The Kings Tombs of Paphos are part of the Kato Paphos Archaeological Park, but are located separately from its main part. Kato Paphos is located near the old port, and the Kings Tombs of Paphos are located 3 kilometers to the north on the seashore.
The burial complex of the Kings Tombs (Tafi ton Vasileon) is very extensive. It covers an area of more than 1 square kilometer. There are large tombs that look like houses, and small graves carved into the rocks. Archaeologists have not found any Kings burials in the Kings Tombs of Paphos, but at that time there were no kings in Cyprus.
The first burials in the Kings Tombs of Paphos date back to the 4th century BC. At this time, Cyprus fell under the rule of the Ptolemy, who ruled in Egypt. After the collapse of the empire of Alexander the Great, Egypt was invaded by Ptolemy, who founded the Hellenic dynasty there. The supreme representative of the Ptolemies in Cyprus was the "Strategos" (military commandant).
During the Greek rule of Cyprus, the main capital was ancient Salamis, located on the eastern coast. The Ptolemy made Paphos their capital. This was the period of his greatest prosperity. At this time, such impressive tombs appeared in Paphos. Some of them are similar in scale to the Egyptian ones.
In ancient Egypt, the cult of the dead was the basis of their culture, so there for the pharaohs built burial complexes similar to ordinary houses. The ancient Egyptians believed that in the afterlife, people need all the same things as in this world. Such tombs are most common in Luxor.
The Kings tombs in Paphos are built according to these traditions. One of the tombs shows a double-headed eagle, the coat of arms of the Ptolemy. This indicates that very notable people were buried in the Kings Tombs of Paphos, perhaps even relatives of the Ptolemies.
The tombs were carved into the rocks, below ground level, but they were exposed to light. The most famous in the necropolis is the Tomb with a courtyard of Doric columns. On the sides of this courtyard are the burial chambers, where the nobles were buried with everything they might need in the afterlife: jewelry, ritual items, and more. Alas, to this day, all the tombs were looted, some of them in the 20th century. Many of the artifacts found in the Kings Tombs of Paphos are now on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
