The relationship between relief and painting programs in the monumental tomb architecture of Urartu, Phrygia, and Paphlagonia from the Iron Age to the Roman Period

This study examines how common figures found in monumental tombs across the Urartu, Phrygia, and Paphlagonia cultural regions from the Iron Age to the Roman Period were shaped, and how these themes were visualized within funerary architecture. Relief and painting programs belonging to different traditions are addressed on a shared conceptual basis through thematic patterns. Although the recurring figures and compositions in the monumental tombs of Urartu, Phrygia, and Paphlagonia are shaped by region-specific artistic approaches, they reflect common symbolic ways of thinking about death. This shared symbolism demonstrates how beliefs such as the afterlife, leaving a strong identity, and accompanying the dead through protective spirits are similarly visualized across the three cultures. In this context, the study aims to present an iconographic analysis of the shared themes and intercultural interactions shaped through the funerary architecture of these three regions within the specified timeframe.