Images in this photo gallery are from ancient Kerameikos, the main cemetery of ancient Athens located northwest of the Acropolis and ancient Agora in the city of Athens Greece.
Serving as a burial ground as long ago as the 12th century BC and a final resting place for the richest and most distinguished citizens of the city, Kerameikos, located in the ancient neighbourhood of potters contains part of the ancient city walls and the remains of the Dipylon and Sacred Gates where...
more »Images in this photo gallery are from ancient Kerameikos, the main cemetery of ancient Athens located northwest of the Acropolis and ancient Agora in the city of Athens Greece.
Serving as a burial ground as long ago as the 12th century BC and a final resting place for the richest and most distinguished citizens of the city, Kerameikos, located in the ancient neighbourhood of potters contains part of the ancient city walls and the remains of the Dipylon and Sacred Gates where important routes from Piraeus, Eleusis and Boeotia met and many travellers entered the city. Kerameikos is where Pericles delivered his famous funeral oration in 431 BC.
Some higlights:
Sacred Gate - the Sacred Gate reserved for pilgrims and priests during the procession to Eleusis, was built in the 5th century BC at the same time as the Themistocles wall and marks the beginning of the Sacred Way to Eleusis.
Dipylon Gate - Built in the 4th century BC, the Dipylon was a double gate and was well protected by its towers and thick ramparts. It was the main, largest and most used gate of the City with the road from the Agora to Plato's Academy passing through it.
Dromos - Small section of the ancient road 1600 metres in length that led from the Dipylon Gate at Kerameikos to Plato's Academy. The road was named Dromos and was the most official road in the city as it was lined by the Demosion Sema, the state burial ground where prominent Athenians and warriors who fell in battles were put to rest including Perikles.
The Museum - Among its impressive collection is the striking 6th century BC marble statue of a naked athletic youth (Kouros) at the Kerameikos museum. Found buried near the Sacred gate in 2002, the archaic era statue would have served as a votive offering or funerary sculpture and is largely intact. In complete form it would have stood 2.10 metres or six feet, six inches tall.
« less
