The ‘Tombs of the Kings’ is an impressive necropolis located outside the walls of Paphos town and was built during the Hellenistic period, the 3rd century BC, to satisfy the needs of the new town. Though the name would suggest the tombs of actual kings there are no royalty buried here, the burial monuments were built for high ranking Ptolemaic aristocrats and their families. The area was used for burial during the Hellenistic and later Roman period, the 3rd century BC to beginning of 4th century AD. There is also evidence of early Christian burial at the site. During the medieval period some of the tombs were used as makeshift dwellings or workplaces, for example a pottery workshop was run from ‘tomb 3’.
The tombs are cut into the native rock and many are submerged below the level of the earth, as one walks around the site out of nowhere steps appear, leading the visitor down into courtyards with Doric columns and frescoes. Sadly the site was looted extensively before excavations began in 1977 but the Tombs of the Kings remains a beautiful monument to the dead.
GPS: 34.77546, 32.40566
In 2015 we stayed in Paphos and walked down to the Archaeological sites – on sunnier days than you had. On the way we walked down ‘Bar Street’ which following the Cyprus crash a couple of years before that was also in ruins. I put the photos as Post 249. Maybe I’ll post my ‘tombs’ photos – but I doubt if any are near your standard. Chris
Gosh, when I was there in 1974/5 it was impressive, even more so now.
Thanks for the memories.
I can’t imagine how amazing it must have looked, any pictures of how it was then?
A long time ago and things were rather unstable, Greek/Turkish plus the UN doing their best to keep both parties separate.
I have lots of negatives/slides somewhere in my files. Good excuse to look for them & scan, they are not all post-office windows with bullet holes. So I am sure I have some.
That was certainly a very unusual time to have been there. I’d love to see them when you scam them.
Scan them even!