Archaeological Collection of Acharnes

The Archaeological Collection of Acharnes is located since 2006 in a rented building, relatively close to the mycenaean tholos tomb.

The archaeological material exhibited in the Collection comes primarily from Acharnes and its adjoining municipalities (Kephissia, Agioi Anargyroi, Metamorfosi). The finds come from rescue excavations carried out on privately- held properties and within the context of the construction of large public works (the construction of Kymis Avenue leading to the Olympic Village, the Attiki Odos, the Railway Center in Acharnes). Chronologically, they represent all habitation phases dating from the Late Neolithic to the Middle Byzantine period (4600 BC-12^th c. AD).

On exhibit in the foyer are a transport pithos dating to the Roman period, a pillar stele (4^th c. BC) mentioning the names of an Acharnian family and the cast of a funerary stele-the original is in the National Archaeological Museum (2nd half of the 5^th c. BC).

In the main gallery, Display Case I exhibits finds from the Late Neolithic to the Sub-Mycenaean period (4600-1050 BC) such as a sauceboat, obsidian blades, etc. Noteworthy from the Early Bronze age include part of a cycladic marble figurine, a quadrafoil vessel bearing painted decoration, and a number of sections from spits and offering tables.

The following Display Cases (II, III, IV) include pottery from the Geometric period (9^th -8^th c. BC), with characteristic shapes and decoration, such as pyxides with lids decorated with plastically-rendered horses etc. Among them we may single out a kantharos depicting a soldier and two horses and a model of a granary.

Display Case V includes pottery dating to the Archaic and Classical periods (7^th -4^th c. BC), with characteristic black-figure representations, such as men in procession (on vases by the Lydos workshop), chariot races and Dionysian scenes.

Display Case VI includes one of the Collection’s most important exhibits, the red-figure krater by the Florence Painter. The krater, dating 470-460 BC,  depicts a victorious pentathlon athlete (a javelin-thrower) being rewarded with bands by two Nikes (figures of Victory).

Display Cases VII and VIII exhibit funerary gifts from cemeteries and individual graves of the Late Archaic and Classical period, such as black-figure lekythoi (by the Megaira and Diosphos Painters etc), white-ground lekythoi (by the Painter of Athens 1826, the Sabouroff Painter etc) and red-figure lekythoi (by the Kloegman Painter etc). Alabastra that carry traces of their gold-leaf covering, may be singled out together with a bronze strigil and bronze mirrors.

Between Display Cases VII and VIII there is a cylindrical marble case with a bronze lebes, containing the remains of a cremation (5^th c. BC). Display Case ΙΧ presents a clay bath tub with a child burial with its funerary gifts (5^th c. BC)

The following Cases (X, XI) display finds from the Late Archaic to the Roman period (6^th c. BC-4^th c. AD). Noteworthy are the items from the sanctuaries of Dionysus and Aphrodite in Kephissia as well as a “West Slope” hydria with gilding decoration on its neck from a private plot. The inscribed bronze allotment plate of Kephisodoros from Acharnes (2nd half of the 4^th c. BC) and a bronze coin from the Byzantine period (12^th c. AD) are of interest.

Display Case XII presents a pot burial (4^th c. BC) in an amphora, while Display Case XIII hosts finds dating from the Classical to the Byzantine period such as lamps, stamped handles from transport amphorae, and a hoard of 14 bronze coins (late 6^th-early 7^th c. AD).

Between Display Cases XII and XIII a clay beehive, two inscribed marble funerary columns, an inscribed Herm, and a transport amphora of the Roman period are on display.

Following Display Case XIII fragments of funerary stelai and sculptures, marble boundary stones, the capping of a Herm and part of an inscription mentioning the construction of the Acharnikos Ochetos (irrigation channel) are exhibited.

In the middle of the main gallery the Collection’s sculpture, dating from the Classical and Hellenistic period (5^th– 1^st c. BC), is arrayed, such as funerary stelai, lekythoi and loutrophoroi, an inscribed votive base of a gymnasiarch of the Great Panathenaic Games, the torso of a nude Hercules, and a poros stone case with bronze lebes. The funerary stele of the key-holding priestess Philokiriste (4^th c. BC) may be singled out.

The Archaeological Collection includes a great deal of visual material concerning the history of Acharnes and its neighboring demes on Mount Parnes, the continuous habitation of Acharnes, as well as the monuments of the area (the mycenaean tholos tomb, the ancient theatre, the Hadrians aqueduct etc).

Phone number  : 210 2466122

Open : 8:00 – 15 : 00.

Tuesday closed.

Archaeological Collection - Egaleo Metro Station Archaeological Museum of Megara