618 



THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC M.AGAZIXK 



Photographs by Fred Boissonnas 



ON THE: STORIED HEIGHTS OF PARNASSUS 



Once sacred to Apollo and the Muses, Parnassus is now the haunt of 

 shepherds and guides. 



place the solemn worship of the bene- 

 factress, the Goddess Demeter. Twice a 

 year the memory of Heaven's inestimable 

 gift was celebrated, the periods falling 

 roughly in the months of February and 

 September, thus synchronizing with the 

 revival and decay of nature. 



A part of the celebration was a torch- 

 light procession which left Athens and 

 passed over the Sacred Way. On arrival 

 at the temple solemn initiatory ceremonies 

 took place. 



The nature of these Mysteries has 

 long puzzled scholars and archeologists 

 and it is now thought that the details are 

 lost beyond recall. However, one of the 

 great initiates, Cicero, has left on record 



that the Mysteries 

 taught "not only to 

 live happily, but to die 

 with a fairer hope." 



Little is now stand- 

 ing of the ancient 

 structure w h i c h 

 greeted the morning 

 sun in all its beauty 

 until the devastating 

 Goths under Alaric 

 swept over E leu sis 

 their besom of de- 

 struction. 



We approached the 

 precincts through the 

 Propylaea, of which 

 nothing is standing to- 

 day save the bases of 

 a few columns. The 

 fragments about us are 

 doubtless those from 

 Hadrian's Gateway. 

 Once past these por- 

 tals, one gains an idea 

 of the grandeur of the 

 original structure. Be- 

 fore and above us is 

 the emplacement of 

 the great Temple of 

 Mysteries, through the 

 portico of which one 

 entered the precincts 

 of the temple proper, 

 cut in some measure 

 into the solid rock of 

 the Acropolis. 



But Eleusis is a mel- 

 ancholy place; "Icha- 

 bod" seems written 

 wherever one turns, and it was with a 

 sense of relief that we retraced our steps 

 and sought once more the shore and 

 looked out over the silent beauty of the 

 waters toward Salamis. 



THE BATTLEFIELD OE THERMOPYLAE 



Railways and Thermopylae! The two 

 words clash; and yet if one wishes to 

 visit this sacred field he has the choice of 

 leaving Athens over the iron way or else 

 spending days on bad roads, suffering the 

 annoyances and discomforts of Greek 

 country inns, which latter seem built with 

 a view to affording perfect cover for the 

 lesser fauna of the country, with which 

 they swarm. 



