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Secondary sourceArtifact5th century BC rebuilding

Telesterion

Ictinos (architect, attributed) · 5th century BC rebuilding

The great hall of initiation at Eleusis, rebuilt under Pericles' building programme after its Persian-era destruction.

Plutarch credits Pericles' building programme with rebuilding this hall, extending his patronage beyond the Acropolis.

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Wide view of excavated ruins at Eleusis: rows of stone seating tiers on the left, scattered broken column drums and stone blocks across a paved floor, a small chapel and bell tower on a rocky hill behind, and distant mountains under a blue sky.
Telesterion, sanctuary hall at Eleusis, rebuilt 5th century BC. Eleusis (Elefsina), Greece.

About this source

What it is

The Telesterion was a great hall at Eleusis where the secret Eleusinian Mysteries, rites for Demeter and Persephone, were performed. First built centuries earlier, it was destroyed by the Persians and later rebuilt larger, with the architect Ictinos among those who worked on it. The ruins are now at Eleusis (Elefsina).

Why it matters

Ancient writers such as Plutarch credit Pericles' building programme with the hall's reconstruction, showing that his patronage of architecture went beyond the Acropolis in Athens to major religious sites across Attica. The building reveals how closely politics, religion and civic prestige were tied together in 5th-century Athens.

Look closer

  • Why might a political leader want to rebuild a religious site rather than only civic buildings?
  • What does the size of the hall (holding thousands) suggest about the importance of the Mysteries?
  • What is missing from this ruin that would have been there when the hall was in use?

This artifact is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Pericles on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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Manuscript page in Greek handwriting with a decorative heading at top, showing the text of a speech in dense lines of script on aged parchment with marginal notes at left and right edges.Speech

Secondary source

Pericles' Funeral Oration

Thucydides · 431/430 BCE

Photograph of the Parthenon temple on the Athenian Acropolis, seen from the front-left under a deep blue sky. White marble Doric columns and a partly damaged pediment stand on a stepped base, with scattered marble blocks and ruins in the foreground.Artifact

Primary source

Parthenon

447-432 BCE

Marble bust of a bearded man wearing a tall Corinthian-style helmet with a raised crest and cheek guards. Curly hair and beard are carved in detail. The bust rests on a tan stone pedestal against a grey wall.Sculpture

Secondary source

Pericles with the Corinthian Helmet

Kresilas · Roman copy, from a Greek original near Pericles' lifetime

Facsimile page of Greek manuscript handwriting in minuscule script, nine lines of dark ink on white, headed 'Facsimile No. 57', with a transcription and caption 'Thucydides.—Tenth Century' below.Book

Primary source

History of the Peloponnesian War

Thucydides · 5th century BCE

Book

Secondary source

Life of Pericles

Plutarch

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