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Chapter 8 - Walls and the Ancient Greek Ritual Experience

The Sanctuary of Demeter and Kore at Eleusis

from Part IV - Materiality

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2022

By
Michael Scott
Edited by
Esther Eidinow ,
Armin W. Geertz  and
John North
Esther Eidinow
Affiliation:
University of Bristol
Armin W. Geertz
Affiliation:
Aarhus Universitet, Denmark
John North
Affiliation:
University College London
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Summary

The shape and form of boundary walls around and within Greek sanctuaries, and the impact those boundaries had on the experience of the ritual happening within, have attracted little scholarly attention, especially in comparison to work on the powerful impacts of other elements of sanctuary architecture, and architecture more widely. This article, using the case study of the high temenos walls and those of the Telesterion temple structure of the sanctuary of Demeter and Kore at Eleusis, explores the active impact these walls had on particularly the sight- and sound-scapes engaged with by participants. As such it argues for the crucial importance of these walls at Eleusis in creating the intensity, emotion, power, and conviction of the ritual experience of the Mysteries for participants.

Keywords

temenossensesseeinghearingEleusismysterieswalls
Type
Chapter
Information
Cognitive Approaches to Ancient Religious Experience , pp. 193 - 217
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

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