Elefsina (
Greek ??e?s??a, Ancient/
Katharevousa ??e?s?? Eleusis) is a town and
municipality about 20&_160;km NW of
Athens. It is located near the northernmost end of the
Saronic Gulf and is the seat of administration of
West Attica Prefecture. It is best known for having been the site of the
Eleusinian Mysteries, the most famous religious center of ancient
Greece.
[2] It was also the birth place of
Aeschylus, one of the three great tragedians of antiquity. See also
Metanira. Elefsina currently is the city with the highest ever officially recorded temperature in Europe—48&_160;
°C (118.4&_160;
°F) on 10 July 1977.
[3]In the Classical period of Greece, from as early as 1700 BC up to the era of the Roman Empire, Eleusina, or Eleusis, was the site of the Eleusinian Mysteries, or the Mysteries of Demeter and Kore. These Mysteries revolved around a belief that there was a hope for life after death for those who were initiated. Traditionally in Ancient Greece there was no positive outlook of death, one would cross the River Styx and enter Hades, however the Eleusinian Mysteries gave Greek speakers of that time a hope of a better life in Hades. Such a belief was cultivated from the introduction ceremony in which the hopeful initiates were shown a number of things including the seed of life in an ear of corn. The Mysteries are attributed to Demeter and her daughter Kore, or Persephone, and were created while Demeter searched for her lost daughter who had been abducted by Hades.
Today, the city has become a suburb of Athens, and is linked by the freeway, the Athens metro freeway (Attiki Odos), and Athens metro (transit). A toll post named after the community is on the westbound lanes of GR-8A. A hill is near between the tolls and the refinery North of Eleusis is Mandra and Magoula, and northeast is the Thriasian plain containing Aspropyrgos is founded. It lies northeast of the Gulf of Eleusina.
Elefsina is the town where the majority of crude oil in Greece is imported and refined. The refinery nearest to the city is on its west side. The other major town is Aspropyrgos, next to the shipyards of Skaramagkas.
