Tomb

TOMB, a broad term for any grave or funerary structure, especially one of relatively large size or with considerable decorative richness. Thus the tumuli or barrows used in many parts of northern and eastern Europe during the bronze and early iron age ; the structures over a grave, common in Roman, mediaeval and modern times; structures containing a sarcophagus in which the body is placed; and those richly ornamented sar cophagi in niches or shrine-like constructions in the interiors of churches, all come under the general name of tomb. (See also BARROW ; BURIAL ; FUNERAL RITES ; CAIRN ; MAUSOLEUM ; SARCOPHAGUS ; TUMULUS.) Since knowledge of the past is so largely gleaned from ancient burials, tombs play a most important part in all archaeological study, particularly in that of very ancient times, prior to written records. (See ARCHAEOLOGY.) Ancient.—Architecturally, tombs reach importance only with the development of Egyptian civilization, towards the end of the 4th millennium B.C. The early dynasty tombs are largely of the mastaba (q.v.) type, consisting of low, flat-roofed, masonry struc tures, with the tomb chamber itself sunk in the rock below; royal tombs of this period almost always took the form of pyra mids (q.v.). During the middle kingdom, rock-cut tombs in cliff sides largely superseded the earlier types; they were usually fronted by a colonnaded porch. In the later empire, even this exterior embellishment disappeared, .and tombs were merely chambers cut deep in the rock, at the ends of long tunnels, with inconspicuous entrances. Many types of tomb are found in western Asia, both prior to and after the dominance of Hellenic Greek culture. Those of Lydia and Lycia are particularly re markable. In Greece the most interesting type of pre-Hellenic tomb is the tholos or bee-hive type, roofed in corbelled masonry, and evidently imitating in shape a primitive house form. The so-called tholos of Atreus at Mycenae (c. 1200 B.C.) is typical.

Other rectangular types are, however, found. On the Greek main land, during the Hellenic period, tombs were largely superseded by simple graves or funerary urns ; the gravestones, or stele, were of great beauty though small in size. In Asia Minor, on the other hand, tombs were often large and lavish. The climax was reached in the mausoleum (q.v.) erected to enshrine the body of King Maussolos (353 B.c.). In the Roman world tombs of every type are found. The Italians early built elaborate tombs ; espe cially famous are those at Cervetri and Volterra, and others at Vulci and near Perugia. These Etruscan tombs are sometimes of tholos type, sometimes tumuli, and sometimes represent the rectangular interiors of Italian houses, and are richly carved and painted. A similar variety is found in Roman tombs. There are pyramids (Gaius Cestius, Rome, probably prior to 12 B.C.) ; circular or tumulus types like that erected by Augustus for him self in Rome (28 B.c.) and the much larger and more monu mental tomb of Hadrian, now the castle S. Angelo ; and rectangu lar, shrine-like structures, like the so-called tomb of Absalom at Jerusalem ( ? 2nd century A.D.), or the tomb of Annia Regilla at Rome (end of the 2nd century A.D.). The greater number of Roman burials were, however, in columbaria (q.v.).

Mediaeval.

In the mediaeval period, owing to the crowded conditions of churchyards, exterior tombs are rare, but tombs of privileged persons within churches common. An exception is the

group of arcaded tombs of the Scaliger family at Verona (14th century),. The interior tombs, particularly common in England, took the form of sarcophagi, bearing a recumbent effigy, like the crusaders' tombs in the Temple church in London, or of little shrines enclosing a sarcophagus, like Prior Rahere's tomb in the church of S. Bartholomew the Great, London (1400-05). Of the shrine tombs, the most interesting are the royal tombs in West minster Abbey, London.

Renaissance.

The early Renaissance period saw many tombs of great beauty constructed throughout Europe. In Italy, the most common type was a decorated niche containing a sarcopha gus. An exquisite example is the Marsupini tomb in S. Croce, Florence (c. 1460), by da Settignano. The sarcophagus type is also found. One of the first monuments in England showing Renaissance inspiration is the tomb of Henry VII. in Westmin ster Abbey, by Torrigiano ; the same is true in France of the tomb of the children of Charles VIII. in Tours cathedral (1506), by J. Juste and M. Colombe, and a similar role is played in Spain by the "Tomb of the Catholic Kings," in Granada, the tomb of Ferdinand and Isabella, by Fancelli (1517) and of Don Felipe and Donna Juana, by Ordoliez (152o). The most interesting groups of later Renaissance tombs are those of the Venetian churches, and the papal tombs in S. Peter's, Rome; the royal tombs in S. Denis, near Paris, and the later tombs in the aisles of the chapel of Henry VII., Westminster Abbey. In the 18th century, throughout Europe, wall monuments in churches gener ally superseded tombs; there is, however, a new development of exterior tombs, usually taking the form of a richly decorated sarcophagus, sometimes known as table tombs, common both in England and her colonies.

Oriental.

In Mohammedan countries tombs were reserved for great personages or royal families. The richest and most monumental are the domed turbehs of the Turkish sultans in Constantinople ; and the tombs built by the Muslim rulers of India, especially the great tomb of Mahmoud at Bijapur (1626 6o) and the Taj Mahal (q.v.) at Agra (1632-47).

Chinese tombs vary according to the locality. Near Foochow there is a characteristic group in which a cylindrical stele is placed on a terrace in the middle of a crescent-shaped embank ment. Farther north, near Hangchow, the cylindrical stelae are lower and topped with domes, and a semi-circular wall frequently takes the place of the embankment. The great imperial tombs are entirely different and resemble each other, whether at Nan king, in the western hills near Peking, or in Mukden. They all consist of a series of colonnaded halls crossing a great main axis, bordered with statues of beasts and men. The royal tombs at Tokyo, in Japan, resemble the Chinese tombs in having a series of great halls, and in being rather temples than simple tombs; the arrangement, however, is more informal, and a characteristic fea ture of the Japanese tombs is the hundreds of votive, stone lan terns which stand in the courts.

Modern.—The tomb of Napoleon in the church of the In valides, Paris (1843-61) by Visconti, is a characteristic modern expression of a tomb which has become a national shrine. More recent tombs show a continuous development towards an in creasing simplicity and the attempt to gain emotional effect by perfection and sincerity rather than by grandeur. (T. F. H.)