Definition: Eleusis is almost 14 miles west of Athens and has been occupied since the Bronze Age. Tradition attributes to Theseus the uniting of 12 Attic Cities (referred to as a 'synoecism'), including Eleusis. Eleusis is famous for its relationship with Demeter.
Initiation rites into the mysteries of Demeter were held in the Telesterion of Demeter at Eleusis. The architect Ictinos in the fifth century B.C. rebuilt the Telesterion, which had originally been built in about 750 B.C. Ictinos also helped build the Athenian Parthenon. By this time involvement in the Eleusinian mysteries had spread beyond Greece. The Roman Emperor Hadrian was initiated into the Mysteries. However the anti-pagan decree of Theodosius and the Visigoths' destruction of the sanctuary -- which had been rebuilt under Marcus Aurelius -- at the end of the fourth century A.D., put an end to the religious activity of Eleusis.
Archaeologists of the Dilettanti Society began excavating Eleusis in 1811.
Source: Perseus Eleusis
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