Between the streets of Ermou, Piraeus and Asomaton, you will find the archaeological site known as Kerameikos. It got its name from the pottery craftsmen who had settled there, at the banks of the ancient river Eridanus.

The area flooded frequently and was not suitable for houses, so it began to be used as a burial ground and gradually became the most important cemetery of ancient Athens.

Today in an area of ​​about 40 acres, one can see scattered tombs and funerary monuments from almost all eras of ancient Athens, while many of the findings of the excavations can be viewed in the Archaeological Museum of Kerameikos. Here was created the "Dimosio Sima", the burial place of eminent Athenians and those who had been killed during war. It is believed that here Pericles, the famous Athenian leader, gave the renown speech 'Funeral Oration', honoring those who fell in the Peloponnesian War. The speech was rescued by the ancient historian Thucydides, while according to another version, "Epitaph" was written by the Thucydides himself.

In Kerameikos was also Dipylon, the main gateway to ancient Athens, and here was the startinh point of the famous Iera Odos(Sacred Way) that led to Eleusina.