Gate to Greece: Eleusis- Elefsina, Greater Propylaia Great Propylaea

<Location> Elefsina (Eleusis site), Suburb of Athens, Greece

"Propylaia" means monumental gate of a sanctuary or a city. The sanctuary of Eleusis has two propypaia and the outer and greater one is called Great or Greater Propylaia. In the photo above is the monument seen from the east (from outside of the sanctuary), and below is the same monument seen from the north.

It was constracted roughtly in the same period as the Forecourt. Judging from the imperial portrait used on the pediment (see below), it must have been completed by Marcus Aurelius, but it might have been started by Hadrian. It is faithfully modelled on the central part of Propylaia of the Athenian Acropolis, and covered with Pentelic marble.

In the foreground of the photo above are part of the Doric friese and a colossal portrait of an emperor (probably Marcus Aurelius) used in the pediment.

Right and below are the shots on the Propylaia where there used to be rows of columns. As is the case of the Propylaia of Acropolis, Ionian columns were used here (the façade was Dolic).

Sort of grafitti on the marble pavement.

Below is the Great Propylaia seen from the acropolis.

Reference

Christopher Mee & Antony Spawforth, Greece. An Oxford Archaeological Guide. Oxford/ OUP, 2001, pp. 138-40.
Robin Barbar, Athens (Blue Guide), London- N.Y. 2002, p. 270.

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