Vergina, c 350 BCE)
 
 
 

   girls gathering crocuses  (fresco from Thera, c 1500 BCE)  (see Susan Lupack's discussion of Minoan and Mycenaean religion)
 
 
 

   Demeter with torches  (Attic red-figure vase attributed to the Berlin Painter, c 470 BCE)
 
 
 

   Persephone and Hades enthroned  (votive relief from Locri, c 480 BCE)
 
 
 

   Persephone with a pomegranate  (statuette from Tanagra, mid-third c BCE)
 
 
 

   Persephone with a pomegranate  (painting by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, 1874 CE)
 
 
 

   the return of Persephone  (Attic red-figure vase, c 440 BCE, in the Metropolitan Museum)
 
 
 

   Demeter and Hekate (Persephone?) with torches  (late archaic relief from Eleusis)
 
 
 

   Persephone enthroned  (cult image from Taranto, c 460 BCE)
 
 
 

   Demeter, Ploutos (Triptolemos?), and Persephone  (relief from Eleusis, c 440 BCE; a Roman copy is in the Metropolitan Museum))
 
 
 

   Hades (with a horn of plenty) and Persephone  (Attic red-figure vase, late 5th c BCE)
 
 
 

   Eniautos ("Year") and Eleusis  (Apulian red-figure vase, c 350-340 BCE)
 
 
 

   Persephone, Triptolemos, and Demeter  (Attic black-figure vase, c 550-530 BCE)
 
 
 

   Persephone sprinkling water on an initiate  (stele, first quarter of the 4th c BCE)
 
 
 

   Demeter with a wreath of grain (coin [silver hemidrachma] from Hermione, c 350 BCE)
 
 
 

   wreath of grain  (reverse of the above)
 
 

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Views of Eleusis



   map of Greece
 
 
 

   map of Greece as seen by the Eleusinians
 
 
 

   view across the bay to Eleusis
 
 
 

   aerial view of Eleusis from the northeast
 
 
 

   plan of the site  (a composite of various periods) by John Travlos
 
 
 

   model of the site as it appeared in Roman times
 
 
 

   bridge over the Kephisos  (Roman)
 
 
 

   the Kallichoron well, just outside the gates of the sanctuary
 
 
 

   the Kallichoron Well
 
 
 

   detail of the Kallichoron Well
 
 
 

   terrace wall  (archaic period)
 
 
 

   walls and entranceway
 
 
 

   the threshold of the Lesser Propylaia  (Roman)
 
 
 

   fragments of the frieze of the Lesser Propylaia (with wheat, poppies, sacred containers, and ox-heads)  (Roman)
 
 
 

   inner sanctuary, with modern chapel of the Panagia (Virgin Mary) above and the sacred cave just below
 
 
 

   the Ploutoneion  (cave sacred to of Plouton/Hades)
 
 
 

   the Ploutoneion, detail
 
 
 

   the Ploutoneion
 
 
 

   plan of the site  (note the square Telesterion [hall of initiation] just below center)
 
 
 

   model of the site  (note the prominence of the Telesterion; the Propylaia are at the top right)
 
 
 

   plan of the Telesterion (as rebuilt in Roman times) by John Travlos  (note the Anaktoron [Lord's/Lady's House] among the rows of columns)
 
 
 

the site of the Telesterion, viewed from the south, with the modern chapel above and rock-cut seats below)
 
 
 

   the site of the Telesterion, viewed from the north
 
 
 

   closer view, from the south, of the rock-cut seats
 
 

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