Cemeteries, Ancient (Necropolises)

Originating from the Greek for “sleeping place,” the term cemetery refers to a place designated exclusively for the burial of the dead. A large cemetery associated with an ancient city is termed a necropolis (plural necropolises, necropoles, or necropoleis), derived from the Greek nekropolis, meaning “city of the dead.” Necropolises took a variety of forms, linked to the cultural context in which they developed, but all were designed to provide a purpose-built location for the disposal of the dead. The necropolis was an important element in the definition of the ancient city and, although many were located outside or away from the city of the living, they maintained an important role in contemporary society. Cemeteries associated with major ancient civilizations, including those of Egypt, Greece, and Rome, have been extensively excavated and their architecture, decoration, and material culture provide insights into the social and religious lives of ancient people.

Ancient Egypt

The cemeteries associated with successive Egyptian royal capitals remain among the most impressive of the ancient world. Belief in life after death was fundamental to ancient Egyptian religion and as a consequence elaborate tombs, furnished with worldly comforts, were built to protect the body and ensure a happy afterlife. The decoration of many tombs illustrates aspects of daily life or activities the dead hoped to enjoy in the afterlife. Food preparation, also commonly depicted, was believed to provide sustenance for the inhabitant of the tomb. Egyptian cemeteries were often sited on the edge of the western desert, a location linked not only to religious beliefs about the afterlife and the sun, but also to the need to preserve precious agricultural land along the Nile.

The earliest cemeteries were located in the north of Egypt, including the famous necropolis at Saqqara, 30 kilometers south of modern Cairo, which served the city of Memphis. It was here that the earliest known step pyramid was built for Djoser (ca. 2667–2648 B.C.E.), along with 16 later pyramids. The step pyramid developed as a more [Page 174]elaborate form of the traditional flat-roofed rectangular mastaba tomb, with successively smaller mastaba-like structures being placed on top of one another. Such structures distinguished themselves and their occupants from the traditional mastaba, which continued to be built alongside the pyramids. During the Fourth Dynasty (2575–2467 B.C.E.) the stepped pyramid evolved into the more familiar pyramid, such as those at Giza. The pyramid of the Fifth-Dynasty Pharaoh Unas (2375–2345 B.C.E.) at Saqqara contains the earliest known example of the Pyramid Texts, the precursor of the New Kingdom The Book of the Dead, giving instructions for the afterlife.

One of the most famous ancient Egyptian cemeteries was located at Thebes, in southern Egypt. Dating predominantly from the New Kingdom period (ca. 1560–1085 B.C.E.), when Thebes lay at the center of a vast Egyptian empire, the necropolis was created on the opposite bank of the Nile to the city and housed the tombs of nobles, courtiers, and other officials. Prior to the New Kingdom, Egyptian kings favored elaborate monumental pyramids, which were designed to impress, but repeated tomb robbing led increasingly to the use of a secluded valley behind the necropolis, known today as the Valley of the Kings. This cemetery was composed of tombs cut deep into the rock with a single access passageway and no external structure. Once burial was complete, the entrance to the tomb was concealed.

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