Tombs of the Kings
About
Paphian aristocrats and high officials, not actual kings, filled this cliffside necropolis with tombs carved to imitate the houses of the living, some centered on open peristyle courtyards ringed by Doric columns cut straight from the bedrock. Burials continued here from the early Hellenistic third century BCE through the Roman era. By 117 CE the necropolis had already served Paphos for more than three hundred years.
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.
Sources
Nearby
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 →