DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4098#0636
ELEUSIS. 581
TO ELEUSIS.
On the 30th we set sail for Athens; but, as a violent gale sprung
up from the south-east,1 we were obliged to change our course, and
put into the port of Eleusis : we passed the night at the neighbouring
village of Leusina ; which is about three hundred paces from the sea.
This celebrated city, which, according to some accounts,2 owed its
foundation to Ogyges, was in the tribe Hippothoontis, and was one
of the twelve in the time of Cecrops; but, although it was included
in Attica, it was considered as belonging rather to the priests of
Ceres, than to the Athenians; and its territory3 was separated from
that of Attica, by two contiguous salt streams, called Rheitoi, at the
foot of Mount Aigaleos.
The hero Rharos gave his name to the Rharian plain,4 which
was separated from the Thriasian or Eleusinian plain, by the ridge
of hills, upon which was built the Acropolis of Eleusis.
If we may credit ancient historians,5 the Greeks, prior to the time
of Ceres and Triptolemos,6 fed upon acorns instead of corn. The
common acorn however could never have been accommodated to
the human stomach; but that of the ilex or ever-green oak is eat-
able, and even nourishing to a certain degree, although unwhole-
some.7
1 The Euros of the Athenians, as indicated on the tower of the Winds.
2 According to Diodorus Siculus, it had its name from the arrival of Ceres; EX^inc,
" Adventus," b. 5; but Pausanias says, it took its name from Eleusis, son of Ogyges, b. 1.
c. S8. Consult Aristid. Rhetor. Eleus. vol. 1. p. 257. Tatian. Orat. ad Grac. 6l. Clemens
Alexand. Stromat. b. 1. p. 381. Euseb. Chronic, b. 2. p. 66. Etymol. Magn. in voce
EXevaiov. Paul Orosius Advers. pagan, b. 1. c. 7. 3 Pausan. b. 1. c. 3S.
4 Paptov ircdiov, or Papta yrj, Stephan. de Urbib. p. 652. Hesych. Lexic. vol. 2. p. 1102.
Meurs. de Regn. Athen. b. 1. c. 14. s Plin. Nat. Hist. b. 7- c.56.
c Triptolemos was supposed to have first planted corn in Attica •> hence Athens is called
" Fnignm Parens" by Floras, b. 3. c. 5.
7 The Scythians made bread with acorns, according to Olaus Mag. Goth. b. 12. c. 6. de
Structu. Aquilo.
TO ELEUSIS.
On the 30th we set sail for Athens; but, as a violent gale sprung
up from the south-east,1 we were obliged to change our course, and
put into the port of Eleusis : we passed the night at the neighbouring
village of Leusina ; which is about three hundred paces from the sea.
This celebrated city, which, according to some accounts,2 owed its
foundation to Ogyges, was in the tribe Hippothoontis, and was one
of the twelve in the time of Cecrops; but, although it was included
in Attica, it was considered as belonging rather to the priests of
Ceres, than to the Athenians; and its territory3 was separated from
that of Attica, by two contiguous salt streams, called Rheitoi, at the
foot of Mount Aigaleos.
The hero Rharos gave his name to the Rharian plain,4 which
was separated from the Thriasian or Eleusinian plain, by the ridge
of hills, upon which was built the Acropolis of Eleusis.
If we may credit ancient historians,5 the Greeks, prior to the time
of Ceres and Triptolemos,6 fed upon acorns instead of corn. The
common acorn however could never have been accommodated to
the human stomach; but that of the ilex or ever-green oak is eat-
able, and even nourishing to a certain degree, although unwhole-
some.7
1 The Euros of the Athenians, as indicated on the tower of the Winds.
2 According to Diodorus Siculus, it had its name from the arrival of Ceres; EX^inc,
" Adventus," b. 5; but Pausanias says, it took its name from Eleusis, son of Ogyges, b. 1.
c. S8. Consult Aristid. Rhetor. Eleus. vol. 1. p. 257. Tatian. Orat. ad Grac. 6l. Clemens
Alexand. Stromat. b. 1. p. 381. Euseb. Chronic, b. 2. p. 66. Etymol. Magn. in voce
EXevaiov. Paul Orosius Advers. pagan, b. 1. c. 7. 3 Pausan. b. 1. c. 3S.
4 Paptov ircdiov, or Papta yrj, Stephan. de Urbib. p. 652. Hesych. Lexic. vol. 2. p. 1102.
Meurs. de Regn. Athen. b. 1. c. 14. s Plin. Nat. Hist. b. 7- c.56.
c Triptolemos was supposed to have first planted corn in Attica •> hence Athens is called
" Fnignm Parens" by Floras, b. 3. c. 5.
7 The Scythians made bread with acorns, according to Olaus Mag. Goth. b. 12. c. 6. de
Structu. Aquilo.