The cemeteries

The routes into and around Butrint are lined with cemeteries, as was customary in the Graeco-Roman world. The main sites cover the shoreline of the headland round the northern bay of Butrint (to the Lion Gate), and the north side of the Vivari Channel. Masonry tombs can still be seen along the isthmus and on the south- and east-facing slopes of Mount Sotirës up to a height of 50 m. These span in date between the 4th century BC and the 3rd century AD.

The Mount Sotirës cemetery consisted of both cremation and inhumation burials of various types ranging from simple burials, tomba a cappucina and stone-lined tombs to mausolea. Grave goods comprise oil lamps, glass bottles and beakers and ceramic perfume bottles (unguentaria).

Tombs and mausolea are also found along the water’s edge on the Vrina Plain, indicating how the waterway was used as a major thoroughfare, and on the slopes of Kalivo and Shën Dimitri overlooking the Roman road linking Butrint to Aulon and Nicopolis. On the Vrina Plain the remains of a cremation tomb are still clearly visible. The tomb was clearly an imposing structure and today still stands over 3 m high. It consists of two elements: a vaulted chamber with a solid tower-like superstructure above. Inside are two semi-circular loculi for cinerary urns, possibly originally decorated in painted plaster.

Near the Lion Gate are several substantial inhumation mausolea. One of these was a large tomb, with numerous levels of masonry loculi for inhumations constructed either side of a central passage within a massive barrel vaulted masonry chamber. A similar, if smaller, mausoleum is located further along the bay below the Hellenistic city wall; the type is known also from Corinth datable to the 6th century AD.

Right on the water’s edge of the Vivari Channel, a late2nd-/early 3rd-century vaulted tomb must have constituted a prominent landmark clearly visible for visitors to Butrint and for the city itself. The tomb faces the channel and it is possible that it never had a substantial front wall – leaving the interior open to the gaze of passers-by. The vault no longer exists, being hit by a boulder (probably during the construction of the Saranda–Butrint road for Khrushchev’s visit in 1959), but traces of painted decoration survives on the walls in a pattern of yellow and red squares, with red disks and explored stars. Later the tomb was repainted and modified as a chapel, possibly that listed on 19th-century maps as S. Demetrios (Shën Dimitri).

 

• The Lion Gate
• The Lion relief
• QTVR of the Lion Gate
• The well of Junia Rufina
• QTVR of the Well of Junia Rufina
• The cemeteries

Gifts for the dead
In Roman law tombs were the property of the Dii Manes, the Spirits of the departed, and the grave was regarded as inviolate. Gifts were commonly included in the grave for the use of the deceased, as objects of personal comfort, status or entertainment.
Hence toilet articles, eating and drinking vessels, lamps, jewellery, military equipment, dice and children’s toys are often found in Roman burials.
To ensure a safe journey to the other world a coin was placed in the mouth of the deceased intended as payment for Charon, the ferryman across the River Styx.
On anniversaries the tomb would be opened so the family could share meals with the departed. Food and drink was offer to them, poured into the grave, or perfumes and incense was proffered for their comfort.