ROMSO Cyprus Knowledge Base

--- CONTENT ---
The Tyre necropolis is located in an area called Al-Bass, a neighborhood located east of the old city of Tyre, now Sour, in Lebanon. The archaeological site is made up of the ancient Phoenician necropolis, the Roman-Byzantine necropolis, a monumental arch of triumph, a Roman-Byzantine avenue, an aqueduct and a Roman circus. The latter, located south of the necropolis and discovered in 1967, is considered one of the largest of antiquity and was partially rebuilt later.

Description

The necropolis area is located in the area of Al-Bass, two kilometres from the old island of Tyre. Its dimensions were considerable and in the Phoenician era it was one of the city's main cemeteries. The burial area is composed of two different cemeteries: the Phoenium, located to the north and dating from the Iron Age and the Roman-Byzantine era, located to the south of the previous one, on the other side of the Byzantine road. This close provision of necropolis indicates that the area had a continuous funeral use from the 10th century a. C.

Necropolis Phoenicia

The Phoenician cemetery was an incineration necropolis, formed by graves excavated in the sand at a depth ranging from 30 centimeters to one metre. In the pit was introduced a cinematic urn with the ashes of the deceased, along with jars for perfume or incense, scarves and various jewels. Stelas were also sometimes placed with commemorative inscriptions. The burials were arranged to form couples and the funeral ritual consisted of breaking glasses and dishes on the grave. The differences in the wealth of the funeral joules found indicate the different economic and social levels of the deceased. In some graves, Cypriot vessels or Greek import cups used as ballot boxes have been found. This necropolis was used for more than 1500 years, until the V and IV centuries a. C.

Romano-Byzantine necropolis

The Roman-Byzantine necropolis, discovered in 1962, is made up of about 300 stone and marble sarcophages on both sides of the central avenue. They belong to the times of the Roman and Byzantine empires and are dated between the II and V. centuries. You can distinguish Roman marble sarcophages adorned with delicate low-reliefs, others in the form of a chapel with niches where the ashes or body of the deceased were housed, graves as large as small villas or more modest ones. A first sarcophagus was exhumed in 1940 by French soldiers stationed in Tyre, but the whole necropolis was not discovered until the 1960s.

Some of his graves have Greek inscriptions with the name of his owner or his profession, such as one that indicates "Rico manufacturer of purple dye." The city of Tyre was known for the production of a special purple pigment known as the purple of Tyre, which in many antigu cultures