Signifying Absences along Iera Odos: On the Temporality of the Permanent

Iera Odos (Sacred Way), the ancient road connecting Athens to Eleusis (21 km distance), appears to be fragmented. The study focuses on locating and designing 4 thresholds along the road, sites that are linked to notions such as memory and oblivion – terms that interact with the landscape, objects and subjects. The main question explores the relationship between these thresholds and processes of decomposition and reconstitution of the landscape, examining how these transformations affect the perception of space and temporality, while revealing the connection between memory and the urban-scape.

The location of the 4 design areas occurs through walking and mapping in dynamic transitional spaces (we refer to them as thresholds) and figuratively connecting the mythical image of Hecate with every “liminal person” of Iera Odos, who is consistently situated in a state of liminality. The main design focuses on these thresholds, which are as follows: the archaeological site of Kerameikos, the bazaar of Elaionas, the hill of Echo, and the arrival at Eleusis. Each of these is located along and beside Iera Odos and always have it as a reference point. The 1st threshold at Kerameikos, connects the archaeological site and the urban fabric, restoring the memory of the river Iridanos through a network of water flows and grooves, that are featured to a new platform on the retaining wall, as well as our relationship with the ruins, potentially rooted in the search for absences. The 2nd threshold is located at the marketplace of Elaionas, where, in reference to the accumulation, flow, and collection of objects and people, a repository for remnants of objects and a self-managed kitchen were designed, all placed in vacant building plots. The 3rd threshold refers to the crossing of the distance from the AKTOR bridge to Lake Koumoundourou, where a path was designed to connect Aphaia with the North Area of Iera Odos, reinterpreting and redesigning the space around damaged sites that immobilize the body. The 4th threshold is identified with the arrival at Eleusis, where, by observing the ephemeral and preserving a connection to time, a new "inhabitation" emerges in the Eleusinian Kifisos river. In engaging with the sorrow of temporality, the desire for permanence, and the liberation of forgetting, we reach the acknowledgment that a memory is inevitably surrendered to oblivion.