Claudii and Flavii families cemetery in East Necropolis of Cibyra

The necrological researches and the archaeological findings obtained in various time periods in Cibyra since 2008 have provided important information about understanding the Hellenistic and Roman Period burial traditions and rituals of the city. Archaeological researches initiated in the Eastern Necropolis in 2013, on the other hand, brought up new multidimensional discussions on the equation of the city, necropolis and burial traditions. So that; this area, which also constitutes the content of this study, hosts a large family cemetery, which was constructed with various tomb monuments by the Claudii and Flavii families of Cibyra. In the first years of the Antoninus Pius Period, while this large family cemetery, which started construction activities on the eastern main road line of the city and was used until the middle of the 4th century A.D, increased the knowledge about the Roman Period burial traditions of the city, it made the necessity of further archaeological researches inevitable. In this research, different types of tombs that characterize the cemetery were subjected to multi-dimensional archaeological analyzes and at the same time, the reflection of some of the privileges that some citizens obtained with their economical and socio-political powers in the demographic structure on the necropolis landscape of the city were examined. In this context, firstly, starting from the traditional urbanization of the city that emerged by the Hellenistic period, the transformative effect of the city and settlement understanding, which evolved with the Roman Period, on the necropolises and the privileged place of this family cemetery in the Roman Period necropolis structures are mentioned. Different types of tombs that brought this cemetery into existence, which were introduced from different aspects such as transportation, location, parcellation and planning, were also analyzed in terms of typological, chronological, epigraphical, iconographical and iconological aspects. The first of the tomb types in the area are the underground chamber tombs, which are the first of the main elements that determine the plan and visual character of the cemetery. These tombs, which are classified under two different architectural typologies, were first discussed on the scale of the Cibyra chamber tomb tradition, and then analyzed on a typological and chronological basis with the reference of other relevant examples that emerged in different cultural regions from the Early Bronze Age in Anatolia and survived until the Early Eastern Roman Period. Other tomb types are sarcophagi and a small number of simple individual tombs. While the archaeological analyzes of the individual tombs were limited to Cibyra only, extensive discussions were carried out for the sarcophagi. As a matter of fact, first of all, the individual representatives of the individual stone tombs, which were the creations of local artists from Cibyra as of the Hellenistic Period, and the qualities of the sepucral plastic art transmitted on them were examined and the dynamics of these workshops and the possible effects of the competences reaching the Roman period sarcophagus art were pointed out. On the other hand, these sarcophagi in the area have been classified under five different typological titles. In this context, firstly, other central sarcophagus production workshops and pieces in the center of Rome and in the provinces, which were active in the Roman Period and became a school and had clear effects on the relevant pieces of local workshops, were introduced. Then, the origin and workshop problematic of the sarcophagi, which were evaluated in terms of material, canonical scheme, typology, chronology, style-iconography and iconology, were tried to be explained. Crepidomas and bomikos, which are almost indispensable carriers of sarcophagi with their close connections, are also included in the general discussion on the basis of typology, chronology and origin, in relation to this subject. Finally, while trying to explain the blood ties and family trees of the people buried through the many epigrams on the tomb monuments, the legal rights of the tombs and the official sanctions related to them are emphasized. Small findings documented in the surveys consist of skeletons and a wide variety of funerary gifts. Anthropological data were evaluated only for this cemetery and necessary demographical statistics were constituted. A large number of tomb gifts of different types were examined only in the context of their functions and semantic integrity in the burial program and were not evaluated in terms of typology and chronology.