The area of Kerameikos, according to Thucydides, was one of the most beautiful suburbs of ancient Athens. It is thought to have taken its name from the establishment of ceramic workshops. After the Persian wars and the construction of the fortification wall by Themistocles (around 479 BCE), the area was divided into the Inner and Outer Kerameikos. Two of the most important gates of the city were built in the part of the wall that encompassed this area: the Dipylon, which was the largest gate of Athens and led to the Academy, the Thriasian Plain and the Peloponnese, and the Sacred Gate through which passed the Sacred Way towards Eleusis, the route followed by the procession of worshipers during the Eleusinian Mysteries to reach the temple of Demeter and Kore after 21 kilometres.
In the open space between the Dipylon and the Sacred Gate, the crowds would gather for the celebrations of the Great Panathenaea and the preparation of the magnificent procession to the Acropolis. At the beginning of the 4th century BCE, the Pompeion, whose name is known to us from a reference made by the orator and politician Demosthenes, was constructed in the area. The Pompeion was an elongated building with a large peristyle courtyard, banquet halls and a monumental propylon. The courtyard was surrounded by unfluted Ionic columns of limestone which supported the inclined roof and formed stoas around it. To the west and north of the courtyard were six square rooms of varying sizes, with pebbled floors, along the walls of which banqueting beds were placed. These rooms served as meeting rooms, while the smaller room on the north side probably served as a kitchen. The propylon on the east side of the building had a floor paved with slabs of Hymettus marble, still preserved today, and four marble Ionic columns. Its roof is restored as a marble gabled structure with waterspouts in the form of lion heads. The central doorway, which had a sloping access, would have been used by chariots and carriages to enter the courtyard, as evidenced by deep wheel tracks, while the two side doors would have been used for pedestrian access.
It is believed that in the spacious courtyard of the Pompeion, the ship of the Panathenaic procession was stored. Athenians would hoist the new robe of the goddess, woven by the hergastines, onto the sails of this ship. They would then transport it to the temple of Athena Polias to dress the wooden statue of Athena (xoanon). The area in front of the building was the starting point of the religious procession to the Acropolis. After the sacrificial offerings of numerous animals during the celebration, the distribution of the meat, as indicated by inscriptions, took place in Kerameikos. Citizens would dine in the open spaces, while the officials and dignitaries would partake their meals in the halls of the Pompeion.
The architectural design of the Pompeion and the inscriptions engraved by adolescents on the inner walls of the courtyard suggest that the building also functioned as a Gymnasium. Moreover, Diogenes Laertius, a historian of philosophy of the 3rd century CE, informs us that the philosopher Diogenes frequented Pompeion. He also notes the presence of a statue of Socrates in the area, sculpted by Lysippus. From other literary sources, we learn that the walls of the halls were adorned with frescoes depicting orators and comedians.
In the 1st century BC the Pompeion was almost completely destroyed by the troops of Sulla (86 BC) and was quarried for building material. Later, during the reign of Emperor Antoninus the Pius (138-161 CE), a three-aisled two-storey building was constructed on the site. This building incorporated the eastern part of the Pompeion’s courtyard as a forecourt, and the propylon that still stood in its place. Referred to by researchers as the “Storage Building”, it was believed to have been used for safeguarding objects related to the Panathenaic celebrations. It was destroyed by fire during the raid of the Heruli in 267 CE and in its place ceramic workshops were established. Later, in the 4th century, two stoas were constructed on the site of the Storage Building, probably to house shops, and a gate with reused architectural elements.
