These ruins lie beside the industrial town and oil refineries of Elefsina, 22km west of Athens. In ancient times it nestled on the slopes of a low hill close to the shore of the Saronic Gulf, built around the Sanctuary of Demeter . The site dates to Mycenaean times, when the cult of Demeter was one of the most important in Ancient Greece. By classical times it was celebrated with a huge annual festival. In the 4th century AD, Roman emperor Theodosius closed it.
The annual festival attracted thousands of pilgrims wanting initiation into the Eleusinian mysteries. They walked in procession from the Acropolis to Eleusis along the Sacred Way, which was lined with statues and votive monuments. Initiates were sworn to secrecy on punishment of death; during the 1400 years that the sanctuary functioned, its secrets were never divulged.
The site’s museum helps make some sense of the scattered ruins, with models of the old city.
From Athens, take bus A16 or B16 from Plateia Eleftherias (Koumoundourou), north of Monastiraki. Buses run every 20 minutes and take 30 minutes in middling traffic.
