Tombs Of The Kings

Not actually Kings, it is thought that high-ranking politicians and their families were buried here, in tombs constructed to a regular plan.

This is just one of many tombs uncovered in this area, dating from the Hellenistic and Roman period, but is most unusual in design, as where the central atrium should have been lies a limestone block enclosed by an open rectangular corridor, the main funary loculus is carved into the rectangular rock, decorated with triglyphs, metopes and smaller niches.

It is impossible to imagine the toil involved in digging out the huge volumes of rock, and with such precision, to construct the tombs, and to see the marks of the tools still exposed on the surface, makes one full of admiration for the workers.