April 24, 2009

Necropolis

Here are pictures of the tombs I promised you. The bottom picture was taken from our hotel room balcony in Dalyan.

These are referred to as “Lycian temple tombs,” though as it happens these particular tombs are in Caria, and are part of the necropolis of Kaunos, a once-great city whose ruins are now accessible only by water.

The Lycians, and I guess the Carians, began building elaborate tombs in the 4th Century BCE. These began with distinctive “house tombs” (top photo), with the inside arranged as a miniature home for the deceased. Then the “houses” were moved into small rock-cut tombs on the cliff face, and then more elaborate tombs began to be built in the shape of temples.

Note that the largest and most elaborate tomb hasn’t been finished. We’ve been making up stories about why it was abandoned, and why workers never went back to it. Also, if you look to the upper right of the abandoned tomb, you’ll see another temple tomb that was roughed in but never actually started.

These particular tombs were inaccessible, but we were able to enter some of the spectacular tombs in the Lycian city of Tloss. (Patricia, who grew up on Roger Corman films, was particularly thrilled.) Each tomb had niches for exactly three bodies.

Why three? Why these tombs at all? History does not tell us: the structures themselves, long looted, are the only evidence.

By the way, if you’ve never heard of Lycia and Caria, don’t feel embarrassed. Nothing really ever happened there— no history at all in its conventional sense, meaning conquests, battles, famous leaders, etc. The area was (and remains) rich, protected by the natural walls of the Tauros mountains to the north, and by the Mediterranean to the south. The people there were wealthy in their isolation, concentrated on making money and living the good life, and then leaving a beautifully-housed corpse.
I expect this area will inspire a number of stories from me. If only I can find time to write them.

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