Autumn AD 124 – Hadrian arrives in Athens and attends the Eleusinian Mysteries (#Hadrian1900) FOLLOWING HADRIAN

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Autumn AD 124 – Hadrian arrives in Athens and attends the Eleusinian Mysteries (#Hadrian1900) FOLLOWING HADRIAN

Autumn AD 124 – Hadrian arrives in Athens and attends the Eleusinian Mysteries (#Hadrian1900) FOLLOWING HADRIAN

Eleven years had passed since Hadrian last visited Athens. During his stay there, while in his mid-thirties, he became an Athenian citizen, enrolled in the tribe Besa and served as archon (IG II² 2024) before departing to join Trajan’s Parthian campaign in the East. He may have visited several cities besides Athens, but we have no information about his activities back then. He almost certainly travelled to Sparta and Corinth and probably also to Nicopolis to listen to the lectures of Epictetus (Birley, 1997). This time, as Emperor, he would journey widely throughout the Peloponnese, where his presence at a series of famous cities is well attested.

But first, Hadrian attended the Eleusinian Mysteries in Eleusis, a small harbour town in Attica. This annual religious ritual occurred in the autumn month of Boedromion, which marked the start of the year in Athens. The Emperor had sailed from Rhodes to Greece via the Cyclades in mid-September (see here) to ensure that he would reach Eleusis in time for his initiation.

[…] Hadrian travelled by way of Asia and the islands to Greece,​ and, following the example of Hercules and Philip,​ had himself initiated into the Eleusinian mysteries.​ He bestowed many favours on the Athenians and sat as president of the public games. HA. Hadr. 13.1

Hadrian’s journey in 123-125.
Map created by Simeon Netchev for Following Hadrian (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0).

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No Roman ruler before Hadrian had been as connected to Greece. As his biographer informs us, the Emperor was so imbued with Greek culture as to be given (perhaps mockingly) the surname Graeculus (HA. Hadr. 1.5). Hadrian’s first visit as emperor to the province of Achaea in 124 constituted the starting point of a second Golden Age. Although the province saw an economic revival in the time of Augustus, it could not endure in the subsequent decades and was largely desolate by the time of Vespasian. Hadrian’s enthusiastic philhellenism contributed to the renaissance of mainland Greece, allowing the great cities of the past to thrive once again. The Emperor implemented various economic and constitutional reforms to improve the lives of citizens, including reducing tax rates, supporting the poor, and investing in community development. His benefactions included public projects such as constructing aqueducts (in Athens, Corinth, Eleusis and Argos) and extending roads (between Corinth and Megara).

Hadrian also adorned the cities with all kinds of buildings, built temples, made financial donations to sanctuaries and organisations, and reformed local regulations. The measures the Emperor undertook were so widespread that he was given the title of Restitutor Achaeae (restorer of Achaea). However, Pausanias, who visited Greece a generation after Hadrian and noted its ruins, revealed that Achaea was, with few exceptions, a province in economic decline. Only a few commercial cities, such as Patras, Corinth, and Nicopolis in Epirus, and other old cities like Athens, Sparta, and Argos, prospered under Roman rule.

Gold coin showing Hadrian raising up Achaia with the legend RESTITVTORI ACHAIAE (restorer of Achaea).
© The Trustees of the British Museum (link)

None of the sources specify where Hadrian landed or stayed in Athens. The millionaire Greek aristocrat Claudius Atticus Herodes and his young son Herodes, who was shown special favour at this time, may have provided accommodation for Hadrian. In any case, the Emperor’s visit with his retinue necessitated an increase in the city’s supplies and spending, a demand the Atticus family could manage. Herodes Atticus had recently been awarded Roman senatorial rank and been appointed quaestor at the status level of inter amicos (friend) of the emperor, a high honour for a Greek in his mid-twenties (SIG 3. 863).

Hadrian’s love for Athens had been alive since his adolescent years. Numerous ancient authors record his famous affection for this city. “He bestowed many favours on the Athenians and sat as president of the public games.” says the Historia Augusta. During his first visit in 111/2, five years before he came to the throne, he may have been particularly impressed by the remains of the vast Temple of Olympian Zeus, one of the oldest and largest monuments in Athens (Birley, 1997b). The temple, which began in the 6th century BC as a Doric peripteros by the tyrant Pisistratos, was continued in the Corinthian order by the Roman architect Cossutius in 174 BC, working on behalf the Seleucid king Antiochus IV Ephiphanes. Cossutius did so “with great skill and taste,” says Vitruvius, constructing a temple “of large dimensions, and of the Corinthian order and proportions” (On Architecture VII.17). But when the king died a decade later, the temple still was “left half-finished” (Strabo IX.1.17). As Suetonius reports, Augustus attempted to rebuild the temple, but his plans never materialised (Life of Augustus LX).

Overview of the Temple of Olympian Zeus.

Temple of Olympian Zeus.

Hadrian’s decision to finish the temple was most likely taken during his stay in 124/5 when he ordered work to begin. It is unclear exactly what remained to be done on the temple, but archaeological research has shown that the imperial additions were mainly the precinct, the paved walkway around the temenos, the surrounding wall, along with a colossal god and ivory statue of the god Zeus in the cella (Paus. 1.18.6). Archaeology has also revealed that to the north of the Olympeion Hadrian added a large bath complex built between AD 124 and 131, with superb mosaic floors, coloured marble slabs (opus sectile), and marble revetment on the walls. In the north wing were the entrance, a nymphaeum with a small fountain, waiting rooms, and changing rooms, while the bathing facilities stood in the south wing. The Athenian Olympieion would be finally completed and dedicated by Hadrian during his third visit to the city in the winter of AD 131/2.

The Caldarium of the Hadrianic Bathhouse

An important building project that began during Hadrian’s first Imperial visit was the aqueduct, which brought water from Mount Parnitha, some twenty kilometres away. It was the first time anyone had brought water to Athens from an external source since the time of Pisistratos (see here). Hadrian’s Aqueduct was an almost 20 km long underground tunnel constructed manually by workers digging out vertical shafts along the designated route. Four hundred sixty-five shafts had to be opened for the entire length of the tunnel. The water was conveyed by gravity into a reservoir on Lycabettus Hill, built with a capacity of 500 cubic metres and embellished with a monumental facade featuring four Ionic columns and an arch spanning the two middle ones. The aqueduct ended with a semicircular nymphaeum in the southeast corner of the Agora. It would be fifteen years before this ambitious project was completed. A dedicatory inscription from the architrave of the reservoir’s facade mentions that it was finished under the reign of Antoninus Pius in AD 140.

The remains of the facade of Hadrian’s reservoir located on Lycabettus Hill.

Fragment of the architrave with the dedicatory inscription from Hadrian’s water reservoir. (CIL III 549)
Emperor Caesar Titus Aelius Hadrian Antoninus Augustus Pius, consul 3 times, tribunician power 2 times, father of the fatherland, this aqueduct in new Athens, begun by the God Hadrian, his father, he completed and dedicated.

Hadrian was to undertake further significant building initiatives in Athens, but as to when they began is difficult to establish. Pausanias writes that the city, which had been sorely afflicted by the war with Rome under Sulla, flourished again when Hadrian was emperor (Paus. 1.20.7). Under his patronage, the city experienced a building frenzy that exceeded even that of Augustus. In addition to the temple of Olympian Zeus, Pausanias mentions a temple of Hera and Zeus Panhellenius, a basilica, a sanctuary of all the gods (or Pantheon), a building with pillars of Phrygian marble “in which books are kept” (Hadrian’s Library) and a gymnasium (Paus. 1.18.6-9). However, many of Hadrian’s benefactions to Athens may be dated to his third visit in 131/2, when he formally established the Panhellenion, a league of Greek cities with headquarters in Athens (Boatwright, 2000). Athens’ prosperity at this period has been compared with that of the era of Pericles.

Hadrian’s construction projects in Athens were accompanied by legal and financial reforms directly related to the social and economic life of the citizens and at least two public religious spectacles. The Athenians had already asked the Emperor in 121/2 to reform their civic constitution, including the ancient laws of Dracon and Solon, which dated back to the end of the 7th and early 6th centuries BC. Hadrian assumed the role of nomothetes (“lawgiver”) for the Athenians. A passage in Dio’s biography of Hadrian records the Emperor’s legislative work in Athens.

Among numerous laws that he enacted was one to the effect that no senator, either personally or through the agency of another, should have any tax farmed out to him. (Dio 69.16.2)

This passage is echoed in Eusebius’ Chronicon, which records Hadrian’s legal contributions in Athens.

In response to the Athenians who had petitioned him for laws, Hadrian composed a legal code drawn from the books of Draco, Solon, and the rest. (Ol. 225th Olympiad)

The Acropolis of Athens viewed from the Hill of the Muses.

One of Hadrian’s changes to the Athenian constitution connected with his visit to Athens in 124/5 was the reform of the Attic calendar. This change established the civic year to begin in Boedromion (September/October) rather than in Hekatombaion (July/August) as it traditionally had, creating a new annual political cycle aligned with that of Asia. Another constitutional change was the reduction of the Athenian Boule (the Areopagus) from 600 to 500 members (IG II² 1075), while a new tribe (phyle), named Hadrianis was created as a thirteenth division of the citizen body (Notopoulos, 1946).

More sweeping were his financial reforms, carried out between 121/2 and the end of his Athenian visit in spring 125. One of his most comprehensive measures was a new law that ensured the Athenian state had the right to buy oil from the yearly olive harvest in Attica at reasonable rates. For some time, olive oil had been exported in large quantities at high prices to the detriment of the domestic market. Hadrian’s law addressed the issue by requiring oil cultivators to sell one-third of their harvest to state officials known as “olive-buyers” (eleonai), who were responsible for purchasing oil for public use. This sale had to take place before the cultivators could export any of their crops (lines 2-14). Anyone selling oil to an exporter was required to declare the amount sold, identify the buyer, and specify the location of the anchorage (lines 21-24). Exporters, in turn, had to declare the quantity of oil being shipped along with the names of the suppliers (lines 41-42). However, if the harvest was significantly larger than Athens’ needs, the surplus oil could be exempted from these requirements (lines 60-75).

The decree was engraved on the north jamb of the doorway of the Gate of Athena Archegetis, which served as the main entrance to the Roman Agora (IG II² 1100). The top line reads KE NO ΘE AΔPIANOY: “chief points from the law-giving of Hadrian”. The Oil Law presented the Emperor as the ultimate benefactor. It ensured that the city had a sufficient supply of oil for public functions, including the operation of gymnasia and the celebrations of rites during the Dionysia festival and the Eleusinian Mysteries.

Decree of Hadrian regulating the sale of olive oil, an important branch of Attic commerce, is engraved on the north jamb of the doorway of the Gate of Athena Archegetis.

Hadrian also introduced a law that regulated fish sales at Eleusis due to rising prices and concerns about the exorbitantly high cost of fish in Athens. In a letter (IG II² 1103) displayed in front of the Deigma at Piraeus, a place where merchants displayed samples of their wares for wholesale, the Emperor proclaimed that the fishermen of Eleusis were now exempt from the standard two-obol mooring fee and benefited from a tax exemption selling their catch at Eleusis. Hadrian aimed to reduce prices and encourage more fishermen to deliver their catches directly to Piraeus, avoiding the multiplication of the middlemen who usually delivered the fish to the markets for sale.

The social and economic measures taken by Hadrian on the lives of the citizens show that Greece, including Athens, was still suffering badly, especially after Trajan’s costly eastern campaigns. The city reciprocated by beginning a new era with Hadrian’s first visit in 124/5 and by erecting to Hadrian numerous dedications in the theatre of Dionysus and statues, including one on the Altar of the Eponymous Heroes in the Athenian Agora and as many as 94 altars were dedicated to him from all parts of the city. The eponymous tribe was given the seventh position in the tribal order. On this occasion, the Athenians hailed him as their saviour and founder. Hadrian must also have been eponymous archon for a second time in commemoration of his visit and his reforms (Kapetanopoulos, 1992-1998).

Pedestal for a statue Hadrian set up in the Theatre of Dionysus in Athens in 124/5 AD (IG II² 3287A).

Moreover, we learn from Dio Cassius that during his third visit to the city, the emperor gave the Athenians large sums of money, yearly distributions of grain, and the entire island of Cephallenia.

And [he allowed] the Greeks in his own honour to have built a house called the Panhellenium by name, and [then] he turned to setting down a gathering in addition to it, and he granted much money and yearly grain and all of Cephallenia to the Athenians. (Dio 69.16.2).

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Votive plaque dedicated to the two great goddesses of Eleusis.

Hadrian’s reforms and benefactions for Athens led to a significant increase in prosperity, further supported by the revival of the city’s religious ceremonies during his rule. During his presence in Greece, the Emperor seized every chance to show his affection for the province and its religious institutions. Hadrian’s concern with religion is illustrated by his vast building projects, which primarily focused on constructing, restoring, and embellishing temples and sanctuaries. Furthermore, he participated in religious festivals and rituals. Among the festivals, that of the Eleusinian Mysteries, under Athenian control, remained the primary attraction in the Greek world. This religious festival was celebrated annually in the autumn month of Boedromion, the first in Athens’ new calendar year, in honour of the mother and daughter goddesses Demeter and Persephone.

Interestingly, the Historia Augusta claims that the emperor was following the example of Hercules and Philip II of Macedon, Alexander the Great’s father, a reference that, if true, may derive from a statement in Hadrian’s autobiography (Birley, 1997). Quite why Philip of Macedon gets a mention is not clear. Hercules was part of the legend of the Lesser Mysteries, but there is no direct evidence of Philip of Macedon, Athens’ enemy, being initiated at Eleusis. However, the Argead dynasty claimed descent from Hercules, suggesting that Philip may have been initiated (Birley, 1997).

The core myth associated with Eleusis was the dramatic tale of the abduction of Persephone by Hades, the god of the Underworld. One day, while wandering through the fields to gather flowers, Persephone was abducted by Hades in his chariot to carry her to his dark realm. Demeter searched for her daughter all over the earth. Consumed by sorrow over her disappearance, she found refuge in Eleusis and neglected her duties related to agriculture and crops, leading to widespread famine. Ultimately, Zeus had to step in, permitting Persephone to spend half the year with her mother on Earth and the other half with Hades in the Underworld. This pact led to crops flourishing when Persephone was with her mother, reflecting her mother’s joy and the decline of crops during the sorrowful months of her absence. Demeter expressed her gratitude to the King of Eleusis by disclosing her sacred rites that promised a fortunate afterlife for any mortal aware of them. These secrets became the core of the Eleusinian Mysteries. For the initiates, the rituals would represent the ongoing rebirth of life through the changing seasons and a promise of immortality passed on from one generation to the next.

The Sanctuary in the 2nd century AD.
Digital 3D reconstruction by John Goodinson for the Anasynthesis project (see here).

Hadrian was fascinated by the Mysteries and was the first emperor since Augustus to be initiated (Dio 51.4.1), not once but twice (HA. Hadr. 13.1; Dio 69.11.1). His desire to emulate the first princeps (imitatio Augusti) and connect himself to the Eleusinian Mysteries may be expressed in a silver cistophorus minted in Asia Minor around AD 129. This coin (RIC II 532) features a portrait of Augustus on the obverse and a full figure of Hadrian holding the grain ears on the reverse and the legend Hadrianus P[ater] [Patriae] Ren[atus], “Hadrian, Father of the Fatherland Reborn.” The term renatus was used to describe those initiated into the Eleusinian mysteries, who were rejuvenated and born again into eternity (aeternum renatus), while the ears of grain symbolise the Mysteries of Demeter (Birley, 1997).

Both Emperors appear to have used the Eleusinian cult to enhance their image as bringers of abundance, a notion further supported by their distribution of grain to Athens (Plut. Vit. Ant. 68.4; Dio 69.16.2). Professor Kevin Clinton emphasises the Eleusinian connection (earlier expressed by Harold Mattingly) and argues that the person depicted on the reverse is the young god Ploutos, the god of wealth born to the goddess Demeter, with the features of Hadrian (Clinton, 1989b). However, other scholars disagree and, like Demetrios Kritsotakis, argue that the coin is related to an imperial donation of grain in Asia Minor, where Hadrian authorised two cities, Ephesos and Tralles, to import grain from Egypt (Kritsotakis, 2008). Additionally, on a rare sestertius dated 124/5, Hadrian is represented wearing not the usual laurel wreath but a corn wreath (RIC 739), which might be explained by Hadrian’s admission to the Eleusinian mysteries.

Cistophorus with Augustus on the obverse and Hadrian on the reverse holding up corn ears. RIC II 532.

Hadrian was initiated into the lower grade of the mysteries, becoming a mystes (initiate), and later, to the higher grade as an epoptes (higher grade of initiate). He might have undergone the preliminary initiation into the Lesser Mysteries held in the month of Anthesterion (February-March) at the sanctuary of Demeter and Kore in Agra during his stay in Athens in 112 while still a privatus, but no record of it has survived. What has survived is an epigram of a priestess (hierophant) of Demeter and Persephone (IG II² 3575) who assisted in inducting Hadrian into the rites.

ruler of the wide, unharvested earth,
the commander of countless mortals,
Hadrian, who poured out boundless wealth
on all cities, and especially famous Athens.

Portrait of a hierophant from the Hadrianic period.

However, there is no scholarly consensus on when Hadrian obtained the second degree of initiation. Clinton suggested that the Emperor did not receive his initiation during any of his imperial visits and that it may have been fully initiated as early as AD 112/13. He supports this claim with evidence from an honorary inscription (IG 11² 3620) for an Eleusinian priest, Lucius Memmius, from the deme of Thorikos (Clinton, 1989b). The text reads, “…having initiated when the divine Hadrian was present, having initiated the divine Lucius Verus Armeniacus Parthicus, and the emperors M. Aurelius Antoninus and M. Aurelius Commodus Germanicus Sarmaticus, benefacting the two goddesses (as altar-priest) for 56 years…” (source). By the time this inscription was set up around AD 176, Memmius had already served for 56 years. This indicates that he was in office by 124 at the latest when Hadrian made his first official visit to Eleusis. As a result, Memmius did not initiate Hadrian at the Boedromion festival in 124; instead, he performed the ceremony in Hadrian’s presence.

Hadrian was to pay so much attention to the Eleusis sanctuary that it would enjoy a renaissance it had not seen since the Classical period. First, Hadrian arranged for the renovation of the Sacred Way (Hiera Odos) between Athens and Eleusis to facilitate the Sacred Procession to the sanctuary. Eusebius records that Hadrian had a bridge on the Sacred Way over the Eleusinian Cephissus (Kephissos) River, which often flooded (Cephisus fluvius Eleusinam inundavit, quem Hadrianus ponte conjungens). Remains of this fine structure have been found near the arrival of the Sacred Way from Athens at the Sanctuary. The bridge, 50 metres in length, spanned the 30-metre-wide riverbed and was supported by four arches. In addition, Hadrian ordered the construction of embankments along the river to avoid flooding. Sudden floods were a problem for the travellers and initiates. Visitors to the sanctuary had to cross the river located approximately one kilometre east of Eleusis. For most of the year, the water level was low enough for them to cross without much difficulty. However, during periods of rain or flooding, the crossing could become quite dangerous. Pausanias described this river as “more violent” than the Athenian Cephissus (Paus. 1.38.5).

The 265m long Sacred Way (Hiera Odos) in the area of Skaramagas in the western part of the Athens agglomeration.

The bridge along the Sacred Way, built by Hadrian in AD 124/5 over the Eleusinian Cephissus (Kephissos) River.

Hadrian also commissioned an imposing aqueduct, the remains of which are still visible in the modern town of Eleusis. The aqueduct ran partly underground (consisting of large terracotta sections) and partly elevated on high bridges built on solid foundations of Roman concrete. The water was brought from the springs of Mount Parnitha to the city through the Thriassion Plain. A fragmentary dedicatory inscription on an architectural block (IG II² 3196, see here), in which K. Clinton has tentatively restored Hadrian’s name, seems to belong to the aqueduct, but its construction was not completed before AD 160.

An elaborate fountain on the southeast side of the sanctuary’s court and large brick cisterns built against the east side of the peribolos walls are probably a component of a larger water supply management project attributed to Hadrian (Clinton, 1989b). The fountain was pi-shaped, 11.40m. wide, with six columns framing an eight-spout reservoir. In his study of the fountain, the architect A. Orlandos pointed out the similarities between the columns and the elaborate cornice of the superstructure to the northern half of the west façade of the Library of Hadrian in Athens (Orlandos, 1936). These important hydraulic engineering works were all intended to promote the town’s development in line with the urban quality of life requirements at that time.

The Hadrianic Aqueduct of Eleusis.

The preserved bottom of the Hadrianic fountain, a harmonious marble building with six columns on the facade.

The Roman Cisterns with four spacious rooms supplying water to the nearby fountain and baths.

It has been suggested that the forecourt, the gathering place before the procession’s entrance to the sanctuary, was remodelled at Hadrian’s initiative, although it was only completed under the Antonines. This spacious square, 65m long and 40m wide, was paved with large marble rectangular slabs. It was bordered by an L-shaped stoa, the Hadrianic fountain, and later by two honorary arches, the one on the left opening onto the road to Athens and the sea, the one on the right onto the road to Megara. The Sacred Way terminated at its northern end with a semicircular building forming the Exedra, where the dignitaries of the sanctuary attended the arrival of the worshipers. In the middle of the court stood the Temple of Artemis Propylaia and Poseidon Pater, similar in proportion and plan to the temple of Athena Nike on the Acropolis of Athens and several altars on which statues of the gods probably stood, and where offerings were burnt. The first stage was completed by the time of Pausanias’ visit, as he described seeing the temple of Artemis during his visit to the sanctuary c. AD 160 (Paus. 1.38.6), and the second may have been completed by Marcus Aurelius’ initiation in AD 176.

The Roman Court.

The two arches, generally attributed to Hadrian’s reign (between 135 and 138), were nearly identical copies of the Arch of Hadrian in Athens. Each carried across the architrave a double-faced inscription that read “To the goddesses and the emperor, the Philhellenes”. D. Philios, who excavated the arches at the end of the nineteenth century, thought that the unnamed emperor was Hadrian since, as the founder of the Panhellenion, he could receive this great gift from the Philhellenes (Clinton, 1989b). However, there has been a lack of consensus in past scholarship regarding their date. The discovery of five statue bases in the area of both arches dedicated to Theos (god) Hadrianos Panhellenios (IG II² 3386) and the deified Marcus Aurelius (IG II² 3397) and the members of his family (IG II² 3400, 3398, 3401, 3402) that probably stood on the second storey of each arch, indicate a terminus ante quem of AD 182. However, it remains uncertain when the group of statue bases was dedicated and added to the arches. Clinton suggested that the arches were most likely set up sometime earlier than the statues of the two dead emperors. He accepted Philios’ view that Hadrian was the living emperor who qualified to be named side by side with Demeter and Kore and receive honours from grateful Panhellenes.

Architectural fragments of the West Triumphal Arch modelled on the Arch of Hadrian in Athens.

Architectural fragments of the East Triumphal Arch modelled on the Arch of Hadrian in Athens.

Statue bases dedicated to the deified Marcus Aurelius, Theos (god) Hadrianos Panhellenios, and the deified Faustina (wife of Marcus Aurelius).

With the fountain using some features employed at the Library of Hadrian and the arches being near copies of the Arch of Hadrian in Athens, the visitor to Eleusis was confronted with the image of Hadrianic Athens upon arrival at the sanctuary at Eleusis.

Facing the forecourt was the façade of the Greater Propylaea. This imposing gateway marked the passage into the heart of the sanctuary in Roman times. It was built over the old North Pylon (Gate), the unadorned fort entrance of the first half of the 5th century BC. The monumental gateway was an almost exact copy of the central part of the Propylaea on the Acropolis of Athens. The Doric columns of the north façade were surmounted by an entablature with flat architraves, a frieze with triglyphs and metopes as well as a pediment decorated on the tympanum with a relief bust of the emperor placed in the centre of a shield (imago clipeata). The emperor wears a military cuirass decorated with a rather damaged gorgoneion in the middle. It depicts, most probably, Marcus Aurelius, to whom the completion of the Greater Propylaea is attributed, although Hadrian may have initiated its construction (Clinton, 1989a). 

The Greater Propylaea.

Framed portrait (imago clipeata) with a cuirassed bust of Marcus Aurelius, perhaps set up in time for his initiation to the Mysteries with Commodus in AD 176.

Antinous as Asclepius.

Antinous was not part of the Emperor’s entourage in 124 but was initiated in 128 when attending the Mysteries with Hadrian. At Eleusis, the Bithynian Boy was to take the form of an Eleusinian god. A statue of him assimilated to Asclepius was set up in the courtyard in front of the Greater Propylaea.

Behind the Great Propylaea, the pilgrim came to the so-called Lesser Propylaea, a gift to Demeter and Persephone by Appius Claudius Pulcher during his consulate in 54 BC. It was the main entrance to the Sanctuary before the latter was extended further to the north and the Greater Propylaea was constructed. This gateway consisted of two colonnaded porticoes, an outer one to the north several metres high Corinthian columns and an inner one towards the Telesterion flanked by Caryatids.

The impressive Lesser Propylaea.
Digital 3D reconstruction by John Goodinson for the Anasynthesis project (see here).

Behind the Great Propylaea stood a temple dedicated to Sabina as Nea Demetra (New Demeter), constructed on the north side of the Telesterion on an artificially created terrace. The temple was a Doric tetrastyle prostyle structure built of Pentelic marble, whose front pediment included sculptures featuring the abduction of Persephone by Pluto, with small-scale figures modelled on the western pediment of the Parthenon. Unfortunately, Persephone and Pluto, the central figures of the composition, are not preserved. There are, however, parts of the sculptures that represent the goddess Athena and Artemis, who accompanied the young daughter of Demeter. The iconography of the pediment makes explicit references to the origins of the Mysteries revolving around the abduction of Persephone, which led to the wanderings of Demeter to Eleusis and ultimately to her gift of grain to the Athenians.

The ruins of the Temple of Sabina.

The “Parthenonian” sculptures of the east pediment of the Temple of Sabina.
Archaeological Museum of Eleusis.

The initiation rites lasted nine days (the same time as Demeter’s quest for her daughter) and had various phases. Everyone, regardless of age, sex, social or financial status, was entitled to become an initiate. All that was required was to speak and understand Greek and be exempt from having committed the capital crime of murder. On the eve of the festival, young men, the ephebes, collected the sacred objects (hiera) kept in the Telesteron of Eleusis to the sanctuary of Demeter in the Eleusinion on the lower part of the northern slope of the Acropolis and then brought them back to Eleusis in pomp. Usually, the young men in this procession were armed. However, in 124, in the presence of the Emperor, their weapons were banned, so the Historia Augusta has it: ‘And during this stay in Greece care was taken, they say, that when Hadrian was present, none should come to a sacrifice armed, whereas, as a rule, many carried knives.’

The procession back to Eleusis began at Kerameikos and went to Athens via the Sacred Way, passing through the marshy plain of the Rheitoi lakes of Demeter and Persephone that stood next to the sea. Their waters were thought to be chthonic and accessible only by priests. Here, the Athenian Council decided to build a bridge on the southern Reithos (Persephone) in order to facilitate the passage of the procession. An inscribed decree of 421 BC specifies the construction of the pedestrian bridge (see here).

Relief Base of the statue of L. Nummius Nigreinos with a depiction of the sacred procession of the Eleusinian Mysteries with males and females carrying torches.
Archaeological Museum of Eleusis.

After a series of purification rituals, fasting, and animal sacrifices, the opening ceremony would take place at Eleusis on the fifth day. The initiates sang and danced in honour of Demeter around the Kallichoron well, fasting and then drinking a barley and mint beverage called Kykeon, the special potion of the Eleusinian Mysteries.

I fasted, I drank from the kykeon, I took out of the box, after I completed my task I placed back in the basket and from the basket in the box”. Clem. Alex. Protr. II.21

In the following days, several sacrifices were made on the altars of the Two Goddesses. During the night of the sixth to the seventh day, after being checked, the participants entered the Telesterion, the most important religious monument in the Sanctuary where the secret rituals took place. Inside its dark interior were six rows of seven columns and rows of seating along the walls, from which thousands of participants watched the proceedings. Exactly what happened during the ritual experience of the initiates in the Telesterion remains unknown. All that is known is that the ceremonies included ceremonial reenactments of various parts of the myth through ‘things done‘, ‘things said‘, and ‘things shown‘. The dromena (‘things done‘) appears to have been some kind of enactment that included music, hymns, and dances. The legomena (‘things said‘) involved short liturgical comments and explanations accompanying the events. Finally, the deiknymena (‘things shown‘) refers to the sacred objects kept in the Anaktoron (the inner sanctum) of the Telesterion, which were revealed to the initiates by the hierophants (Parker, 2005; Clinton, 1974). The Mysteries culminated in a mystical vision when the mystai became epoptai, those who see.

The Telesterion, the most important building of the Sanctuary.

Hadrian, accompanied by his wife Sabina, would spend much of the winter of 124 touring the Peloponnese. His presence in a series of famous cities during this time is well-documented, although the exact order of his visits may not be entirely certain in all instances. Inscriptions have been found recording his benefaction to these various places, and Pausanias also provides valuable evidence in his Guide to Greece, which he wrote a generation later.

Sources & references:

• Birley, A.R. (1997). Hadrian The Restless Emperor, London, Roman Imperial Biographies pp. 175-177
• Boatwright, M.T. (2000). Hadrian and the Cities of the Roman Empire, Princeton
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