The Kerameikos was an area on the edge of Athens on a road that led down from the Acropolis. At the far end of the Kerameikos stood the Dipylon gate beyond which stretched the Hiera Hodos leading to Eleusis. The inner Kerameikos was the potters’ quarter (Kerameikos – ceramic). Passing through the Dipylon Gate to the outer Kerameikos, the Hiera Hodos began. An ancient cemetery stood here, and the road was lined with funerary monuments. After the first year of the Peloponnesian War in 431 BC, Pericles delivered his famous funerary oration in the Kerameikos. When he died (429) from the great plague that devastated Athens, he was buried beside the Hiera Hodos.
You can read more about the evolution of Kerameikos on the blog.