DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1021#0162
CHAPTER VI
THE DWELLINGS OF THE DEAD : BEEHIVE AND CHAMBER
TOMBS
The tombs of the second class are subterranean cham-
bers approached by horizontal avenues hewn usually in. a
rocky hillside. In their construction, the workmen began
at a given point in the slope and cut the dromos " in the
form of a trench " straight into the hill, so that the bottom
was horizontal while the vertical sides increased in height
as the work advanced. At the inner end of the dromos —
in effect a vertical roek-fagade — a doorway would then be
cut, and the chambers, usually square or oblong, hollowed
out. The debris would be carried out through the dromos,
of course, as the chamber, hewn in the solid rock, had no
other exit. These simple rock excavations we shall, for
convenience, call chamber tombs.
From them we must distinguish those " artificial subter-
ranean chambers " in the form of a vault or beehive. Both
have in common the dromos, but the construction BeehiTe
of the tomb itself is notably different. Instead Toml>s
of a horizontal excavation proceeding from the dromos, a
circular shaft is sunk vertically from the rock surface (just
as in making a lime-kiln nowadays) to the level of the
dromos and in due proximity to it. In this cavity the tholos
is built up in circle upon circle of regular ashlar masonry,
each course overlapping the one below it so as to form a
THE DWELLINGS OF THE DEAD : BEEHIVE AND CHAMBER
TOMBS
The tombs of the second class are subterranean cham-
bers approached by horizontal avenues hewn usually in. a
rocky hillside. In their construction, the workmen began
at a given point in the slope and cut the dromos " in the
form of a trench " straight into the hill, so that the bottom
was horizontal while the vertical sides increased in height
as the work advanced. At the inner end of the dromos —
in effect a vertical roek-fagade — a doorway would then be
cut, and the chambers, usually square or oblong, hollowed
out. The debris would be carried out through the dromos,
of course, as the chamber, hewn in the solid rock, had no
other exit. These simple rock excavations we shall, for
convenience, call chamber tombs.
From them we must distinguish those " artificial subter-
ranean chambers " in the form of a vault or beehive. Both
have in common the dromos, but the construction BeehiTe
of the tomb itself is notably different. Instead Toml>s
of a horizontal excavation proceeding from the dromos, a
circular shaft is sunk vertically from the rock surface (just
as in making a lime-kiln nowadays) to the level of the
dromos and in due proximity to it. In this cavity the tholos
is built up in circle upon circle of regular ashlar masonry,
each course overlapping the one below it so as to form a