The Acharnian Road was one of the most important thoroughfares of ancient Athens, leading from the asty (city) through the Acharnian Gates to the northern regions of Attica and especially to the deme of Acharnae, which, as Thucydides informs us, was densely populated. Parts of the road, established after the construction of the Themistoclean fortification wall in 479/8 BCE, as well as other ancient roads, have been unearthed by archaeological excavations in recent decades in Kotzia Square, in the centre of the modern city.
The area outside the Acharnian Gates and on either side of the ancient roads served as a cemetery with a long period of use, from the late Archaic times until after the middle of the 3rd century CE. The total number of burials that have been excavated exceeds 700, encompassing various types such as pyres, enchytrismoi (burials in clay vessels), clay and stone box-shaped tombs, larnakes and sarcophagi, built, tile-roofed and pit burials. Although the earliest graves date back to the Early Geometric period (10th century BCE), it appears that the cemetery began to be systematically used at the end of the 6th – beginning of the 5th century BCE, reaching its peak in the Classical period, to which most of the burials belong. In the early Hellenistic period, there is evidence of better organisation of the space with repairs to the road supports and the construction of platforms and periboloi. Numerous artefacts were collected from the burials, primarily pottery vessels, figurines, bronze mirrors, gold jewellery, strigils etc., depending on the burial customs of each period. In addition, scattered or reused funerary columns, some of which were inscribed, along with a few fragments of embossed headstones were found.
Following the destruction caused by the Heruli during their raid on Athens in 267 CE, the bustling Acharnian Way ceased to function as a major roadway. The area is believed to have been covered over and its use as a cemetery ceased as a large pottery workshop complex was established there.
