The Gate to Eternity: A Guide to Kerameikos Archaeological Site

The Kerameikos of Athens was once the city’s most important neighbourhood, after the Acropolis and the Agora. On this walking tour around the ruins of this ancient cemetery, you’ll trace its rise and fall. I’ll tell you about its destruction at the hands of the Herulians when they ransacked the city in 267 AD, and how it was neglected for years when the city expanded, and eventually abandoned.

I’ll sift through the layers of Kerameikos’ history and, by sharing stories from its famous and lesser-known residents, tell you about its glory days.

The tour starts at the entrance to Kerameikos Archaeological Site, home to the cemetery. You’ll walk through the open area where hundreds of Athenians were buried, and hear how this burial ground was once an indispensable part of their life.

I’ll show you where the walls of Athens were built, where the city started, and where one of the largest defensive structures of the ancient world, Dipylon Gate, stood. I’ll tell you how this area was a melting pot where merchants, outlaws, travelers, craftsmen, and prostitutes would mingle.

On this tour, you’ll have a chance to:

• Discover why Kerameikos is known as the ‘Gate to Eternity’, and ‘City of the Dead’
• See where Panathenaic Street, one of the most popular ancient streets of Athens, began
• Find out how death was handled in Athens thousands of years ago
• Take in the ruins of Athens’ public burial space and find out which people were buried there and why 

• Gaze at unique pieces of art that were created by Ancient Greece’s most famous sculptors
• Learn about Pericles’ Funeral Oration which he wrote for the Athenian soldiers who lost their lives in the Peloponnesian War
• Hear about which classical Greek beliefs continue to be part of our modern lives

If you’d like to escape the hustle and bustle of Athens’ city centre for a while, this is the tour for you! This hour-long walk will introduce you to the city’s history and ancient Athenians’ beliefs about life and death.

It’s a rather difficult site to explore by yourself, but by the end of this tour, I’ll have shed some light on the turbulent history of one of the city’s most fascinating neighbourhoods.