Eleusis is a magical place to visit in Greece. Today it is a city about 11 kilometers northwest of Athens, but in the past, it was home to the Eleusinian mysteries. These mysteries revolved around the ancient Greek myth of Persephone, the Goddess of the Underworld. According to legend, parts of the mysteries took place at Eleusis.
In addition to this connection to the legend, there is also an ancient temple in the city. The Nekromanteion (“the Oracle of the Dead”), dedicated to Hades and Persephone, was used by ancient people in rituals to try to communicate with the dead.
The myth
Persephone is sometimes referred to as Kore or the Maiden and is sometimes called “the maiden with the beautiful ankles.” She appears as a beautiful young maiden, right on the edge of femininity. Known as a charming and loving goddess, her beauty was so dazzling that it attracted unwanted attention from Hades.
The symbols of Persephone include the narcissus and the pomegranate. According to the story, Hades planted daffodil flowers to attract Persephone. When she stopped to pluck the flowers, he leapt out of the ground and captured her, dragging her to be his queen in the Underworld. Hades was Persephone’s uncle and her father, Zeus, had given him permission to take her as his girlfriend. Hades fed her pomegranate seeds in the Underworld, binding her forever to that place. Her mother, Demeter, sought her out and, in her anguish, prevented all food from growing on Earth.
While most sources indicate that Persephone was not happy to have “married” Hades, others claim that she deliberately ate the pomegranate seeds as a way to free herself from her mother. As the Earth’s crops withered, Zeus had to intercede and helped come to terms with Hades. A myth says that Persephone had to stay a third of the year with her husband, Hades; a third of the year as a servant of Zeus; and a third with their mother. The best-known story equally divides its time between Demeter and Hades.
Temples
Eleusis and the spooky Nekromanteion can be visited by travelers even today. Agia Kore, or Saint Kore, is a church built by a raging river near the village of Brontou, in the foothills of Mount Olympus. This site is believed to mark an ancient temple to Persephone and Demeter.
