Glossary Tombs and burial
Built tomb
A tomb constructed of masonry, usually of dressed stone blocks, instead of being simply cut into the bedrock.
Almost all Cypriot tombs were cut into soft rock, so a tomb built of stone was a statement of wealth. Built tombs first appear in the Late Bronze Age towns, above all at Enkomi, where rectangular chambers of ashlar blocks and small round tholos tombs were set among the houses. Their closest parallels are the built tombs beneath the houses of Ugarit on the Syrian coast. In the Iron Age the grandest built tombs are the royal tombs of Salamis and Tamassos, with ashlar chambers, carved façades and long dromoi.
Related terms
- Ashlar
Masonry of stone blocks cut and dressed square, laid in regular courses with fine joints.
- Tholos
A round building: in Neolithic Cyprus a circular house, and in the Bronze Age Aegean and Cyprus a circular tomb with a vaulted roof.
- Royal tombs
The monumental built tombs of the Iron Age kings and elite of Cyprus, best known at Salamis, where horses were killed at the funeral.
- Dromos
The passage, often sloping or stepped, cut into the ground or rock to reach the doorway of a chamber tomb.