Photo: Wikimedia Commons contributor

Hierapolis Necropolis

Necropolis Hierapolitana

NecropolisAsia · Pamukkale, TurkeyBuilt 50 BCE

About

More than 1,200 tombs stretch across two kilometers on the slopes north and south of Hierapolis, making it the largest ancient burial ground in Asia Minor. Tumuli, house-shaped tombs, and elaborately carved sarcophagi span the late Hellenistic period through the early centuries of Roman rule. Visitors traveled here for the city's hot mineral springs, believed to have healing power, and many chose to be buried within sight of the sacred waters. The necropolis remains one of the best-preserved of its kind anywhere in the ancient world.

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

Inscription (tomb facade), Epitaph of T. Flavius Zeuxis late 1st c. CE
A merchant's tomb in the necropolis records that he built it for himself and his sons after sailing round Greece's dangerous Cape Malea to Italy seventy-two times over his trading career.