Founded in the in the 2nd millennium BC, Eleusis was where the Eleusinian mysteries took place, an initiation rite into a mystic order. In antiquity Athenians marched here by foot.
After 15 centuries of worship dedicated to Demeter, the Eleusinian mysteries were abolished in the 4th century AD by the Bozantine emperor Theodosios. Worth seeing in the site are the ceremonial chamber or Telesterion (also called the Iero ton Mystirion), as well as the holy yard or Ieri Avli and Great & Small Propylaea. There is also an archaeological museum with finds from the vicinity. Note the proto-attic amphora from 650 BC, the Kore from the Ieri Oikia (sacred house), a statue of a running maiden.