The Royal Tombs

The Royal Tombs, sometimes called the Kings Tombs given their scale and splendour, are located between Tuzla and Salamis, with the entrance to the complex close to St Barnabas' Monastery. It’s divided into two sections, yet has never been fully excavated since its exact boundaries are still unknown. One area contains high-ranking inhabitants of Salamis, and a second was for ordinary citizens.
This site became famous in the 1950s because of the rich finds here. Treasure hunters did cause damage previously but entrances (dromos) were undisturbed, and it was in this area the richest discoveries were made. The tombs date to the 8th and 7th centuries BC. Some go back to the 11th century BC, suggesting that for some time, Salamis coexisted with Enkomi.
In all, at least one pair of yoked horses has been sacrificed in the dromos, with or without a chariot. The wooden parts of these chariots had decayed, but left impressions in the soil with the metal parts still in place. The horses were likely to have been sacrificed as grave goods, to ensure their owners were able to ride their favourite mount in the afterlife. There were also human sacrifices, most likely servants, who could continue to serve their masters in the afterlife.
The burial customs evident from these tombs are similar to those described by Homer in The Iliad. The horse-drawn hearse would be driven down the sloping dromos (ramp) to the entrance, along with other horse-drawn chariots, before the body was raised onto a funeral pyre and cremated. The ashes were then stored in a bronze cauldron inside the chamber, along with other grave goods, and horses and servants would be sacrificed.
Tomb 1
Two burials from different periods. The first had a bronze cauldron containing the cremated bones of a dead woman wrapped in cloth, with a necklace of gold, rock crystal beads and several thin sheets of gold. The shape of the tomb and the richness of the material suggests it belonged to a noble lady or princess. The skeletons of two horses were found on the floor of the dromos, with traces of the wooden parts of a chariot. These date to middle of the 8th century BC. The second burial, around 100 years later, was disturbed badly, but four horses' skeletons, traces of a two-poled chariot, as well as some metal parts of horses' gear and a chariot's metal parts were found.
Tomb 3
This wonderfully impressive tomb, which contained only a single burial, is marked by a tumulus (man-made hill) which reaches a height of around 10 metres, although it's thought to have been even higher originally. It's now protected by a modern roof, and it's possible to see how the hill was constructed, with walls of rubble, supported by mud bricks. It contains one chariot with armour; a silver studied sword; bronze and iron-headed arrows; bronze shield; iron-headed spear and offerings of food and honey placed in amphora. The weapons and richly decorated tack suggest this was the burial site of a rich and important warrior around 600 BC, based on pottery found buried in the floor of the dromos. Looking down the dromos (sloping ramp approaching the tomb) towards the entrance, the construction of the overlying tumulus can clearly be seen.
Tomb 47
The largest tomb, alongside the Royal Tombs Museum. It has a spacious cemented dromos leading to a monumental temple in front of a chamber built of enormous well-dressed stones. This tomb was used twice for burials. In the first, two horses of a hearse were sacrificed. One of the horses had tried to escape when its companion was killed, but had twisted round the chariot pole and was found with its neck broken. The iron bits of the horses were still in their mouths, and the remains of leather frontlets and blinkers covered with sheets of gold on their heads. There was no trace of the chariot in this burial, and it was probably used as a hearse and placed with the body. At a later burial, six horses were sacrificed, yoked in pairs, with ornamental coverings, iron bits and blinkers and frontlets of ivory and bronze with relief decorations of lotus flowers.
Tomb 50 - St Catherine’s Prison
This is perhaps both the most interesting and also the least typical of the Royal Tombs, with a domed roof that can be seen from the road as you approach the site. Originally the site of a tomb dating to the same period as the other tombs on site, around the 8th or 7th century BCE. A small chapel was built above this tomb in Roman times, and dedicated to St Catherine of Alexandria who, according to legend, was imprisoned here. As a result, its appearance differs significantly from the other tombs, although it does have a characteristic dromos leading down to it and the skeletal remains of two sacrificed horses were found during excavation. Some of the stones used in its construction were taken from other tombs, and a section of cornice used in the chapel matches that in nearby Tomb 47. It has two chambers, a large vaulted chamber, which was added in Roman times, and a smaller chamber, lying to the west, which is much older. It was used as a chapel from approximately the 14th century onwards with an altar in the smaller chamber, and an ikon of St Catherine in the larger chamber.
Tomb 79
Houses many of the richest finds. Had two burials in a short space of time towards the end of the 8th century BC. A four-horse chariot had its wheels held by magnificent lynch pins nearly 2 ft long, with a bronze sphinx head at one end, and a hollow bronze figure of a warrior at the other, wearing a crested helmet, body armour inlaid with blue glass, and a long sword hanging from a baldric. A two-horse hearse had bronze lion heads on the corners and on the front. The bronze gear of the horses lay piled in a corner, including breast plates with embossed designs of oriental animals and myths, and two side pendants showing the goddess Ishtar as mistress of the wild beasts. Also of oriental design was a bronze tripod cauldron, decorated with illustrations of griffins and bird-men round the rim. The principal find at this tomb was a number of ivories, including a gold and ivory throne and an ivory-veneered bed. Of the ornaments discovered, the finest was probably an openwork, two-sided plaque of a winged sphinx wearing the crowns of Egypt. Some of the horse skeletons have been left in situ, and there is a small museum on site showing some of the finds, although most are now elsewhere, the bed for example being in the Cyprus Museum in south Nicosia. When the second burial took place, it seems that the remains from the first were simply pushed further back in the burial chamber to allow the later, richer burial to take place. It was later re-used for burials during the Roman period, with niches for sarcophagi being carved into its walls during this time. When Tomb 79 was excavated, Roman pottery, lamps and the remains of clay sarcophagi were found inside the chamber.
There’s no evidence to show that the Royal Tombs belonged to the Kings of Salamis, but with the precious death gifts, and the monumental architecture of the tombs, there's no doubt they belonged to noble or rich persons. And the less noble or rich? They were buried at the Necropolis of Cellarka, which is to be found within this complex, as is Tomb 50 - St Catherine's prison.
Necropolis of Cellarka
About 400 metres away from the Royal Tombs, and was used to bury common town people. A set of much smaller tombs, these were cut into rock with staircase access. Finds here indicate that sacrifices and feast ceremonies also took place in the dromos before the burials, however revealing more modest grave goods.