Centrality Reconsidered: Eleusis, Athens, and Mythotopography

What is it about?

Ever since de Polignac, extra-urban sanctuaries have played a major part in defining polis territories and polis identity. Was Athens an exception in being focussed on the poliadic deity only, in being the only non-bipolar polis in the ancient Greek world? Although this thesis of de Polignac’s has been mainly rejected, it is a significant contribution to debates on centrality. Doubtlessly, the polyadic cults on the acropolis of Athens were an omphalos for Athenian conceptions of the world. But was it the only one? Which role did Eleusis play in this context? And how did emic perceptions change over the centuries? In departing from the bird’s eye view as evident in Pausanias, the present contribution firstly aims at delineating changing ancient concepts of centrality that were attached to the famous sanctuary of Eleusis and its connection with Athens. Second, it is meant to be a comment on polis models that have been prominently discussed since the spatial turn has directed the focus of research to the organisation and perception of space in the ancient Greek world. Was Eleusis central for Athens or not? By mirroring social organisation and self-perception, approaches like mythotopography also help to reframe a contemporary debate: the question of how to find new ways of describing local meaning without denying the existence of cultural core issues uniting the Greek world. We do not have to decide primarily whether de Polignac’s bipolar model works. In regarding Athens as the ultimate centre of the Greek world, he might have been driven by a culturally bound perception of centrality that has been overcome by now. Are there other concepts more adequate to define centrality with a view to the multi-faceted local Greek world? We certainly should re-evaluate the interconnection between religious and political spheres of polis life by differentiating between emic and etic perspectives on Greek omphaloi. To look at the antipodal couple of Athens and Eleusis is a good starting point.

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