Kerameikos

Kerameikos was the potters' quarter, which gave the world the word ceramic, and for centuries the principal burial ground of Athens. The site preserves a long stretch of the Themistoclean city wall of 478 BC and both of its major gates: the Dipylon, the largest gate in the ancient Greek world and the start of the road to the Academy, and the Sacred Gate, where the Sacred Way set off for Eleusis. Along the Street of Tombs stand grave monuments of remarkable quality, marble bulls, mourning sirens, reliefs of the dead taking leave of their families, mostly casts with the originals in the small on-site museum. Tortoises crawl through the grass and the Eridanos stream still runs across the site, which makes it one of the quietest archaeological corners in central Athens.

History

The area is named after the deme of the Kerameis, the potters, from keramos, "pottery clay", the root of the English word ceramic; once marshland along the Eridanos river, it was used as a cemetery as long ago as the 3rd millennium BC. The new city wall of 478 BC, built after the Persian sack of Athens in 480 BC at the suggestion of Themistocles, transformed it: the funerary sculptures were built into the wall, and two great gates were raised here, through which the Sacred Way and the road to the Academy left the city (Wikipedia, Kerameikos).

What to look for

• The Street of Tombs - grave monuments lining the ancient road out of the city.
• The Dipylon and Sacred Gates - foundations of the two main gates of Athens.
• The city wall - a long surviving section of the fifth-century BC defences.
• The site museum - original grave sculpture and pottery found here.

When to go

Spring for wildflowers and green grass among the stones; autumn for clear light. The site has some shade but not much, so avoid midsummer midday.

Things to know

The remains are foundations and low walls, so the site rewards a plan or a guide more than most. Many famous sculptures here are casts. In exchange, you often have the place nearly to yourself, minutes from the busiest streets in Athens.

Nearby

Monastiraki, Thiseio and the Ancient Agora lie east along Ermou; Gazi is immediately north.

Key facts