Necropolis
|
Necropolis - athlete tomb (Taranto), Italy. |
A
necropolis (plural:
necropolises or
necropoleis) is a large
cemetery or burying-place (from
Greek nekropolis "city of the dead"). Apart from the occasional application of the word to modern cemeteries outside large towns, the term is chiefly used of burial grounds near the sites of the centers of ancient civilizations.
The oldest necropolis in the world is probably the
Hypogeum of Ħal-Saflieni in
Paola,
Malta which dates back to
2500 BC.
Necropolises were built for many reasons. Sometimes their origin was purely religious: the
Valley of the Kings in
Egypt is a prime example. Other cultures created necropolises in response to prohibitions on burials within city limits: especially noteworthy and rich of artpieces are those from the
Etruscan civilization found in southern
Tuscany and northern
Lazio regions of
Italy. In the
Roman Empire, roads immediately outside towns therefore came to be lined with funerary monuments. Examples of this kind of necropolis can be found on the
Appian Way just outside
Rome and at the
Alyscamps in
Arles,
France.
During the
19th century, necropolises enjoyed a revival spurred by the
Victorian fashion for large, elaborate memorials.
A modern-day example of a necropolis may be
Colma, California. This suburb of
San Francisco has been used for decades to bury the dead of San Francisco, as well as those of other nearby towns. The citizens had felt it necessary to bury the dead outside of city limits, and perhaps out of sight as well. Colma recently has become more of a working-class suburb, but the dead still outnumber the living in this small town.
The word is often used with a different connotation in
fantasy literature; for instance, it might refer to a city populated by
zombies or other
undead creatures.
*
Nepasa*
Imperial Crypt (
Vienna)
*
Rookwood Cemetery (
Sydney)
*
Waverley Cemetery (
Sydney)
*
Toowong Cemetery (
Brisbane)
*
Karrakatta Cemetery (
Perth)
*
Springvale Botanical Cemetery (
Melbourne)
*
Varna Necropolis*
Ming Dynasty Tombs*
Amathus*
Cairo*
Great Pyramid of Giza*
Memphis*
Saqqara*
Siwa Oasis*
Alyscamps (
Arles)
*
The Panthéon (
Paris)
*
Saint Denis Basilica (
Saint-Denis)
*
Cerveteri*
Lipari (
Aeolian Islands)
*
Locri *
Pantalica*
Taranto*
Nirvana Memorial Park*
Hypogeum of Ħal-Saflieni*
Makli*
Paracas*
Kremlin Wall Necropolis*
Brookwood Cemetery*
London Necropolis railway station*
London Necropolis Company*
Glasgow Necropolis*
Cemetery*
Catacombs*
Crypt
