Peloponnese Trip I: Eleusis and Perachora

EDIT: Fun fact: I can't spell altar. Now back to work on that Olympia post...
I've finally reached the boring, pictureless updates and can replace them with real stuff.

We were joined by Aleko Costas from CYA and then boarded the bus for a day full of driving. The only two sites we did, as well as lunch, weren't actually in the Peloponnese, so we got all of the work out of the way in the morning and then settled in for the six hour drive to Olympia.

The first site we did was Eleusis, a sanctuary site on the western border of Attica, between the territory of the ancient city-states of Athens and Megara. It's mostly famous as a sanctuary of Demeter, and was the site of a huge mystery cult. As opposed to normal Hellenic religion, this would involve initiation and a private annual ritual. It had something to do with the post-death experience and became very popular with Roman visitors even before the conquest of Greece. Being a major pagan sanctuary in a well-traveled area, this site hasn't survived as well as some other which were just abandoned during the Christian area.

Look! Rocks.
I vaguely recall this being an altar to Artemis. While Eleusis was mostly focused on Demeter, Persephone and even Hades, this altar was outside the entrance of that sanctuary. Judging by the construction, these are Roman remains.
Debris. Those are Corinthian order column capitals stack on Doric triglyphs from a temple roof.
Marcus Aurelius. Hadrian didn't get around to building/rebuilding everything in Greece, so a few emperors down the line M. Aurelius went on another building spree.
Decorations. Wheat, flowers, containers for the harvest... you know, agricultural stuff as befits an agricultural goddess.
A cave that was probably a shrine to Hades. This is the only one I've even heard of. The Greeks didn't normally sacrifice to Hades, partly since he got everyone in the end, and partly because he wasn't the kind of god one wanted to draw the attention of. Normally Persephone acted as his intermediary, since he was only half-creepy.
The cult building. Unlike the traditional temple, this one was meant for the ritual and the attendees to stay inside. It started off pretty small but was expanded several times. You can still see some of the seating carved into the rock.
A Roman sarcophagus. I don't know what's going on in the carving, but it sure is dramatic. Note that the lid looks a little small. This is because the Romans didn't have any problems with reusing other people's sarcophagi and the original lid for this probably didn't outlast the original owner.
A big vase from the transition from Geometric/Dark Age to Archaic style. Odysseus and some happy sailors blinding the cyclops Polyphemus, and then below them some bulls. Below the bulls you can see two gorgons, who kinda look like big vase monsters themselves. Around the left side is the beheaded corpse of their sister, Medusa, and the damaged bit on the right is the figure they're chasing, Perseus.
A blurry picture of a Karyatid. For scale, that's a regular sized chair next to the base, only a few feet behind her. This lady was huge, and, like the ones at the Erechtheion on the Athenian acropolis, basically acted like a decorated column.
Our first Antinoos. Hadrian was a prolific builder, and this is at least partially because he spent most of his reign traveling around the empire in general, and Greece and Egypt in particular. While in Egypt, his boyfriend drowned in the Nile. The heartbroken emperor had him deified (the Romans would have worshiped a sock puppet if you told them it was an exotic god from the east) and ordered statues made of him all over the Roman world. We saw a few of him, and there's a particularly good one in the National Museum.
A reconstruction of the site. The big building is the main cult site. Good Hellenes weren't supposed to sack sanctuary sites, but Eleusis was also a border town and that wall is proof that the Athenians weren't foolish enough to rely on their enemies' piety.
A dedication. I probably took this picture because it's got writing on it, but it's just the chick's name.

Next we went to an archaic site that nobody goes to, or at least not for archaeological purposes. That's probably because the place, Perachora, is a great spot for an afternoon off. Nowadays, with roads and automobiles, it's out of the way but not that hard to get to. This is one of the few pictures I've bothered to map through Panoramio's Google Maps widget. Take a look at that, and zoom out until you can see Korinthos. Right around the spot labeled E65 is where the ancient polis of Corinth was, and they're the once who controlled the site. It's a bit far away by land, but you can actually see Corinth's acropolis across the Gulf of Corinth from Perachora.
Dr. Farney in a 7th century BCE stoa.
Dr. Bloy in a 7th century BCE stoa.
21st century CE tourists.
An archaic cistern, that would have held the site's water supply.
Deanna, Ana and NaDea sitting on 2600-year-old couches in a dining room. They weren't that comfortable, but in ancient times they would have had cushions.
We ate lunch with a view. That water is actually a big lake that only opens out into the sea because of a canal.

After lunch we drove six hour to the modern town of "Ancient Olympia", where we stayed the night before hitting the ancient site of "Olympia" the next day.