place
Eleusis
also: Eleusine, Eleusis
Town in Attica, seat of the Eleusinian Mysteries of Demeter and Persephone; Appius Claudius Pulcher was building a propylaeum (monumental gateway) to its sanctuary in 50 BC.
Reading notes
- Ad Atticum 6.1 §26 at Eleusis
A propylaeum is a monumental gateway; Appius Claudius Pulcher, an initiate, was financing one for the sanctuary of the Eleusinian Mysteries near Athens, prompting Cicero's half-joking wish to build one for the Academy.
- On the Nature of the Gods §1.119 I pass over Eleusis
The site near Athens of the Eleusinian Mysteries, the most famous secret initiation rites of antiquity. Cotta lists it with Samothrace and Lemnos as cults whose hidden meaning, rationally unfolded, concerns nature rather than the gods.