Athena and Gorgon medusa at sanctuary «Beregovoy 4»

The paper examines two medallions featuring the heads of Athena Parthenosand Medusa discovered in the course of excavating the Sanctuary of Demeter andPersephone-Kore in the Taman Peninsula. Such items are quite common finds both atsanctuaries and, especially frequently, in the graves of the 4th-3rd centuries BC in Bosporusand other regions of the Greek world as well as the areas populated by local barbarians(the Kuban River Basin). Based on the thematical similarity between the burial cult andthe worship of Eleusinian goddesses, the author tries to find out the place of Athena(and Medusa as its attribute) in this cult. The role of the goddess in the Eleusinian cult isnot quite clear. However, it may be suggested that the link between the goddess and theburial tradition is defined by this role. In other words, we cannot rule out that medallionswith the heads of Athena and Medusa from Bosporan Greeks' graves, probably, indicatethat the deceased individuals were somehow connected with the Eleusinian mysteries.