The most complete information guide about Athens, Greece
Kerameikos
Kerameikos
was named after the community of the potters (kerameis) who
occupied the whole area along the banks of river Eridanos.
The
walls of Athens divided the area into two sections. The wall
had two gates, Dipylon and the Sacred Gate, placed at the outset
of the two most important processional roads of Athens, the
Panathenaic Way which led to the Acropolis, and the Sacred Way
which led to Eleusis. Outside the city walls, along the sides
of both roads lay the official cemetery of the city, which was
continuously used from the 9th century BC until the late Roman
period.
It
was in this area that the roads to Athens from Piraeus, Eleusis,
Boeotia and Plato's Academy converged. The road from Plato's
Academy led up to the Dipylon while the lera Odos (or Holy Way)
from Eleusis led up to the lera Pyli (Sacred Gate), built in
, 478 BC. This gate was protected by two square towers and had
a courtyard divided into two parts, one of which was occupied
by the bank of the river.
The
Dipylon was the greatest and most official gate of the city
of Athens, also constructed in 478 BC. It had two passageways
that gave access to an internal courtyard with four towers erected
at its corners. From this gate started the Panathenaic procession,
the most important festival of ancient Athens, following the
Panathenaic Way that led up to the Acropolis. Between the two
gates stood the Pompeion which was the building from which the
Panathenaic Procession used to set out.
The
Pompeion (5th century BC) was a spacious building with a peristyle
courtyard, used for the preparation of festival processions.
Sacral items used at the Panathenaic procession were kept at
the Pompeion. The Kerameikos cemetery extended beyond the Dipylon
Gate. Its most interesting section was the Street of Tombs (Odos
ton Tafon), flanked on either side by the tombs of wealthy Athenians.
Burial
Customs in Classical Athens
It
was custom in Classical Athens that citizens were buried
in Attica. Refusal to do was considered was heinous and
punishable. Cemeteries were usually situated outside the
city walls and the dead were either buried or cremated.
Funerals
consisted of three stages:
1.
The “prothesis” or the laying out of the dead
for three days at home so that family
and friends could morn.
2. The “ekphora” or the taking of the deceased
to the cemetery escorted by a silent
procession and followed by the burial.
3. the “perideipnon”, the funerary banquet
at the house of the deceased in which
relatives participated.
The
burial was accompanied by libations (the ritual pouring
of liquids on the ground). This is why large amounts of
pottery were found close to the tombs. Sometimes more
expensive votive offerings were placed in tombs. People
of high rank and wealth, expressed their status through
the erections of funerary monuments which was regulated
by special laws.
Following
the funeral, first degree relatives had to perform rituals
every year on specific dates in honor of the deceased.
You
can find information on the Kerameikos museum
on our museum
pages.