ΧΑΪΔΑΡΙ ΧΑΪΔΑΡΙ - ΣΥΝΑΝΤΗΣΗ ΜΕ ΤΗΝ ΙΣΤΟΡΙΑ | Page 67

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Ancient period:
Sacred Way – Hermos Deme
C
haidari occupied a crucial location between
Athens and Eleusina or the mountains Aigaleo
and Poikilo, since the Sacred Way passed
through the modern municipality area, more or less
beneath the modern road. Ancient Chaidari developed
around this road and was known as the deme of Hermos.
Chaidari was closely connected to the ritual procession to
the Eleusinian sanctuaries, which took place every autumn
(between September and October) as part of the Great
Mysteries, lasting nine days and celebrating the return of
Persephone from Hades to her mother, goddess Demeter.
The processual return of the holy objects from Athens
to Eleusina was accompanied by worshippers, who
participated in a mystic ceremony, poorly known today.
The procession rested at sanctuaries along the way.
In Chaidari, these were the temple of Apollon, the site
of the Daphni Monastery today, and the sanctuary of
Aphrodite at Skaramangas.
Chaidari was the western tip of Athens, a gateway for
visitors from Thessaly and the southern mainland and
Peloponnese. The admirable view of Athens from the
Prophitis Ilias hill indicated that they had arrived. The French
romantic author and traveller, François René Chateaubriand
(1768-1848), who came to Athens in 1806, similarly noted the
beauty of the view of Athens and its ruins during the sunrise.
Pausanias in Chaidari
The ancient monuments of Chaidari may be accurately
traced through the writings of Pausanias, the meticulous
traveller of the 2nd century AD. Pausanias passed
Plan of the Sacred Way’s section located to the west
of the sanctuary of Aphrodite at Aphaia Skaramanga
(Praktika Archaeologikis Etaireias 1938, p. 30 fig. 2).
through the area of modern Chaidari in order to visit the
Eleusinian sanctuary, both due to the fame of the place
as well as the fact that the traveller had been an initiate.
Starting point: Dipylon and Sacred Gate
Pausanias started from the city gate of Dipylon, also
known as Thriasian or Kerameikos Gates until the late
4th century BC, and essentially the main gate to ancient
and Roman Athens. The crowd gathered in the wider
Dipylon area, which featured Pompeion (end of 5th
– end of 1st c. BC), a building specially dedicated
to processions. The statue of Iakchos was at the head
of the procession. He was a god associated with
Demeter and Kore and had his own sanctuary east
of the Sacred Gate.
Pausanias does not mention the neighbouring Sacred
Gate. Perhaps Dipylon had been the only preserved
Classical gate in Roman times and even restored by the
emperor Hadrian around 125 AD.
Up: Section of the Sacred Way on the hill to the east of the Retoi Lakes (Praktika Archaeologikis Etaireias 1936, p. 30 fig. 4).
Down: The most well preserved section of the Sacred Way to the west of the sanctuary of Aphrodite at Aphaia Skaramanga
(Praktika Archaeologikis Etaireias 1938, p 32 fig. 3).