In a city with thirteen gates like ancient Athens, selecting the appropriate gate for one’s destination was crucial. To journey to Eleusis, Athenians used the Sacred Gate, distinguished by its dual structure with two inner and two outer square towers. The right tower, facing potential attackers, jutted out to allow defenders to better target the enemy’s unprotected right side, taking advantage of the fact that ancient hoplites wielded shields in their left hands and weapons in their right. Between these towers, a small courtyard enclosed by double doors provided additional defence. Half the width of the Sacred Gate was occupied by Eridanus’ riverbed.

The Sacred Way started or ended at the Sacred Gate. Between the gate and the Dipylon, within the city walls, lay the Pompeion, a facility for parade preparation. A spacious square in front of it was ideal for organising the religious procession to Eleusis. Not far from there, though its exact location remains unknown, stood a Demeter temple housing Praxiteles’ statues of Demeter, Persephone, and Iacchus holding a torch.

Iacchus’ statue, crucial in the Greater Mysteries procession, likely led the parade. The temple probably contained a lighter, transportable xoanon of Iacchus instead of the heavy marble Praxiteles statue. Participants in the procession, including priests, officials, mystai, and relatives, would have used both the Dipylon and the Sacred Gate near the Pompeion. Once outside the city walls, they regrouped on the Sacred Way near its intersection with Piraeus Street, west of the Agia Triada church, where the road, 8.3 metres wide, was apt for reorganising the large procession.

The area encompassing the Dipylon, the Sacred Gate, and the cemetery was part of the Kerameikos deme. This area retained its natural allure, despite being bisected by Themistocles’ wall into Inner and Outer Kerameikos. The Eridanus river, flowing through Kerameikos and exiting at the Sacred Gate, was polluted with urban waste but stayed vital for local potters (kerameis), who used the clay deposited on its banks to craft the famous Attic vases.

Kerameikos, densely populated, was integral to Athens’ political, social, and religious life. The Pompeion stored items used in major Athenian processions, like the Panathenaic or the Greater Mysteries, and grain for emergency distribution. However, in the Kerameikos deme, events took place that scarred the history of Athens: during the raid of Sulla in 86 BCE,  his soldiers invaded the city through the wall near the Sacred Gate.