Kerameikos Archaeological Site

Kerameikos is defined by the Eridanos River, which still flows through this landscape, carrying the clay that once drew potters here and gave the area its name. It served as both the industrial heart of ancient Athens, where artisans crafted their famous vases, and the city’s largest, most significant cemetery. When the general Themistocles ordered a massive defensive wall built in the fifth century before Christ, the structure cleaved this quarter in two, separating the workshops from the sprawling necropolis outside the city gates.