The Kerameikos
The Kerameikos is likely one of the most historic districts of Athens. The identify comes from keramos that means roof-tile; an apparent allusion to the various tilemakers’ and potters’ quarters established there from the earliest occasions.
It will likely be remembered that after the victory over the Persians at Plataea in 479 BC, Themistocles ordered the constructing of huge protection partitions spherical Athens and the Peiraeus. On the conclusion of the Peloponnesian Warfare (404 BC), the partitions have been demolished by the victorious Spartans, however have been restored by Conon in 393 BC and reconstructed some sixty years later. The Roman normal Sulla lastly razed them in 86 BC. A piece of the partitions handed by way of the Kerameikos and divided the district into two sectors: the Interior, which included the Agora, the principal administrative and judicial buildings, and the potters’ and smiths’ quarters, and the Outer Kerameikos wherein lay the necropolis.
The Hellenic peoples regarded the interment of the lifeless as some of the sacred duties. In struggle, the duty to bury the enemy lifeless, whether or not Hellene or barbarian, was equally binding. Because it was believed that the presence of corpses introduced air pollution to the dwelling, our bodies have been both cremated or inhumed removed from town partitions, normally along with most important roads or outdoors the gates of town; the evolution of the Kerameikos further mums of the sixth century BC might be traced to the observance of that hygienic precaution. Archaeological proof discovered throughout excavations within the space exhibits that the Outer Kerameikos was already in use as a burial floor as way back because the twelfth century BC.
Turning proper inside the doorway on Odhos Ermou, we observe a well-trodden path descending diagonally to the north-east and main into the vestiges of the Sacred Approach (IEPA 040E), with a moat and a nook of the Themistoclean circuit wall in entrance of us. Left of the Sacred Approach lies the Eridanus brook. Turning proper, we come to the scanty stays of the Sacred Gate.
The SACRED GATE was constructed into the Themistoclean wall, and consisted of a passage 35 m. lengthy by 12 m. broad enclosed between two lateral partitions. A strong wall constructed alongside its size divided the passage into two exits, one (south), from the Interior Kerameikos to the Sacred Approach, was protected by a excessive wall that joined the defensive towers flanking the construction; the opposite, (north), served as an outlet to the Eridanus, then a swiftly flowing stream crossing the Kerameikos alongside a vaulted synthetic water-course. An arch, sole seen relic of the archaic hydraulic set up, nonetheless spans the brook.
Leaving the Sacred Gate, we cross by way of a slim opening within the forewall that stands on the opposite aspect of the brook, persevering with the road of the Themistoclean circuit wall. Instantly earlier than us is a low stretch of ruined wall, all that is still of the polygonal wall of Conon. Holding our course we come to the primary boundary stone, bearing a perpendicular inscription oros Kerameikou. We are able to now hint to our proper the stays of the Dipylon, that’s, the Double Gate.
The DIPYLON was additionally a part of town circuit wall. It was constructed throughout the second half of the fourth century BC as a bigger and stronger successor to the Dipylon of Themistocles; this latter gate was erected within the earlier century on the location of a fair earlier dipylon which was often known as the Thriasian Gate. The Dipylon was the most important and most frequented of the eight metropolis gates of Athens, and the place to begin of three roads: one southwards to the Peiraeus, one other westwards to Eleusis, whereas the third, barely a mile in size, led northwards to the Academy of Plato on the River Kiphissos. An uncommon characteristic of the Dipylon was the double entrance, consisting of an outer and an internal gate (therefore the identify), with connecting partitions enclosing an rectangular court docket measuring 41 m. in size by 22 m. in breadth. Every of the gates, which have been fitted with stout doorways that have been closed throughout an emergency, had two openings divided by a central pier to permit for the simultaneous passage of two carriages.
Due to its nice significance, the Dipylon was exceptionally nicely fortified. Protected by huge partitions terminating in large sq. nook towers bolstered by salients, two flanking the outer, two the internal gate, and with supplementary defenses within the ingenious utilization of the house between the gates, it was nearly impregnable. Ought to enemy troops achieve success in overcoming the resistance of the defenders on the outer gate and penetrate the inside of the constructing, they might discover themselves trapped inside the restricted confines of the courtyard. There, surrounded on all sides, they might be on the mercy of a second physique of defenders strongly entrenched behind thick ramparts.
Standing on the Dipylon and going through northwest, we will see traces of the street that led to Plato’s Academy stretching earlier than us. On our proper is a big rectangular stepped base for the assist of a monument that stood in entrance of the central pier of the outer gate. Additional proper, straight reverse the central pier of the internal gate, are the stays of a round altar bearing a dedicatory inscription to Zeus Herkeios (protector of walled enclosures), to Hermes (god of roads and gateways), and to Acamas (tribal hero of the Kerameikos).
On the left lie the stays of the Pompeion (from the Greek pompi, that’s, a solemn procession), constructed of poros in about 400 BC. Although designed primarily as a gymnasium, it later served different functions; for instance, as middle for the distribution of meals in time of want. The Pompeion was the favourite meeting-place of philosophers, and on its partitions have been portraits of a few of their quantity; a statue of Socrates, the work of Lysippus, additionally stood there. Its principal functionn nonetheless, was that of storehouse for the heavy automobiles and different properties employed on the event of the non secular processions of the Panathenaea and the Nice Eleusinia, and likewise because the place of meeting for these collaborating in them.
The POMPEION measured 55 m. in size by 30 m. in breadth, and consisted of a court docket surrounded by columns, 13 alongside the perimeters and 6 on the ends. The propylon, which stood reverse the internal gate of the Dipylon, consisted of two columns between aspect partitions, with an entrance for pedestrians on both aspect of the central passage. The ruts left by the passage of automobiles, the holes drilled for the fittings of the gates, and the furrows scored by opening and shutting them are nonetheless seen within the paving. The Pompeion was destroyed throughout Sulla’s siege of Athens in 86 BC.
Dealing with the ruins of the Pompeion are the stays of the Pompeion of Hadrian, a construction erected throughout the second century AD, and razed by the barbarian Heruli, a Teutonic tribe originating in Jutland, in AD 267. The Pompeion of the Roman interval was smaller than its predecessor and was constructed on a unique plan.
In entrance of the Dipylon is the place to begin of the stately AVENUE OF THE ACADEMY that in antiquity led to the Academy of Plato however at this time lies buried outdoors the current space of excavation. From the time of Solon (640-558 BC), a state burial alongside this Avenue was the very best award that may very well be granted to those that had rendered sign service, army or political, to town. The Avenue of the Academy was lined on each side with imposing funerary monuments erected by the State, both memorials in honor of excellent people, or polyandreia for the burial of teams of warriors who had died in battle, or once more cenotaphia, that’s, empty tombs raised as memorials to those that had additionally misplaced their lives within the service of town however whose our bodies have been both buried elsewhere or couldn’t be discovered for interment.
Continuing down the Avenue we cross between the stays of partitions and monuments and on the finish of the paved part we flip left down a slight slope. This path results in the Tomb of the Lacedaemonians (slightly below the church of Aghia Triada), and the second boundary stone. The tomb is split into three compartments and contained the skeleton of 13 Spartans who have been killed throughout the heavy preventing on the Peiraeus in 403 BC, when Thrasybulus overthrew the Thirty Tyrants. Among the many marble blocks of the monument, on which have been inscribed the names of the fallen, is one recording the deaths of the 2 polemarchs, Chaeron and Thibrachus, talked about by Xenophon who, with the Olympic victor Lactates, have been buried within the Kerameikos. This block of marble might be seen contained in the Museum.
Amid the various ruins and ill-defined paths that cowl the current space of excavation the simplest course is to retrace our steps from the Tomb of the Lacedaemonians so far as the Sacred Gate. Simply earlier than we attain the foundations of a small sanctuary, to this point unidentified, that lies about 45 meters from the Sacred Gate, the traditional street branches off to the appropriate. We proceed alongside this street, which runs parallel to the course of the Eridanus and leads us to the household grave terraces beneath the church of Aghia Triada.
The rich have been normally buried in household plots, individually walled and adorned with stelai and sculpture. The extant funerary monuments, nearly all of which date from the fourth century BC, are of varied sorts: plain pillar, or palmette anthemion stelai; columns, generally surmounted by a tool, or the illustration of an animal; lekythoi and loutrophoroi, giant vases marking the graves of those that died single; trapezai, that’s, tombs within the type of chests, with table-like tops; naiskoi, temple-like shrines, or chapels, wherein sculptured reliefs or work have been set in deep frames with pediments; sarcophagoi, marble tombslabs; and cippi, small undecorated columns typically positioned over the graves of slaves.
The next itinerary takes us to the tombs on the Sacred Approach, the Road of Tombs, and the cross-street rising off it to the south. The extra fascinating funerary monuments are numbered within the order wherein it’s proposed to go to them.
The graves on the SACRED WAY are to be seen alongside the part of the street that lies beneath the church of Aghia Triada. After the ruins of a big unidentified tomb we come to the as soon as painted stele of Antidossis; the lekythos of Aristomache, with a small reduction. Passing by way of a slim opening between these monuments, we come to a grave terrace, on which stands, the loutrophoros of Olympichos and farther away , the grave tumulus of Eucoline. The advantageous reduction depicts a household group of two girls, a person and a mild little woman. The latter is proven holding a pet fowl in her hand, whereas a tiny canine, standing on its hindlegs, begs for her consideration. The sleek attitudes of the feminine figures and the playfulness of the canine are rendered in masterly vogue.
We now descend from this monument and switch proper, following a path beneath the grave terrace. This brings us to the STREET OF TOMBS, the place nearly all of funerary monuments are to be seen. On the north (proper) aspect: stele of Phanocles of Leucone; stele of Philocrates of Kydhathinaion; the trapeza of Hipparete (c. 350 BC), granddaughter of the ill-starred Alcibiades; stele of Menes, with a reduction representing him on horseback; pillar stele of Samakion. Household plot of Koroibos of Melite; within the middle of a bunch of three funerary monuments stands: Koroibos’ personal stele; on the left, that of his spouse Hegeso, represented seated, analyzing a necklace she has taken from the trinket-box her maid is holding out for her inspection. It is a forged (the unique is within the Nationwide Archaeological Museum) of the well-known stele that has impressed many painters and poets. On the appropriate of the stele of Koroibos is, the loutrophoros, in reduction, of Kleidemos, his grandson. Household plot of Eubios of Potamos: the stele, with palmette anthemion and reduction of Eubios’ sister Euphrosyne. The deceased, seated close to her brother, offers her hand to her nephew Bion; a small Doric column, as soon as topped by a loutrophoros, marks the tomb of Bion. On the appropriate of this final memorial is an unidentified naiskos. We now flip on the retaining wall to the funerary monuments on the other (south) aspect.
Grave plot of Nicostrate and Kephisodoros. Household plot of the Archon Lysimachides of Acharnai. The tomb, in polygonal masonry, contains: an ex-voto representing two {couples} seated at a funeral meal within the decrease world, and beneath, Charon in his boat on the Styx; an enormous Molossian hound, one in every of two acroteria that guarded the corners of the tomb; the second (18), the badly mutilated statue of a lion, is hidden by the ex-voto already talked about. Household plot of the treasurer Dionysius of Kollytos (c. 345-317 BC), the tombstone, within the type of a small trapeza, marks the grave of 1 Melis of Melite; a big empty naiskos for a portray, most likely of the deceased, stands in opposition to a tall pillar supporting, an imposing bull in Pentelic marble, probably the most arresting piece of sculpture within the necropolis. This animal was likely chosen to adorn the treasurer’s tomb, not solely as a result of Dionysus is typically portrayed within the type of a bull, but in addition as a result of the identify of the deceased (Dionysius) is sort of synonymous with that of the god (Dionysus). Household plot of the brothers Agathon and Sosicrates of Heraclea on the Pontus. Right here stand, the as soon as painted naiskos of Agathon; a excessive reduction representing a touching scene of parting, executed with the dignity and restraint inherent in Greek artwork.
Korallion, spouse of Agathon, grasps her husband’s hand in farewell. On the middle stands a second male determine whereas within the background, behind the seated determine of Korallion, a second girl’s profile might be seen. On the left is a damaged lekythos, with a reduction depicting one other scene of parting. We now come to the household plot of Lysanias of Thorikos; listed below are the stays of the spectacular precinct of Lysanias’ twenty-year previous son Dexileos, one of many 5 knights killed in battle in 394 BC, throughout the Corinthian Warfare. Though Dexileos, collectively together with his fellow-cavalrymen, was given a state funeral and buried within the public sector of the cemetery, Lysanias erected this cenotaph as his personal personal tribute to his son. The monument, which stood upon an enormous base of conglomerate, consists of a splendid marble reduction in Pentelic marble, topped by a pediment, representing Dexileos using down a fallen enemy warrior (this can be a forged; the unique might be seen within the Museum). As was the customized in antiquity the group was painted, whereas the victor’s lance and the bridle of his steed (each now misplaced) have been of bronze. This reduction, harking back to St. George killing the Dragon, is likely one of the many examples that present the affect of Classical artwork on Byzantine iconography. On the bottom of the reduction is the inscription: “Dexileos, son of Lysanias of Thorikos, was born within the archonship of Teisandros (414 BC), and died in that of Eubolides (394 BC) in Corinth, one in every of 5 Knights”.
On the entrance of the precinct stand two pillar stelai: the taller, topped with a palmette anthemion, honors the reminiscence of Dexileos’ brother Lysias; the opposite, with a pediment and rosettes, that of their sister Melitta. Three different tombs, all trapezai, have been discovered inside the precinct. Just one, nonetheless, might be positively recognized; this, is inscribed with the names of Lysanias, one other of Dexileos’ brothers, his spouse Kallistrate, and their son Kalliphanes.
After the precinct of Dexileos, the road of household plots is damaged by a slim path that climbs as much as the grave terrace, and, tomb of Hieronymus, a well-known actor who lived about 270 BC. Behind this tomb is the tomb of Macareus, one other actor famed in antiquity.
Within the angle fashioned by the junction of the Sacred Approach and the Road of Tombs is the oblong Sanctuary of the Tritopatreis (Ancestral Gods). That this sanctuary, sacred to the worship of ancestors and the cult of the household, is of nice antiquity, is attested by an archaic inscription lower right into a stone constructed into the wall of the court docket.
Simply past the Tritopatreion, however on the other aspect of the Road of Tombs, two stelai are in situ: the primary, a broad pillar stele with a pediment, is that of Thersandros and Simylus, envoys from the island of Kerkyra (Corfu), who died in Athens in 375 BC. The opposite, constructed on a decrease degree, is that of Pythagoras, proxenos (consul) of Athens at Selymbria in Thrace.
Leaving these stelai, we flip left into the Southern Approach. Right here, on the appropriate, is the grave terrace of the sisters Pamphile and Demetria (c. 350 BC), with, the tombstone of Dorcas of Sicyon; a big naiskos framing, some of the stunning funerary reliefs of the fourth century, wherein Pamphile is represented seated, with Demetria. To the appropriate of this advantageous piece of sculpture is, the bottom of the stele of Demetria (now within the Nationwide Archaeological Museum), and behind it stands, the loutrophoros of Hegetor, with a small reduction depicting a scene of farewell; then, the inscribed stele of Glykera, and the trapeza of one other Demetria. Subsequent to the plot of Pamphile and Demetria is that of Philoxenos of Messine, which incorporates, in a line, three trapezai, upon which stand stays of the bases of the lekythoi of Parthenios and Dion, and the stele of Philoxenos, their father; the statue (now headless) of Philoxenos’ spouse, and the cippi of a few of their slaves.
From the grave terrace of Pamphile and Demetria, a path leads direct to the temenos of Hecate, grey goddess of night time and the nether world, which lies within the open house between the grove beneath the Museum and the again of the Road of Tombs. Right here, the stays of a fireplace altar, wherein a reduction displaying a scene of sacrifice, above a dedication to Artemis-Hecate, is about into the north aspect. A stone omphalos, or navel, stands between the eschara and a distinct segment, inbuilt brick. This latter held the triangular statue of the triple Hecate, (now within the Nationwide Archaeological Museum), for this sinister deity, patroness of ghosts and witchcraft, who additionally haunted crossroads and graveyards, was normally represented by three equivalent figures of the goddess, standing again to again, every with its particular attributes: torches, keys, swords, lances, canines, and snakes.
To the south, within the grove beneath the Museum, lies the post-Classical cemetery, wherein the one grave-markers worthy of word are the triangular pillar of Sosibios of Sounion standing on a low mound and, an unusually tall pillar stele, inscribed with a listing of names.
This checklist of memorials enumerated is merely a small choice from the huge quantity discovered throughout excavation; many others have been eliminated to the security of the Kerameikos and Nationwide Archaeological Museums. Excluding the tombs of the actors Hieronumus and Macareus and naturally, the stelai and different funerary marbles described are anterior to 310 BC, when the sumptuary legal guidelines of Demetrius Phalereus prohibited giant expenditure on personal tombs. Henceforth, it was decreed, solely trapezai (easy commemorative tablets), and kioniskoi, that’s, truncated columns with a moulding to maintain a wreath or fillet in place, have been to be permitted. The result’s to be seen within the dreary assortment of stone cylinders, various tremendously in dimension, organized close to the doorway to the Museum.
Through the greater than three thousand years of its existence the Kerameikos has many occasions been devastated and numerous tombs plundered and destroyed. With the arrival of Christianity a lot of the statuary was smashed by non secular fanatics. Later the cemetery progressively fell into disuse and served as a dumping floor for garbage, in order that in 1862, when the Greek Archaeological Society undertook the primary excavations, the once-glorious Kerameikos lay buried beneath the amassed refuse of the centuries. In 1913, after a interval of fruitful collaboration between Greek and German Archaeologists, it was determined to entrust future excavation of the world to the German Archaeological Institute of Athens which continues its mission ever since.
