Kerameikos

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Kerameikos of Athens
Map of ancient Athens, to the northwest the Kerameikos district and the Dipylon Gate, in front of which the Kerameikos cemetery stretched
Grabnaïskos des Aristonautes , from Kerameikos in Athens, around 320 BC. Chr.

The Kerameikos ( ancient Greek Κεραμεικός ) is a district of Athens and is located northwest of the Acropolis . The already ancient name of the demos is derived from the pottery workshops in ancient times ( ceramics ; from κέραμος , "clay"). The Kerameikos is best known for the archaeological site of the same name.

The ancient cemetery

The most important ancient cemetery in Athens is located in Kerameikos . This quarter was the most important center of Attic ceramic production. The Kerameikos has been researched since 1913 through excavations by the Athens Department of the German Archaeological Institute (Head: Alfred Brueckner ; Karl Kübler (1932–1943); Franz Willemsen (1952–1975); Ursula Knigge (1975–1995); Jutta Stroszeck (since 1995 )).

The Kerameikos cemetery was outside the city walls, as is the case with ancient burial places. It is crossed by two streets, a processional street leading from the Holy Gate to the sanctuary of Eleusis and the Kerameikos street, which left the city through the Dipylon gate . It leads to the Akademeia , the sanctuary of the hero Akademos and the seat of the philosophy school founded by Plato . From the Pompeion between the two gates the procession started at the Panathenaic Mountains . There were numerous graves, especially on the road to Eleusis.

The numerous finds from the excavations from the 3rd millennium BC BC to Roman times are in the Athens National Museum and the small Kerameikos Museum. An expansion of the museum and a connection with the other archaeological excavation sites in Athens are planned. The kouros of the so-called Dipylon Master , found in 2002, caused a sensation . Is dated.

Due to the Eridanos brook , the Kerameikos is also a species-rich biotope . There is a large population of Greek tortoises there .

literature

  • Kerameikos. Results of the excavations . German Archaeological Institute. Vol. 1 (1939) ff. Hirmer, Munich; older volumes: de Gruyter, Berlin.
  • Ursula Knigge : The Kerameikos of Athens. Guided tour of excavations and history . Krene Publishing House, Athens 1988
  • Wolf-Dietrich Niemeier : The Kuros from the Holy Gate. Surprising new finds of archaic sculpture in the Kerameikos in Athens . Zabern, Mainz 2002. ( Antike Welt , special issue; Zabern's illustrated books on archeology ) ISBN 3-8053-2956-3
  • Files of the International Symposium The excavations in Kerameikos, balance sheet and prospects. Athens, 27.-31. January 1999 . Zabern, Mainz am Rhein 2001. (Communications from the German Archaeological Institute, Athenian Department, 114) ISBN 3-8053-2808-7
  • Jutta Stroszeck : The Kerameikos in Athens. History, buildings and monuments in the archaeological park. , Bibliopolis Verlag, Bad Langensalza 2014, ISBN 978-3-943741-04-9

Web links

Commons : Kerameikos  - collection of images

Coordinates: 37 ° 58 ′ 42 ″  N , 23 ° 43 ′ 7 ″  E