The Greater Propylaea

The Greater Propylaea was the imposing gateway to the Sanctuary in Roman imperial times. It was built over the old North Pylon (Gate), the unadorned fort entrance of Cimon’s time (first half of 5^th cent. BC).

The building was oriented toward Athens and was an almost exact copy of the central part of the Propylaea on the Acropolis.

 It constists of two colonnaded porches with six Doric columns on the façade. The north porch, the outer one, had five entrances, accessible from the Roman court by a strairway of six steps. Quite interesting are the numerous graffiti floor games incised on the steps and the paved floor, which demonstrate the use of the place by the worshippers for entertainment and social interaction, prior to entering the main Sanctuary for the performance of the mystic cult. 

The south porch led to the inner court of the Sanctuary which was accessible without using stairs. Close to the porch there was a transverse wall with five doors, of which today only the thresholds are preserved. The wall divided the building into two unequal parts, the north part being considerably larger. To ensure better structural support of the roof a portico extended along the long axis with six elegant Ionian columns, behind the two central columns of the north porch.

The Doric columns of the north façade were surmounted by an entablature with flat architraves, frieze with triglyphs and metopes as well as by a pediment decorated on the tympanum with a relief bust of the emperor placed in the center of a shield (imago clipeata). The emperor wears a military cuirass decorated with a rather damaged gorgoneion (Gorgon mask) in the middle, on which in later years a christian cross was engraved. It depicts, most probably, Marcus Aurelius who ruled from 161 to 180 AD and to whom the completion of the Greater Propylaea is attributed.

To the west of the monument today there are gathered many of the preserved architectural parts of the edifice, as well as the part of the north pediment with the image of the emperor.

Kallichoron Well Roman Cistern