Mithraeum

Mithraea (Mithraic temples) were gathering places for the followers of the Indo-Iranian in origin god Mithras, the main deity of a mystic cult that flourished in the 2^nd  and  3^rd  cent. BC in the Roman Empire. The cult of Mithras gained numerous and faithful worshippers among the soldiers of the Roman legions who spred it across Europe as they moved in the course of wars.

In the Sanctuary of Eleusis, as Mithraeum has been interpreted by the excavator K. Kourouniotis, a building of Roman times that was attached to the polygonal enclosure of the Sacred House, at the south end of the eastern branch of the enclosure. The interpretation is based on its peculiar interior, which recalls the typology of Mithras cult places.

It consists of a rectangular room with two big built benches along the long sides, which were approached by small stairways. On these benches the worshippers sat or reclined. The statue of the god was placed on a built pedestal, at the far end of the room.

At the entrance of the Mithraeum, on the east side, there was a marble porch of classical times in second use. This Doric porch with two columns between pilasters on the façade, is identified with the monumental porch that ornamented already in the 5^th cent. BC the Peisistratean North Gate (Pylon), which was demolished in the mid 1^st cent. BC. The porch was kept in a safe place and reused in the Mithraeum, most probably, in the years of August (end of 1^st cent. BC – beginning of 1^st cent. AD).

In Roman times, the official religion undergoes gradual development, as a result of the influences exerted on it following the conquest of other people with different cultures and religions, which were spreading easily. In Eleusis, indeed, the last Hierophant from Thespiae held the rank of Father in the Mithraic Mysteries.

Lykourgean Fortification and South Pylon (Gate) Gymnasium