Ghirza: Mausoleum North-C
Roman town in Libya, one of the main archaeological sites of the
This photo shows Mausoleum C on Ghirza's North Cemetery; Mausoleum A can be seen in the background. Mausoleum C was built by Marchius Nimmire and Maccurasan for their parents Marchius Chullam and Varnychsin. The builders, Nimmire and Maccurasan, almost certainly represent the fourth generation of Marchii buried on Ghirza's northern necropolis.
|Like Mausoleum A and Mausoleum B, this monument was built on a high platform, and faces east, where the sun rises and where the village is where the dead once lived. The monument is surrounded by classical columns - Corinthian ones this time. The third of the northern necropolis' mausoleums may have been erected in the second quarter of the fourth century.|
west and south sides, the friezes have survived. Photos are shown
below. On the west side, we can discern two people: one of them is
a harp, the other is carrying an amphora. To the right, we can see a
feeding a dromedary
standing in front of a small gate.
The well-preserved relief on the south side shows, from left to right, a man watering flowers, two oxen, two date palms, and two hunting scenes. The first of these shows a man directing a spear against an animal that looks like a hyena; we can also see a lioness, the hunter's dog, and a man who has been killed and is being devoured by a hyena. The second scene shows a hunter and two dogs attacking a wild bull. On the spandrels, flowers are depicted and fishes, a very common motif in the art of the Sahara (and still used on native textiles).
N PATER ET MATER MARCHI
NIMMIRE ET MACCVRASA
Nis QVI EIS HEC MEMORI
AM FECERVNT DISCVSSI
MVS RATIOCINIO AD
EA EROGATVM EST SVM
TOS MERCEDIBVS IN N
VMMO FOLLIS SINGVLA
RES NVMERO QVADRAGI
NTA QVINQVE MILIA SESCE
NTOS PRETER CIBARIA OP
VISITENT FILI ET NEPOTES (more...)
translation of the text above the false door:
Marchius Chullam and Varnychsin, father and mother of Marchius Nimmire and Maccurasan, who built this memorial. We have accounted accurately the costs. 45,600 folles have been paid as wages and for these works. May our children and grandchildren visit this tomb in happiness.
|And a final picture of the decoration of the platform itself.|
Jona Lendering for
Revision: 23 May 2009