Sardis Bin Tepe Necropolis
About
"A thousand hills" of royal Lydian burial mounds spread across the plain north of Sardis, raised for kings including Gyges and Alyattes centuries before Rome ever ruled Asia. The tomb of Alyattes alone measures 355 meters across and rises 61 meters, one of antiquity's largest funerary monuments and already ancient when Herodotus described it. Still a famous landmark of the region in 117 CE, over 600 years after it was raised.
What happened here
The dead are outside the walls because the law requires it, so the approach to every town is lined with them. Tombs face the road in rows, grand ones in front and simpler markers behind, all of them addressed to the passer-by. Burial clubs let ordinary people and slaves pay a monthly subscription for a place in a communal vault and a decent funeral; the alternative is a pit. Families come out on anniversaries and at the February festival, eat at the graveside, and pour wine into a pipe set into the ground. Undertakers, stonecutters and letter-cutters work nearby and compete on price. Ground is bought by the foot, and the frontage on the road costs the most.
In ancient writing
- Herodotus, Histories 1.93
Describes the tomb of Alyattes at Sardis, built by the market-traders, craftsmen, and prostitutes of the city.
Sources
Nearby
.jpg?width=800)
.jpg?width=800)
.jpg?width=800)
Roman Maps shows the empire frozen at 11 August 117 CE, the day Trajan died — its moment of greatest territorial extent. Explore the full map →