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Modern Description: The archaeological site at Kotzia Square, opposite the Athens City Hall, yielded many important archaeological finds. It is located directly outside the ancient city's fortification, part of which was also revealed and is currently preserved in front of the National Bank of Athens building and at the Aiolou pedestrian precinct. Excavations revealed three ancient streets, a dense cemetery dating from the Protogeometric period (ninth century BC) until the Late Roman period (third century AD), a large complex of pottery workshops of the Late Roman period (late third - fourth century AD), and several houses.

Part of the famous Acharnean Street, which began at the city gate (currently in front of the National Bank of Greece building) and led towards the northern demes of Attica, occupies the centre of the archaeological site. Stratigraphical evidence indicates that the street was laid out in 480 BC and was widely used throughout the fifth century BC.

The cemetery stretched on both sides of Acharnean Street. The grave gifts found in association with burials and cremations cover a wide time span. They include all manner of terracotta vases, some of them by famous ancient pottery workshops, human and animal figurines, glass and terracotta unguentaria, bronze mirrors, gold jewellery, coins, and other objects. A large number of sculptures from funerary monuments, such as columns, pillars, and marble vases, were discovered throughout the excavated area. Many of these were inscribed with the names and origin of those buried in the cemetery.

During the second half of the third century AD, after the devastating invasion of Athens by the Heruli, the cemetery fell into disuse, and a large complex of pottery workshops covered much of its area. The workshops operated during the fourth century AD, a period of prosperity for Athens. Archaeological finds from inside and around the pottery kilns show that they produced vases, domestic utensils, lamps, roof tiles, and antefixes.

The excavations at Kotzia Square were conducted in 1985-1988 during the construction of an underground car park and covered an area of 7,000 square metres. Additional investigation took place near the car park's entrance and exit points in 1998-1999. Parts of the excavated area were conserved and fenced in 2003-2004, and are now accessible to visitors.
The archaeological site at Kotzia Square includes the Acharnean Street, with its sidewalks and funerary monuments, tombs of different types from various time periods on either side of the street, and Roman pottery workshops with their kilns, paved clay basins, and plumbing installations.
Acharnean Street was reconstructed and remodelled in the fourth century BC. Its sidewalks of carefully assembled rectangular ashlar blocks and the four podiums for funerary monuments, which line the sidewalks, all date from this period. The road was used until the second half of the third century AD, when pottery workshops settled in the area. An intersection with a street leading east, along the course of present day G. Stavrou Street, was part of the original (fifth century BC) street plan.

The cemetery, which spanned either side of the Acharnean Road, remained in use for more than a millennium. 672 graves of various types were excavated: simple rock-hewn shafts, stone or terracotta-built graves, stone sarcophagi, terracotta larnakes, and children's jar-burials of different periods. Some rock-hewn shafts contained traces of cremations and inhumations that are contemporary to each other.

Over thirty Late Roman pottery kilns were excavated in the area. They were built of baked bricks, and most of them were rectangular. Some retained both the burning chamber and the firing chamber above it, and two still had the terracotta grills that held the vases during firing. A large number of paved basins for mixing clay and water and for separating the unwanted inclusions were also found.
[Judith Binder: Potters' and Lampmakers: in Plateia Kotzia , bounded by Evpolidou, Aiolou, Kratinou and Athinas Sts.: Touchais, G. 1986, 676
LAMP Moulds with Eutychesʼ signature found in Plateia Kotzia: SEG_43 111 (1993) ]
Wikidata ID: Q38279577
Trismegistos Geo: 364

Info: Odysseus

(Odysseus, Greek Ministry of Culture)

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