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Tomb of the Lacedaemonians

About

The Tombs of Lacedaemonians are a monumental burial structure on the Kerameikos , the most important cemetery on the outskirts of ancient Athens . They are named after the ancient name Lacedaemonians for the inhabitants of Sparta . The tomb is located in the north of today's excavation site on the south side of the ancient Kerameikos Street , which led north-west from the city to the so-called Academy . It is an elongated flat building made of stone blocks with a total width of about 24 meters. The Lacedaemonian Tombs are generally regarded as burial structures for the fallen of the Spartan army that died in the Athenian Civil War of 404/403 BC. fought on the side of the " Thirty Tyrants ". In this context, the ancient writer Xenophon describes a battle against the democratic party in Piraeus in his historical work . The Spartans who died in the process have been identified with the burials in the Lacedaemonian graves since a corresponding grave inscription was found. This is one of the few ancient burial sites where an archaeological finding can be linked to both an inscription and a contemporary written source. At the same time, the finds made there are of particular scientific relevance, since on the one hand there are only a few known Spartan tombs, and on the other hand there are few finds of laconic (Spartan) pottery in the red-figure style . In addition, the pottery and weapon finds in the Lacedaemonian graves can be dated precisely to the year due to the connection to historically documented combat operations, thus improving the dating possibilities for stylistically similar objects from other excavations.