Date: May 7
Partners for the day: Ray (text) Mike (pictures)
Sites: Eleusus
Museums: Eleusis Museum
Principle Buildings/Monuments: Greater Propylaia, Plutonion, Great Telesterion, Cisterns, Hiera Oikia
Time Spent on Sites: from ca. 8 to ca. 1:30 [5.5 hours]
Weather: Sunny and hot
The Greece 2007 FSPers and the Eleusinian Mysteries
CAST:
Professor Jeremy Rutter as Sherlock Holmes
Chris Blankenship as Watson
Liz Stamoulis as Nancy Drew
Kelsey Blodget as Frank Hardy
Kyle Jazwa as Joe Hardy
Nick Ortiz as Encyclopedia Brown
Lizz Sigler and Caleb Chaplain as the Olsen Twins
Gahl Rinat as Inspector Clousseau
Pete Kitlas as Curious George
Josh Drake as the Man in the Yellow Hat
Brooks Smith as Inspector Gadget
Ben O’Donnell as Dick Tracy
Kinsey Stewart as Ms. Scarlet
Kristina Guild as Daphne
Ray Di Ciaccio as Shaggy
Johann Maradey as Scooby Doo
AND Mike Holmes as Hades
DISCLAIMER: The following events may or may not be based on real people and real events. They might roughly follow the group’s tour through the ancient site of Eleusis, during which each member of the group presented what they saw in their assigned area. They may also be inspired by Greek mythology. Eleusis is famous for the “Eleusinian Mysteries” – the rituals of a secretive cult that focused on the goddesses Demeter and Persephone and which dealt with the uncertainty and anxiety associated with the afterlife. We know little about the actual ceremonies – thus they are mysteries.
It was a dark and stormy night when the goddess Demeter burst into the office of Dick Tracy. “I’m in trouble, Dick,” she said desperately. “It’s my daughter Persephone – I can’t find her anywhere.”
“Don’t worry. I’m on the case – I’ll bring along a couple of friends too,” Dick replied. “I heard you’ve been spending a lot of time down at Eleusis. Maybe we should start there.” [Insert dramatic music here.]
Sherlock Holmes began the investigation right away, as the team of crack crime-solvers entered the marble-clad courtyard from the Sacred Way, a road leading from Athens to Eleusis. He divided the team into smaller groups and assigned each to an area of the sanctuary to look for clues. As Curious George naturally explored the site, the Man in the Yellow Hat described the current condition of Eleusis: “It’s so hard to tell where the walls connect. This is a very confusing site. Mysterious even…”
The first area that was investigated was the entry courtyard. Inspector Clousseau discovered a Roman altar with cuttings for a metal grill for cooking the sacrificial meat – this got Shaggy and Scooby’s mouths watering for some barbecue.
“Jinkies!” cried Daphne, “Look what I found! A well of Demeter – sitting out here in the courtyard.”
Little did Daphne know that the team would find a number of wells all throughout the site of Eleusis. Next, Curious George came across the Lesser Propylaia inside of the major gateway into the sanctuary. He pointed out with intermittent monkey noises that the triglyphs and metopes decorating the otherwise Ionic building were very mysterious indeed. Not only did they not belong on an Ionic building, but they were also decorated with stalks of wheat and wooden chests. As the Olsen twins were about to describe a seating area off to the side of the main road, Scooby began complaining he was hungry.
“Ruh roh! Rhere’s rall ruh rood?” (“Uh oh! Where’s all the food?”)
“Yeah, man, there’s like a famine or something… and I’m starving!” Shaggy chimed in.
The investigative team began to notice that there was nothing growing – in fact, nothing was growing in all of Greece! Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys decided to try to tackle this mystery, but Encyclopedia Brown beat them to it.
“Well, since the goddess Demeter is responsible for crops and fruitfulness, she must be holding them back as ransom for her daughter! We need to solve the mystery of the missing Persephone quickly!”
Off on his own, Dick Tracy had made an important discovery: the Plutonion. “This seems to be a shrine to Hades. The caves here must be viewed as passages to the underworld, or perhaps some way of communication with the underworld. But what does this mean?”
More important discoveries were ahead for the team. Joe Hardy, Nancy Drew and Shaggy explored a large building known as the Great Telesterion. They discovered that it was actually the Hall of Initiation and the Mysteries – but what were these “mysteries?” To everyone, they began to seem like the key to the puzzle.
Inside the museum at Eleusis, Ms. Scarlet discovered yet another important clue. It was a relief sculpture showing Demeter carrying torches.
Nancy Drew said, “Golly! We’ve got a lot of clues, but my high-school brain just can’t put them all together!”
Ms. Scarlet proceeded to accuse Colonel Mustard of the crime, “It was Colonel Mustard in the garden with the swallow-tail clamp.” Unfortunately for Ms. Scarlet, Colonel Mustard was not even at Eleusis and therefore was innocent.
Then Watson exclaimed, “We do have the greatest detective of all time right here. What do you make of this, Inspector Holmes?”
“Well, if you noticed, there are a lot of wells all around this site. Also in the Plutonion there were holes cut into the caves, furthering connections with the underworld. These two clues point towards there being definite connections with death and the underworld in these “mysteries” that are performed here. We just saw an image of Demeter carrying torches – these mysteries probably take place at night. On the metopes of the Lesser Propylaia we saw several decorative wooden chests; I suppose these are material representations of the revelations experienced during these mysteries – probably revelations dealing with death and the afterlife. Perhaps these people are seeking some sort of comfort, just as Demeter is seeking her daughter. I believe that Hades has something to do with the missing Persephone. Elementary, my dear Watson.”
Inspector Gadget excitedly exclaimed, “Go go gadget arms!” And he sent his robotic arms down into the underworld. When he retracted his arms, he pulled up Persephone and Hades! Demeter and Persephone were overjoyed at their reunion.
“Now let’s find out who’s really guilty,” said Daphne as she pulled at Hades’ mask. [Insert intense orchestra hits and dramatic music.]
“MIKE HOLMES!” everyone exclaimed. “We never would have suspected you!”
He replied, “Yes, and I would have gotten away with it too if it wasn’t for you meddling kids!”
Ray returns after having the bus doors slam in his face while he was disembarking. For several seconds he had starred at us hopelessly, bidding the group farewell in its quest to finally solve the Eleusinian Mysteries and resigning himself to his fate. Gahl’s mad pursuit of the vehicle on foot was to no avail, and Ray was forced to travel several blocks before he finally convinced the driver to stop with several blows from an Indian Jones style whip.
Josh, Brooks, and Kinsey ponder over mysteries while sitting on the steps of the Greater Propylaia. Pete apparently has no such worries upon his mind.
Professor Rutter explains what we know of the Eleusinian Mysteries while standing in the Great Forecourt, an open area before the Greater Propylaia which was paved with marble. Very little has been revealed about the mysteries from literary sources, as participants were well aware that divulging the secrets of the festival would inevitably lead to their doom. The cult was very popular throughout the Greek world because it guaranteed a happy afterlife to its initiates, a minute detail unfortunately lacking in standard Greek mythology.
After his intense fight on the bus, Ray was feeling rather hungry. He became even more so upon eyeing this Roman altar to Pluto. Cuttings along the top of the altar would have been used to hold the grill spits on which sacrificed meat was roasted.
Chris vents his frustration before an ancient fountain located next to the Great Forecourt. Is he lamenting the complexity of the cult’s puzzle, or simply the lack of water underneath the blazing Mediterranean sun?
The view looking towards the Great Forecourt from the far end of the Greater Propylaia. This building provided a grand entry into the sacred Precinct of Demeter. Constructed by Marcus Aururelius, the Greater Propylaia provides an excellent example of the embellishment of Eleusis by several Roman emperors who had become initiates into the cult. Note the resemblance to the Propylaia on the Athenian Acropolis, with the outer Doric colonnade, and inner Ionic columns flanking the entranceway.
It was absolutely forbidden for the uninitiated to enter the Precinct of Demeter, and transgression of this canon was punishable only by death. Pete was caught snooping around in the sanctuary and is here being hauled out of the Greater Propylaia to face his execution.
Liz poses in place of the caryatid which once held up the roof of the Lesser Propylaia, a building constructed in the 1st century BC. Behind her is the cavern which backed the shrine known as the Plutonion and was believed to connect directly with the underworld.
Later in the day, Liz discovered the original caryatid from the Lesser Propylaia in the site museum. One mystery solved!
Gahl stretches out in a viewing area to watch the procession of the Greater Eleusinia pass by on its way to the Great Telesterion.
Kinsey poses before a remarkably well-preserved wall located in the Archaic levels of the site. To her left the wall is constructed of Lesbian polygonal masonry, a style which originated in Lesbos and dates to the 7th century BC. The isodomic masonry on her right is indicative of a 6th century reconstruction. Also in the immediate vicinity are mudbrick walls of the early 5th century, the Periclean walls of the later 5th century, and a conglomerate wall of the 4th century. There are few sites that yield more information on changes in fortification masonry styles than Eleusis.
Kyle uses his tape measurer to point out features of the Great Telesterion, a massive congregational building that had a dodecastyle façade and could have accommodated up to 3000 initiates. It was here that the most important rites of the Eleusinian Mysteries were carried out. Six earlier structures were located on the same site; hence the reason for the trench upon which Kyle is standing. On a rather ridiculous note, a guard heckled our group for Kyle’s possession of a tape measurer. Apparently the authorities at Eleusis were disappointed to learn that the convenient yells of “No flash!” and “No people in picture!” aren’t very applicable outside of a museum. In their desperation to curb their withdrawal symptoms, they came to the conclusion that taking careful measurements is an evil and highly destructive activity which must be stopped at any cost. Can anyone say power trip?
Josh leans against a cornice block from the Great Telesterion. Note the round pegs, or guttae, which hang from the underside of the cornice on Doric buildings.
Kinsey explains the iconography of a Geometric funerary vase found in the West Cemetery of Eleusis. Dating to the middle of the 7th century, the vase portrays the blinding of Polyphemus on its neck, and the beheading of Medusa on its body.
Nick leads a band of pirates in an assault on the South Gate of the sanctuary. However, the fact that this picture was taken from the top of a square tower flanking the gate means that his life expectancy is extremely short. Note that the positioning of the tower forced Nick to expose his unshielded right side to enemy fire. Both the gate and the tower were constructed as part of the Lycurgan wall, dating to approximately 360 BC.
The group files down the length of the Lycurgan wall, which was built out of a combination of Eleusinian limestone and yellow poros for decorative effect. The remains of a round tower may be seen at the far corner.
The peaceful Sanctuary of Demeter sadly clashes heavily with the modern industrial town that surrounds it. The site is only a few hundred meters from a modern port, and is bordered by such lovely smelling facilities as steal works and chemical plants.
Final Comments:
Fortunately for the group, the afternoon was scheduled as free time. Unfortunately, that free time involved writing the paper due at midnight for nearly all involved. So much for a relaxing free day… Those who have finished a tad bit earlier than the rest are going to rub it in everyone else’s faces by watching Spiderman III and getting some great American food. Who knew that you’d ever start missing American food? Hopefully they’ll have root beer. Some of us are going into withdrawal.
FSP in Greece 2007 - Dartmouth College 