| Description |  |
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The necropolis extends from the Northern to the Eastern and Southern sections of the old city. Most of the tombs have been excavated. This necropolis ("city of the dead") is one of the best preserved in Turkey. Most of about the 1200 tombs were constructed with local varieties of limestone. The extent of this necropolis attest again to the importance Hierapolis had in the Antiquity.
Most tombs date from the late Hellenic period, but there is also a considerable number from the Roman period and the early Christian times. People who came for medical treatment to Hierapolis in ancient times and the native people of the city buried their dead in tombs of several types according to their traditions and reflecting the social-economic importance of the people.
The tombs and funeral monuments can be divided into four types :
- 1. Simple graves for the common people
- 2. Sarcophagi : some raised on a substructure, others hollowed out in the rocky bottom. Many are covered with a double-pitched roof. Most are constructed in marble and are decorated with reliefs and covered with epitaphs, representing the name, the profession and praising the good deeds of the deceased. These epitaphs have rendered much information about the population. Most sarcophagi have been plundered.
- 3. Circular tumuli, sometimes hard to discern. These mounds have a narrow passageway leading to a vaulted chamber inside.
- 4. The larger family graves, sometimes monumental and resembling small temples. |
