Athens Sights - The Sacred Gate

The Sacred Gate was the second most important gate of ancient Athens after the Dipylon. Like the latter, it was a ‘courtyard gate’, guarded by four towers. It was designed to be a killing field and worked pretty well until the Roman Emperor Sula in 86 BC bombarded it and sacked Athens.

Through it ran the Eridanos brook and the Road to Eleusis, popularly called the Sacred Way, as it was the road followed by the great procession to Eleusis, the famous sanctuary of Demeter.

Above from within Keramikos ancient cemetery - not a whole lot remains of the Sacred Gate. However we have a rare sight in the Acanthus weed atop the wall blossoming right foreground.

From Eleusis the Sacred Way (its name is preserved in that of its modern successor, ‘the Iera Odos’) led to Corinth and the Peloponnese.
Through its long history, the Sacred Gate was rebuilt at least five times. The section of the city wall to its south shows six different types of masonry, ranging in date from the original construction in 478 BC to the 6th century AD. An information board in front of the moat clarifies the sequence.

Greece Travelers may take a luxury coach tour, rent a car or empower themselves with a private Oracle tour of their own design. Consider these other popular Greece travel destinations. If its on the Greek mainland Oracle can take you there in air conditioned & non-smoking security!

Athens, Cape Sounion, Ancient Corinth, Delphi & Ossios Lukas, Drama, Florina, Greneva, Chalkidiki, Imathia, Kastoria, Kavala, Kozani, Meteora, Mt. Athos, Mycenaea, Naufplion, Olympia, Pella and Vergina, Phillipi & Kavala, Dion & Mt Olympus, Sparta & Mystras, The Mani and Monemvasia, Thessaloniki,
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