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The simplest type of grave was the 'pit-grave'. This was a pit dug into the ground. Its walls were sometimes plastered with lime, and its earth floor was covered with a layer of pebbles or stones. From archaeological finds we know that the tomb was sealed by slabs. Any grave-offerings were placed either inside the tomb or next to it, and there was normally one grave per person. Multiple burials in pit-graves are occasionally found in Classical Athens, but they were due to unusual circumstances, such as the plague epidemic during the Peloponnesian war (Thucydides 3.87). |
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 Tiled graves were very fashionable in Classical times. The corpse was laid to rest (either directly on the earth, or more rarely on a layer of tiles), and a protective canopy of flat tiles of fired clay was set over it. Quite frequently, tiles were also placed vertically on the narrow sides of the grave. As with pit-graves, grave-offerings were placed inside the grave or next to it. |
Built tombs were either free-standing buildings or annexes (on one or more sides) to other structures. Built to house a grave, they were either made entirely of brick or had brick side-walls and an ashlar frontage of stone. Often they were capped with low cornices (some of which still bear traces of decoration). Inside and outside a built tomb, there were gutters running the whole length of its wall, for offerings to be poured into. A gravestone was often placed on a built tomb.
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When a sarcophagus was used for burial, the common material used in the case of an adult was marble or limestone and the sarcophagus was covered with slabs. For minors, it would be of stone. A sarcophagus was either hewn from a single piece or made in sections: it had a lid (either flat or gabled). The walls and roof were frequently plastered with mortar of lime or marble. Sometimes there was painted decoration. It is partly because sarcophagi were sealed that grave-offerings are as well-preserved as they are, and lie in their original positions. |
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Children were normally buried in rectangular or oval clay bathtubs. These were smaller and cheaper to make than sarcophagi. Bathtubs could be used in twos, one stacked on top of the other. They were sometimes decorated, inside and out. | ||
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 It was common for a child to be buried in a special children's cemetery, either in a large pot or in a pit covered with flat clay tiles or with round clay pipes not unlike the ones used as water-ducts. |
'Cenotaphs' were empty tombs for those who had died in a far away country, or whose bones could not be found (as for example in the case of death at sea). Cenotaphs were a part of the complex of public graves found along the road to the Academy; and they were also used for private burials. Offerings were also made at cenotaphs: in some cases, they were placed around a large rock simulating the corpse.
Tomb clusters in Classical Athens were often surrounded either by a circular mound or by a four-sided cemetery circuit wall.
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