There is a fine line that in the mythical region of Attica (Greece) separates paradise from hell and is named after women; of goddesses: Demeter and Persephone. “Ekas i vevill” says the inscription in ancient Greek sculpted thousands of years ago on the wall that separates one space from the other; the place of one goddess or another. “Away with those who do not respect the sacred,” translates Maria, the guide who has come from Athens to point out point by point the most mysterious place in the ancient world and reveal its secrets.
But at this hour – it is twelve in the morning on a winter day – and here – in Eleusis, next to the heart of the Attica region that is preparing the climax of its time as European cultural capital 2023— everything has something of paradise. The blue color of the Aegean Sea is as intense as the green of the Peloponnese mountains that rise behind you; Behind the sailboats and small boats, the Greek islands burst prominently above the horizon line. And the overwhelming force of the myth of Demeter, the goddess of fertility who marked and marks Europe from its foundations until today, envelops everything and everyone: A man with a beard – Javier – dries his eyes as he contemplates the scene: “I have been dreaming of being here. “This is the most important site in the entire Greek world,” he tells me. There is a well next to the grotto that represents the underworld. On it there are pomegranates, branches of wheat and barley, and bay leaves that are offerings. According to the Homeric song, in that exact place Persephone—Kore—, teenage goddess daughter of Zeus, was kidnapped and taken to the underworld. Demeter, her mother, wandered full of pain in search of her, disguised herself as a human and, upon being discovered, demanded that she return her daughter or the land would never flourish again. She later demanded that they create in this place the temple in which the entire Greek world was initiated into the mysteries of Eleusis. The story of the mother and daughter of Greek Olympus, like every myth, also has a very important symbolic weight. This site became the geographical point in which to experience death and rebirth. Women and men, slaves and free, foreigners and natives, came here to experience the same transformative climax as the one described by Homer in his song to Demeter. This is how their minds or lives changed. Your formula? Nobody knows exactly. Talking about it was punishable by death.
Socrates, through Plato, spoke of its importance, but did not describe it. Homer wrote about flowers and songs, female sisterhood. Later, Shakespeare, Camus, Schiller, Beauvoir, Wolf, Sartre, Jung, Nietzsche and most of the great creators of our culture sucked on Persephone and Demeter. “Today the old myth is transformed in each show into seeds to face the challenges of the planet,” says the artist Michail Marmarinos, who directs the Eleusis shows. “The climax of the show has the transformative power of myths,” he adds. It could not be otherwise, the journey to the feminine myth of Demeter and Persephone in Eleusis is a spectacle today, but in Attica and Greece, the main goddesses of the mythical Olympus who inspire works such as Goddesses of every woman, by Jean Shinoda Bolen, have their geographical space.
The most sacred triangle of Antiquity
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On the island of Aegina, at one o'clock, two middle-aged women take off their shoes, open their arms and observe the temple of Aphaea with passion. The place described by Apollodorus, which is dedicated to the goddess daughter of Leto, sister of Apollo and Artemis, marks the heart of one of the closest and quietest islands to Athens – less than two hours by ferry. Connecting with the authentic here is easy and safe. The treasure is unknown. Surrounded by pine forests, simple men and women, the best preserved female temple in Greece stands far from the massive routes. The singing of the birds, the aroma of the pines and the vision of the sea behind the marble columns are a gateway to connection with the ancestral. “We are in the exact center of the ancient Greek sacred triangle. This stone marks the point in front of the temple of Poseidon and Athena,” explains Valentina in a low voice, a woman who has come up here to say goodbye to her partner, who died a few weeks ago.
Just over 10 kilometers away, but at the other end of the triangle located in the temple of Poseidon, the sea is the spectacle at Cape Sonio. It is there that Despina Economopoulou translates part of the cultural and geographical legacy of the Greek goddesses into images. “Mother Athena, a great weaver, also has a temple here next to that of Poseidon, but almost no one visits it. They are both protectors of Athens,” explains the filmmaker, ritual artist and cultural interpreter sitting in front of the sea, while she opens a carefully hand-woven bag and takes out a small jar of honey to put on the ground as an offering. “I am indigenous to Greece, I am inspired by the memory of my origins. In these places you experience the connection with the planet and with yourself,” she adds shortly before, already in silence, observing the sea: “The intensity of this Aegean blue defines our culture; This sea that Homer spoke about heals us. You feel it?”.
It is impossible not to feel it even at the other end of the triangle that is right in the center of the Acropolis of Athens, where the Parthenon stands as the great feminine heart of Attica. As if Pericles, responsible for its construction, had wanted to make it clear to future generations that the Greek cultural pillar was Athena, virgin goddess.
In the Attica region, the feminine is written in the present tense through gastronomy. When leaving the temples, the traditional food, which changes with the seasons, connects with the planet and its rhythms through flavors. There's a reason Homer also wrote about the seven great chefs of antiquity. There are delicacies such as moussaka – a version of the same Ottoman dish -, cheeses, olives – whose tree, the olive tree, was created by Athena to celebrate the triumph –. Also the roast meat dishes that lead to the simplest. In the Placa area of Athens, at the foot of the Acropolis, the restaurants are full from mid-afternoon. In Aegina, the taverns offer simple and, therefore, spectacular food. At Cape Sunio, at sunset, travelers say goodbye to the day in small restaurants facing the same sea where Athena whispered to Ulysses how to win. The central role of the goddesses on Greek Olympus becomes clear when traveling through the sacred triangle of Attica or visiting the spectacles of Eleusis. After all, Gaea, the Greek mother goddess, gave rise to all the others.
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