Lykourgean Fortification and South Pylon (Gate)

At the South Pylon of the Sanctuary terminated the road from the harbor and the seaside. This gateway forms part of the south branch of the fortification enclosure, which is preserved almost up to its original height. It is the so-called Lykourgean Fortification, which was built in the 4^th cent. BC to enlarge the Sanctuary on the south side.

The wall had an average thickness of about 2,55m and two towers, a circular one in the southeast corner and a square one that protected the South Pylon. It was constructed in the so-called isodomic system of masonry, as the preceding Periclean Fortification, which it imitates, with grey-blue eleusinian limestone blocks in the lower part and yellow-red poros blocks with flattened outer face in the superstructure.

As much the bichrome effect of the stones as the color shading that is produced by the different ways of stone processing, demonstrate the effort of the ancient architects to combine the functionality of fortification works with aesthetics.

The South Pylon (Gate) was in use until the end of the function of the Sanctuary. In Roman times the threshold of the gate was raised over the level of the 4^th cent. BC, its opening was narrowed and in the inner part a kind of corridor was constructed. Today, there are preserved in place two thresholds overlying the original one.

Sacred House Mithraeum