The Lesser Propylaea
The monumental Gateway east of Ploutonion, built in the place where in earlier times stood the Peisistratean North Pylon, was the main entrance to the Sanctuary, before the latter was extended further to the north. Then the Greater Propylaea was constructed, as the main entrance, while the Gateway served as the inner entrance, the Lesser Propylaea. According to a Latin inscription on its architrave, it was dedicated to Demeter and Persephone by Appius Claudius Pulcher, a Roman consul in 54 BC.
The edifice consists of two colonnaded porticoes, an outer one to the north and an inner one towards the Telesterion. They were separated by a transverse wall with double door which opened into the inner portico, as it is indicated also by the well preserved semicircular furrows on the slab paved floor. Two other preserved furrows, straight and parallel to each other, probably enabled the rainwater to drain.
The layout of the outer portico was particular: The pediment above the gate was supported by the door pilasters and two columns. The capitals of the columns and pilasters were of the Corinthian order and bore elaborate decoration of winged animals (lions and bulls).
Between the columns and the pediment featured an Ionic architrave and Doric frieze decorated with the cult symbols of Demeter: cists, sheaves of wheat, rosettes and bucrania. The building had a coffered ceiling.
The inner portico was differently arranged. It had a flat coffered ceiling, which was supported by two monumental «Caryatids» of pentelic marble. One is on display in the Archaeological Museum of Eleusis, while the other one was stolen by the English traveler Edward Clark and transported to Cambridge in 1812, where it is still today. Both statues depict Maidens who carry on their head the mystic cist, namely the cylindrical container in which the sacred objects of cult were kept and carried. The cists were also decorated with carved in relief symbols of the cult of Demeter.
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