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| Excavated out of the soft volcanic
terrain the galleries stretch out for approximately 13 kilometers
in an irregular pattern. At times the one comes upon a cubicle which
was used as a family or group tomb or for the burial of a martyr. The bodies of the deceased, simply wrapped in a shroud, were laid in the loculi, narrow rectangular tombs carved out of the gallery walls. These loculi were sealed using marble or terracotta slabs. Today these slabs are no longer in situ due to the almost complete spoliation of the galleries in the past. Some fragments of these stones with their Latin or Greek inscriptions can be seen on the walls of the galleries. Between the loculi one can still see the small holes that were for oil lamps that illuminated the passages of the cemetery. |
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