Plate 12. The Propylæ of the Demeter Temple at Eleusis

This Propylæ was built after the example of that at the Acropolis of Athens (except the lower wings were not repeated), and was of the same size and also of Pentelic marble. Cicero speaks of the Temple at Eleusis as being under construction in his time.

This Propylæ had the outer form of a six-columned Amphiprostyle. The inner space was divided into two chambers of different depths by a curtain wall in which were found five doors of different sizes. The outer room was the larger, and its roof was carried by two rows of six Ionic columns. The floor of both rooms was on the same level. At the Athenean Propylæ this was not the case, and the ceilings and roof were also at different levels. At Eleusis both chambers were of one height and under one roof.

On Plate 3 a corner of this Propylæ is represented.

On Plate 12, Fig. 8, is shown a part of the plan of the outer hall. The entire width of the building measured, on the upper step of the base, 21.41 meters, and the depth at the same place 24.26 meters.

On the middle axis the columns stand wider apart than the others, in order to gain space for the passage of the procession. Over this central space there is an extra triglyph and metope on account of the wider span, and because of this wider span, the architrave and frieze is in one piece for obvious structural purposes.

Noteworthy is the Lesbian leaf-wave moulding resting on the top of the frieze, which we look upon as an Ionic addition to the Doric triglyph. The cyma of the pediment ends on the side at a lion's head near the corner.

As the Propylæ represents today only a heap of ruins, the height of the column cannot be exactly ascertained. In relation to that of the Athenean Propylæ the height of the Doric columns of Eleusis must have been 9.21 meters; that is, 11 modules 17[…] parts. The shaft shows a slight entasis.