Elefsin (Elefsis) is a city and municipality in Western Attica, Greece. It is located about 18-20 km northwest of the centre of Athens on the northern coast of the Saranic Gulf. Eleusinus is the administrative centre of Western Attica and a major industrial centre.
Settlement on the lands of modern Eleusinus existed as early as the Neolithic era. By the middle of the 2nd millennium B.C. Eleusinus became a cult centre of Demeter and Persephone, which actually laid the foundation for the famous Eleusinian Mysteries, held here annually in spring and autumn (the Little and Great Mysteries) for almost two thousand years. Eleusinian mysteries, being in ancient Greece, perhaps, the most important and significant event of all existing secret rites, and brought Eleusinian world fame.
In 392, by decree of the Roman Emperor Theodosius, who sought to eradicate paganism and strengthen the position of Christianity, the sanctuary was closed, abandoned and, as a consequence, soon looted and destroyed. The first excavations of ancient Eleusinus, which is of great historical and archaeological interest, began as early as 1882 under the auspices of the Hellenic Archaeological Society.
In the course of archaeological excavations was revealed part of the sacred road leading from Athens to Eleusin, on which, according to legend, and marched the solemn procession during the Eleusinian mysteries, the temple dedicated to the goddess Demeter - Telesterion, erected according to the design of the famous ancient Greek architect Iktina in the V century BC, Small and Great Propylaea (the latter built in the second century BC on the likeness of the Athenian Propylaea). Fragments of an ancient necropolis with tholos and megaron dating back to the 15th-13th centuries BC and various buildings from the Roman period were also discovered. Most of the unique ancient artefacts found during the excavations are now on display at the Archaeological Museum of Eleusinus..
