Tombs of the Kings of Nea Paphos

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Entrance to the excavation site (2014)
View over the site (2006)

The royal tombs of Nea Paphos are a necropolis directly on the west coast of Cyprus between Ktima and Kato Paphos . The name was created under the impression of the size of the rock tombs in the second quarter of the 20th century. It is incorrect, because at the time of the Ptolemies (294–58 BC), under whose rule the island was at the time the tombs were built, the city ​​kingdoms on Cyprus no longer existed. Probably from the 3rd century BC. Originating in BC , they testify to the prosperity of the inhabitants who were based on Egyptian models. The larger tombs were used for burial of officials of the Ptolemaic administration or their heads of state.

Burials continued in the necropolis until the 3rd century , and the site served as a refuge for early Christians during their persecution. In the Middle Ages, squatters settled down and changed the original architecture.

In 1980 the ruins of Nea Paphos, which include the tombs, were declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO .

History of excavation and exploration

Drawing by the archaeologist Ludwig Ross (1845)

The English travel writer Richard Pococke was the first to describe the area of ​​the necropolis in 1738. In 1800 the orientalist Josef von Hammer traveled to Paphos and wrote descriptions specifically of the peristyle . Six years later, explorer Domingo Badía y Leblich visited Paphos and also left a written report. Of Ludwig Ross 1845, the first drawings are one of the tombs, which were made by a specialist.

The robber and treasure hunter Luigi Palma di Cesnola , then the American consul in Cyprus, began excavating this site in 1870. It was not until 45 years later, in 1915, that the first excavations took place under the supervision of Menelaos Markidis, the curator of the Cyprus Museum , under scientific supervision. In the meantime, the archaeologists Edmond Pottier (1878) and Wilhelm Dörpfeld and Max Ohnefalsch-Richter (1890) visited and described the ruins. Dörpfeld had taken photographs for the German Archaeological Institute in Athens .

In 1937, with the help of prisoners, cleaning work began on larger graves, which was interrupted during the Second World War and continued from 1945 to 1952. After the occupation of northern Cyprus by Turkey and the associated political division of the island, systematic excavations began in 1977 under the direction of Sophokles Hadjisavvas with the aim of expanding knowledge of the funeral customs of the Hellenistic era and opening up the site for cultural tourism . In 1990 they were interrupted in favor of the conservation of the rocks. The conservation and reconstruction work continued in 2012.

architecture

Grave 3: Doric columns with architrave and triglyph frieze (2011)

The graves of the necropolis are made of sand limestone. They are designed as shaft , chamber and atrium graves. Architecturally, they show Greek forms. Step dromoi lead to the chamber tombs in a rectangular room, from which tunnel-shaped inlets ( loculi ) emanate, to the atrium tombs in an inner courtyard with a peristyle . From the peristyle, in turn, entrances lead into antechambers, from which a system of individual or merging burial chambers emanates. The graves were intended for multiple burials. The rectangular pillars or Doric columns , made of natural rock, are continued at the top in a horizontal, unstructured entablature or an architrave . Metopes - triglyphs - friezes cut into the rock form the upper part. The recess in the rock above the entablature must be viewed as a support for the former cover.

In addition to the partially above-ground chamber grave near the entrance, the grave beyond the center of the complex differs from the type of peristyle grave. It stands as a mighty block in the middle of a courtyard carved into the rock and points more clearly than the peristyle graves to the “Mustafa Pascha necropolis” in Alexandria . The grave complex discovered in 1983 in the north of the necropolis is unique in Cyprus. Here a 20 m long stepped chromosome flows into the peristyle. Like some others, this tomb has rich stucco decoration . A reference to Alexandria was also assumed here, although Macedonian graves were the models. These chambers were probably robbed as early as Roman times. Traces of crosses suggest a re-use in early Christian times.

Grave finds

Among other things, ceramics from the 3rd century BC could be found in the graves . Chr., As amphorae , balsam vessels and lamps, further gold jewelry, gold myrtle , a Pyxis from ivory and coins from the 2nd century BC. Chr. And the time of Cleopatra V. recovered. Many of the artifacts are in the Paphos District Museum . The discovery of a medieval pottery kiln and the change of the tomb 5 by closing the atrium have a profane out of use as a residence.

Funeral customs

From previous research it can be concluded that each family had its own grave site, in which graves of different types could be located, a procedure that is also shown in the Kerameikos cemetery . The larger groups of graves were provided with a water basin; it was drinking water for purification purposes. The dead were given grave donations on stake , such as birds, eggs and fruit.

photos

  • UNESCO shield (2014)

  • Information board (2014)

  • Grave 1, Dromos (2014)

  • Grave 2, burial niches (2014)

  • Sacrificial niches on the north side of grave 2

  • Interior view of grave 3, peristyle (2014)

  • Grave 3, peristyle seen from above (2014)

  • Grave 6, Cippus in the middle of the atrium (2011)

  • Grave 8 from above

  • Grave 8, grave niche with portal (2014)

literature

  • Maria Hadjisavva: The Tombs of the Kings. A World Heritage Site . Napafos, Nicosia 1985 (English).
  • Sophocles Hadjisavvas: The Royal Tombs of Paphos. Excavations and discoveries . Napafos, Nicosia 2012.

Web links

Commons : Tombs of the Kings of Nea Paphos  - Collection of images

Coordinates: 34 ° 46 ′ 34 ″  N , 32 ° 24 ′ 17 ″  E

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Sophocles Hadjisavvas: The royal tombs of Paphos. Excavations and discoveries . Napafos, Nicosia 2012, p. 3 .
  2. ↑ a b c Sophocles Hadjisavvas: The royal tombs of Paphos. Excavations and discoveries . Napafos, Nicosia 2012, p. 14 .
  3. ↑ Maria Hadjisavva: The Tombs of the Kings. A World Heritage Site . Napafos, Nicosia 1985, pp. 4 (English).
  4. ^ World Heritage List. Retrieved April 20, 2014 .
  5. ^ World Heritage Sites in Cyprus. Retrieved April 20, 2014 .
  6. ↑ Sophocles Hadjisavvas: The royal tombs of Paphos. Excavations and discoveries . Napafos, Nicosia 2012, p. 3-5 .
  7. ↑ Sophocles Hadjisavvas: The royal tombs of Paphos. Excavations and discoveries . Napafos, Nicosia 2012, p. 6-9 .
  8. ↑ Sophocles Hadjisavvas: The royal tombs of Paphos. Excavations and discoveries . Napafos, Nicosia 2012, p. 9 .
  9. ↑ Sophocles Hadjisavvas: The royal tombs of Paphos. Excavations and discoveries . Napafos, Nicosia 2012, p. 11 .
  10. ↑ Sophocles Hadjisavvas: The royal tombs of Paphos. Excavations and discoveries . Napafos, Nicosia 2012, p. 13 .
  11. ↑ Sophocles Hadjisavvas: The royal tombs of Paphos. Excavations and discoveries . Napafos, Nicosia 2012, p. 26, 35, 37, 39 .
  12. ↑ Sophocles Hadjisavvas: The royal tombs of Paphos. Excavations and discoveries . Napafos, Nicosia 2012, p. 14th f .
  13. ↑ Sophocles Hadjisavvas: The royal tombs of Paphos. Excavations and discoveries . Napafos, Nicosia 2012, p. 10 .
  14. ↑ Sophocles Hadjisavvas: The royal tombs of Paphos. Excavations and discoveries . Napafos, Nicosia 2012, p. 30th f .