We left the Demeter Well and headed up the steps, thinking that we were headed for the Site Museum, but we were waylaid once again. Just before the entrance to the Temple of Demeter, where the final part of the Eleusinian Mysteries took place, we came upon a sign that said “Ploutonion”. It also said that this was the spot where Hades abducted Persephone as she was picking flowers. A Ploutonion is a sanctuary or shrine dedicated to Hades, god of the underworld. They are built at entrances to the underworld, and are, fortunately, rare. Strabo* identifies the only other ones I could find. Both were in Anatolia (modern Turkey), one outside Caria and one near Phrygia, and both had vents that released mephitic (noxious) vapors, and both were dream oracles. There is another sort of sanctuary of Hades called a necromanteion. This is also an opening to the underworld, but it is an oracle of the dead. People go here to speak with the… Read More »