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Mufti, Setenay Ani

University of British Columbia

This thesis investigates the relationship between two cultic sites of memory in Archaic Eleusis, the Telesterion site and the Sacred House site, from a built environment approach. Following Amos Rapoport’s definition of the built environment as “Space,” “Time,” “Communication,” and “Meaning,” I focus on pyres and their leftover, burned debris as distinct features of each site. Previous scholarship has acknowledged the unusual uses of pyre debris at the Telesterion and Sacred House, and that both can be considered ‘sites of memory.’ But despite lying less than 90 m. apart, coexisting for at least a century between ca. 700-600 BCE, and going through two major renovations within the same generation of one another, the relationship between the two sites remains underexplored. Most studies on Archaic Eleusis focus on its relationships with the growing Athens, which is hotly contested. While addressing the potential connections with Athens, this thesis will also consider comparisons to sites beyond Athens and even Attica. After a background chapter information on Eleusis, a chapter each will be dedicated to the Telesterion and the Sacred House. They begin with a site description (“Space”) and an overview of associated activities (“Time”). “Communication” investigates the inclusivity and exclusivity of each site’s built environment based on size, shape, visibility, distance from doorways, and other factors. “Meaning” takes a contextual approach, comparing pyres, debris, and inclusive and exclusive features to other similar or neighboring sites. This thesis finds that not only did the Telesterion and Sacred House use pyres and debris as distinct, locally specific cues within the built environment, but that they had a bi-directional relationship. Initially, the smaller and more insular Sacred House adapted this ritual vocabulary from the neighboring Telesterion. Around a century later, the Sacred House was destroyed and the Telesterion site was expanded, while creating a more obviously private environment to compensate. Such conspicuous secrecy later became a defining feature of the Eleusinian Mysteries, but at the time it was a strategy to negotiate socio-political changes across Attica, and to preserve and legitimize the local community.

Text

2025-04-25

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/90791

Classical and Near Eastern Archaeology

University of British Columbia

UBCV

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/