Eleusis—known to Greeks as Elefsina—aims to resurrect its flagging fortunes by becoming the European capital of culture next year
Now Eleusis aims to resurrect its flagging fortunes by becoming European capital of culture next year. Image: Aris Messinis/AFP
It was the Greek city where the ancients flocked in the hope of learning the secret of life after death.
Now Eleusis — known to Greeks as Elefsina — aims to resurrect its flagging fortunes by becoming European capital of culture next year.
Roman emperors including Marcus Aurelius and his son Commodus — of "Gladiator" fame — were among the glitterati of antiquity who came to be initiated into its secret death-defying cult based around Persephone, the queen of the netherworld.
But Eleusis long ago lost its glamour.
Its grim factories, steelmills, refineries and ship and breaker yards drew thousands fleeing the poverty of rural Greece over the last century.