Kerameikos

Athens · Attica · Greece

Kerameikos takes its name from the potters who worked the clay of the Eridanos River. The English word 'ceramic' is born here. But this quarter was never just a workshop. It was also the city's most important cemetery, a place where the living and dead shared the same muddy banks.

The area divides into two parts: the Inner Kerameikos within the walls, and the Outer Kerameikos beyond, where the public graveyard lies. After the Persian sack of 480 BC, Themistocles ordered a new wall built, and the funerary sculptures were set into its stone. Two gates rose: the Sacred Gate and the Dipylon Gate. Through them passed the Sacred Way to Eleusis and the Dromos to the Academy.

The cemetery has been used since the 3rd millennium BC. During the Classical period, imposing tombs lined the Street of Tombs. A state building called the Pompeion stood inside the wall, where the nobility feasted during the Panathenaic Festival. Sulla's army destroyed it in 86 BC, and later invasions buried the site for centuries.

In 1863, a stele was uncovered. Excavations—led by the German Archaeological Institute since 1913—revealed a Kouros statue and a plague pit from 430–426 BC. The pit held the remains of 89 people, thrown in with little care, thought to be victims of the Plague of Athens. Pottery and the chaotic burial match Thucydides’ account.

Kerameikos is the quiet corner of Athens where pottery clay and human bones share the same earth. Its name comes from the word κέραμος (kéramos), meaning pottery clay, and it gave English the word 'ceramic'. But this quarter was not merely a potters' district; it was a place of passage, ritual, and memory. The Eridanos River carried fine clay from the hills, making the area ideal for workshops. The same marshy ground became a cemetery as early as the 3rd millennium BC.

By 1200 BC, organized burials with cist graves and offerings appear. During the Archaic period, large grave mounds rose along the south bank of the Eridanos, lining the Sacred Way—the road that processions took to Eleusis for the Mysteries. Houses were built on higher ground to the south. The area was already thick with the dead and the living.

Everything changed after the Persian sack of Athens in 480 BC. At Themistocles’ urging, a new city wall was built in 478 BC. The funerary monuments were dismantled and set into the wall itself. Two gates were erected: the Sacred Gate (through which the Sacred Way passed) and the double-arched Dipylon Gate, from which the wide road called the Dromos led to the Platonic Academy. State graves for warriors and statesmen, including Pericles and Cleisthenes, were placed beside the Dipylon.

Inside the walls, between the two gates, stood the Pompeion—a large courtyard with banquet rooms where the Athenian nobility ate sacrificial meat during the Panathenaic Festival. According to ancient sources, a hecatomb of 100 cows was sacrificed, and the meat was distributed in the Kerameikos. Excavators found heaps of bones in front of the city wall. This building, along with many others near the Sacred Gate, was razed by the Roman dictator Sulla during his sack of Athens in 86 BC. Plutarch described the event as a bloodbath.

In the 2nd century AD, a storehouse replaced the Pompeion, but it too was destroyed—this time by the Heruli in 267 AD. Potters’ workshops occupied the ruins until about 500 AD, when two colonnades were built behind the gates. A new Festival Gate was erected with three entrances. That gate fell to the Avars and Slavs at the end of the 6th century. Then Kerameikos faded into obscurity, buried under centuries of silence.

It was not until April 1863 that a Greek worker digging up a stele rediscovered the site. Systematic excavations by the Greek Archaeological Society began in 1870, and since 1913 the German Archaeological Institute at Athens has led the work. Among the latest findings is a 2.1-meter-tall Kouros, the larger twin of one now in New York, both carved by the same anonymous sculptor known as the Dipylon Master.

During the construction of the Kerameikos metro station, a plague pit was unearthed. In 1992, Greek archaeologist Efi Baziatopoulou-Valavani excavated the pit: 6.5 meters long, 1.6 meters deep, containing the remains of 89 individuals—adult males, females, and eight children. Pottery dates the burial to 430–426 BC. Many consider it to hold victims of the Plague of Athens, described by Thucydides. The bodies were thrown in haphazardly, with diminishing care in successive layers. Only 30 small vases were offered. The chaos matches the plague’s terror.

Do not miss

Street of the Tombs

The Sacred Way and the forking Street of the Tombs are lined with imposing sepulchral monuments from wealthy Athenian families, dating to before the late 4th century BC. These marble stelae and sculpted reliefs are among the finest funerary art of the Classical period.

The Dipylon and Sacred Gates

The double-arched Dipylon Gate and the adjacent Sacred Gate are the great north-western entrances through the city wall. The Sacred Way passed through the Sacred Gate to Eleusis; the Dromos began at the Dipylon, heading to the Academy. Their massive stone blocks still stand.

The Pompeion Courtyard

Inside the walls between the two gates lie the ruins of the Pompeion, the public building used during the Panathenaic Festival. You can see the outline of its large courtyard and banquet rooms where the city’s nobility feasted on sacrificial meat.

The Plague Pit

In the north-western corner of the cemetery, a pit 6.5 meters long holds the remains of 89 people—thought to be victims of the Plague of Athens. The hasty, layered burial and simple pottery offerings tell a story of crisis.

Good questions

Why is Kerameikos called the potters' quarter?

The area took its name from the dēmos of the Kerameis (potters), itself from the Greek word κέραμος (kéramos, pottery clay). The Eridanos River carried abundant clay mud, making it ideal for pottery workshops. The English word 'ceramic' derives from this same root.

What happened during Sulla's sack of Athens in 86 BC?

The Roman dictator Sulla’s army razed the Pompeion and many buildings near the Sacred Gate. The historian Plutarch described the event as a bloodbath. The destruction ended the Classical use of the area; later, a storehouse and then potters' workshops occupied the ruins.

How was the plague pit discovered and what does it contain?

During construction of the Kerameikos metro station, a pit was found containing 89 individuals—adult males, females, and eight children. Pottery dates the burial to 430–426 BC. The chaotic, layered arrangement matches Thucydides’ description of the Plague of Athens. Only 30 small vases were offered, suggesting a hasty, state-run burial for the poor.