The Ancient City of Athens: Kerameikos

Kerameikos

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This site was created for educational purposes by Kevin T. Glowacki. All content on this website (including text and photographs), unless otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

The Kerameikos was the name of the deme or section of Athens northwest of the Acropolis. Technically, it includes an extensive area both within and outside of the city walls. The "inner Kerameikos" (from the Greek Agora to the Dipylon and Sacred Gates) was the "potter's quarter" of the city. The "outer Kerameikos" (from the city walls towards the Academy), included the famous cemetery and the "demosion sema" (public burial monument) where Perikles delivered his funeral oration in 431 B.C.

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Select Bibliography:

Kerameikos: Ergebnisse der Ausgrabung, I-XIV. Berlin and Munich. Official publications of the excavations in the Kerameikos conducted by the German Archaeological Institute.
Clairmont, C.W. 1993-1995. Classical Attic Tombstones (8 vols), Berlin.
Knigge, U. 1991. The Athenian Kerameikos: History, Monuments, Excavations, Athens.

Recommended websites:

QTVR Panorama of the Kerameikos(B. Hartzler, Metis)
Article on Athens, including the Kerameikos (Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites)
Article on the Kerameikos (Greek Ministry of Culture)