The Ancient Cemetery of Athens: Kerameikos
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01. [ ENGLISH ] The Ancient Cemetery of Athens: Kerameikos - The BEST COLLECTION of PODCASTS and YOUTUBE VIDEOS for
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and / or to read the e-Book
KERAMEIKOS
Author : Eleni S. Banou - Leonidas K. Bournias
Year Published : 2014
©Copyright : John S. Latsis Public Benefit Foundation, 2014
ISBN : 978-960-98364-8-7
Publisher : OLKOS
Pages : 336
Τhis book includes photographs of monuments and exhibits from the archaeological site and the museum of Kerameikos, which are under the authority of the 3rd Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities, as well as the National Archaeological Museum. The Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports has the copyright of the photographs of antiquities and of the actual antiquities that comprise the visual content of the photographs. The Archaeological Receipts Fund of Greece receives all fees for the publication of photographs bearing the Ministry’s copyright (Law 3028/2002). The Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports remains exclusively competent to grant to any third party permission to use the photographs.
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2016-12-05 Kerameikos. And every archaeological site that roots Greeks in their earth & binds Europe to her origins.
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National-Archaeological-Museum-Kerameikos-Skeleton-Why-Athens-City-Guide-1024x512
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View of the Pompeion and Dipylon
© Clairy Moustafellou
Kerameikos: A Place of Transition
In ancient times, Kerameikos was a place of manufacturing, entertainment, ceremonies, defense and burial. Today, this relatively quiet archaeological park is perfect for cool starts or finishes to a day of sightseeing
Sophia Stylianou | October 8th, 2015
The Ancient Cemetery of Kerameikos is another of the great archaeological parks that characterize the ancient heart of Athens. It has its own metro stop, but this fascinating site is easier to reach by walking straight down Ermou Street from the Monastiraki or Thiseio stations. Nowadays, the Kerameikos essentially marks the furthest western extent of central Athens’ usual tourist area, which makes it quieter, less-visited and perfect for cool starts or finishes to a day of sightseeing.
This park holds lots of pleasant natural and archaeological surprises, from its small stream – sometimes, after wet winters and springs, teeming with tadpoles and tiny frogs – to its grassy lawns, towering section of ancient city wall, ceremonial dining rooms and a tomb dedicated to 13 officers of the Spartan army.
In ancient Athens, Kerameikos was a place of transition, manufacturing, entertainment, ceremonies, defense and burial. Although located at the outskirts also of the ancient city, it was often a hub of activity, populated by an array of male citizens, women, foreigners and slaves. The primary features of this area were its tombs and twin city gates, the Sacred Gate and adjacent Dipylon Gate, which had distinctive functions at certain times of the Athenian religious calendar.
In early summer, Athenians participating in the annual Skira festival, which marked the year’s end (our June/July), departed from the Sacred Gate in a procession to Skiron, near Eleusis (modern Elefsina). In the autumn (our September), a larger procession would leave the Sacred Gate bound for Eleusis, at the start of the Greater Eleusinian Mysteries, or, every four years, in the opposite direction, from the Dipylon Gate into Athens, as part of the Greater Panathenaic festival.
“ This archaeological park holds lots of pleasant natural and archaeological surprises, from its small stream to its grassy lawns, towering section of ancient city wall, ceremonial dining rooms and a tomb dedicated to 13 officers of the Spartan army. ”
An artist's impression of Ancient Kerameikos
Aside from its occasional religious significance, this area was also the scene of many ordinary activities typical of ancient Athenian daily life. People passed by on their way into or out of the city, some heading for the suburban, tree-shaded Academy of Plato, while gate-guards, prostitutes, potters, wine-sellers, grave-diggers and mourners also crossed paths here.
When visiting the Kerameikos today, it is advisable first to stop on the small rise (South Hill) overlooking the park, where you will find an excellent map and a panoramic view. Once oriented, you might descend to the right, entering the Street of the Tombs. Here you will find sculpted steles, over-sized vases and various statues, sometimes framed within a small marble pavilion (naiskos), which are all part of the cemetery that once existed outside the Kerameikos city gates. Similar tomb markers are displayed in the National Archaeological Museum, but at the Kerameikos you can view the original funerary setting.
Proceeding back along the Sacred Way, one finds a portion of preserved city wall, whose distinct phases of construction (including the Themistoclean Wall) reflect Athens’ long tumultuous history of attacks, recovery and rebuilding of defenses.
If you step up through the narrow breach in the wall, you will find House Z to the right: once a fine courtyard-house in the later 5th and 4th centuries BC, but whose numerous small rooms later came to be used by women weavers, probably prostitutes, whose personal objects – including bronze figurines and small medallions depicting Aphrodite, goddess of erotic love – are now exhibited in the Kerameikos Museum. In Roman times, bronze workers and pottery-makers established workshops among the ruins of House Z.
Retracing your steps, you cross the small stream, once the ancient Eridanos “river,” and find successively on the right the Sacred Gate, the Pompeion and the Dipylon Gate. Further to the left, near Aghia Triada Church, lies the inconspicuous but historically significant tomb of a group of Spartans, who died assisting the Athenian oligarchs in their attempt to suppress the rebellious democrats in 403 BC.
“ When visiting the Kerameikos today, it is advisable first to stop on the small rise (South Hill) overlooking the park, where you will find an excellent map and a panoramic view. Once oriented, you might descend to the right, entering the Street of the Tombs. ”
The Pompeion
© Clairy Moustafellou
THE POMPEION
This is a building with ceremonial dining rooms at the back of a large colonnaded courtyard, in which was stored the trireme “float” used in the Panathenaic Procession. Note the well-worn threshold, over which, through the centuries, passed many wagon wheels and thousands of Athenian feet.
The Dipylon Gate
THE DIPYLON GATE
The fortified double-gate through which passed the road leading to the official state burial ground and Plato’s Academy. Just inside was a public fountain house where Athenian women and servants could refill their water jars, in the age before household running water.
Kerameikos Museum
KERAMEIKOS MUSEUM
This is where you’ll see a magnificent Archaic Kouros figure, an excellent diachronic span of characteristic Athenian pottery and fascinating finds from House Z. Also, don’t forget the gigantic Dipylon Amphora (8th c. BC), in the National Archaeological Museum, discovered at Kerameikos, an impressive grave marker showing scenes of a typical Geometric-era funeral and mourners tearing their hair.
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Archaeological Site of Kerameikos
Archaeological site, Cultural heritage KERAMIKOS , ATHENS , GREECE
Last Update: Nov 2013
HISTORY
The archaeological site of the Kerameikos, between Ermou, Peireos, and Asomaton Streets, is a small part of the ancient Attic Deme of Kerameon, one of the largest demes of ancient Athens, located on the northwest edge of the city. As suggested by its name, the Kerameikos (from the Greek word for pottery) was a settlement of potters and vase painters, and the main production centre of the famous Attic vases. Those parts of the Kerameikos that were located near the riverbank suffered continuously from the overflowing river, and so the area was converted into a burial ground, which gradually developed into the most important cemetery of ancient Athens.
Potters were drawn to the Kerameikos by the clay deposits of the Iridanos, the small river that runs through the Kerameikos archaeological site. The river lay buried for centuries under eight or nine meters of landfill (level of Ermou Street), but was uncovered again in the 1960's during the archaeological excavations.
The earliest tombs at the Kerameikos date from the Early Bronze Age (2700-2000 BC), and the cemetery appears to have continuously expanded from the sub-Mycenaean period (1100-1000 BC). In the Geometric (1000-700 BC) and Archaic periods (700-480 BC) the number of tombs increased; they were arranged inside tumuli or marked by funerary monuments. The cemetery was used incessantly from the Hellenistic period until the Early Christian period (338 BC until approximately the sixth century AD).
The most important Athenian vases come from the tombs of the Kerameikos. Among them is the famous “Dipylon Oinochoe”, which bears the earliest inscription written in the Greek alphabet (second half of the eighth century BC). The Kerameikos excavations began in 1870 under St. Koumanoudis of the Archaeological Society of Athens. They continued in collaboration with the German archaeologists A. Brueckner and F. Noack over the next few decades, and are carried out by the German Archaeological Institute since 1913.
The site is regularly cleared of undergrowth. A set of projects, such as the construction of a network of visitor paths, the restoration of buildings, the re-opening of the Kerameikos Museum, the placement of informative signposts, and the construction of an amphitheatre, were completed in 2004. Moreover, recent expropriations of neighbouring land plots are expected to expand the site and allow further excavations to take place in the future. The site's small museum houses the finds from the Kerameikos excavations.
Author
Th. Iliopoulos, archaeologist
DESCRIPTION
The archaeological site of the Kerameikos comprises part of the Themistoclean Wall, the Dipylon Gate and Sacred Gate, the Pompeion, the burial enclosure of the Stele of Hegeso, the Demosion Sema, and other well-known monuments. The entrance to the approximately eleven acre archaeological site is located on Ermou Street.
The Themistoclean wall was built hastily in 478 BC, after the Persian retreat, in order to protect the city from the Spartan threat. It surrounded the entire ancient city of Athens and divided the Kerameikos into two sections, inner and outer Kerameikos. Inner Kerameikos (inside the city walls) developed into a residential neighbourhood, whereas outer Kerameikos remained a cemetery. The section of the wall that crossed the Kerameikos in a N-S direction is preserved to this day, together with two important gates, the Dipylon, the largest and most formal Athenian gate, and the Sacred Gate.
Two important roads, the road leading to Plato's Academy and the Sacred Way (Iera Odos), which connected Athens with Eleusis, began at the Dipylon and Sacred Gate (Iera Pyli) respectively. The Sacred Gate was the starting point for the procession of the Eleusinian Mysteries, and the Dipylon the starting point of the Panathenaic procession, which moved along the Panathenaic Way towards the Acropolis. The preparations for the Panathenaic procession took place inside the Pompeion, a large building with peristyle court, located directly behind the wall, next to the Dipylon. The building dates from the end of the fifth century BC.
In the Classical period (fifth-fourth centuries BC) the streets were lined with cemeteries and funerary monuments, mostly of families and often decorated with reliefs. Some of the best-known funerary monuments are the Tomb of Dexileo, the Stele of Hegeso (c. 400 BC), the Relief of Demetria and Pamphile, and the marble bull from the funerary enclosure of Dionysios of Kollytos (c. 345 BC).
Outside the Dipylon, along the street leading to Plato's Academy, lay the Demosion Sema, or Public Cemetery, the burial place of Athenian notables and war heroes. This is where Pericles delivered his famous Funeral Oration for those who died during the first year of the Peloponnesian War (430 BC).
Author
Th. Iliopoulos, archaelogist
THE MUSEUM
Archaeological Museum of Kerameikos
The museum of Kerameikos was built in 1937 on the plans of H. Johannes, with a donation of Gustav Oberlaender. It was enlarged in the 1960's with the support of the Boehringer brothers.
Τhe exhibits are displayed in chronological order, but also according to their subjects and their provenance.
INFORMATION
Administrative Information
148 Ermou St., Athens (Prefecture of Attiki)
Telephone: +30 210 3463552
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In case you missed it... Ancient Greeks: how was their view of death different from our own?
Thursday 1st April 2010
Submitted by: Michael Scott
BBC History Magazine - 5 issues for £5
When visiting Athens today, most tourists, for obvious reasons, head straight for the Parthenon. But if you want to experience Athens as ancient visitors experienced it, you have to start at a very different place: the Kerameikos.
The Kerameikos contains two city gates, the Dipylon and the Sacred Gate, which together marked one of the official ways into and out of the ancient city of Athens. It was here, just inside these gates, that the great Panathenaic procession gathered and began its march up to the Acropolis to deliver a new robe to the statue of city’s patron deity, Athena Polias, each year.
This was ancient Athens’ most important religious and civic occasion: a time in which the city put itself on display to the rest of the ancient world. The Kerameikos was thus an incredibly important and symbolic entry point into the city.
But the Kerameikos was also Athens’ graveyard. Lining the routes that spread out from the two gates into the countryside around Athens are the graves of Athens’ dead. When approaching ancient Athens, a visitor first had to walk through its graveyard before walking into Athens itself. Visitors had to walk through a city of the dead, a place the ancient historian Thucydides called “the most beautiful part of our city”, before reaching the city of the living.
For many of us today, this is a very alien concept. It would be like having Sydney’s public graveyard in the arrivals terminal of the international airport. We often prefer today instead to hide our graveyards out of sight, to keep the inescapable reality of death out of our minds. So why was Athens so different?
In part the answer lies in the ancients’ much greater openness and acceptance of death as part of life. But it is also more than that. As you walk past the graves in the Kerameikos – still visible today – you are treated to a walk through Athens’ past: aristocratic family burial mounds, democratic mass graves, monuments to those who fell fighting for Athens in time of crisis, and individual graves with magnificent grave stele (grave stones) for important members of Athens’ community.
Athens was proud of its dead because they said something about what Athens stood for. That was why Athens placed its dead at the forefront of the visitor’s experience, and why, each year, the city gathered in its graveyard not just to begin the Panathenaia, but also to hear the common eulogy for its fallen.
It was, after all, in the Kerameikos, not on the Acropolis, that the orator Pericles gave his speech explaining the importance of Athens’ democracy – a speech still quoted today as one of the defining texts of our history.
Reprinted from Neos Kosmos www.neoskosmos.com
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