A hypogeum or hypogaeum ( ; plural hypogea or hypogaea; literally meaning "underground") is an underground

temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a place of worship, a building used for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. By convention, the specially built places of worship of some religions are commonly called "temples" in Engli ...

tomb A tomb ( ''tumbos'') or sepulchre () is a repository for the remains of the dead. It is generally any structurally enclosed interment space or burial chamber, of varying sizes. Placing a corpse into a tomb can be called '' immurement'', alth ...

. Hypogea will often contain

niche Niche may refer to: Science *Developmental niche, a concept for understanding the cultural context of child development and growth *Ecological niche, a term describing the relational position of an organism's species *Niche differentiation, in ec ...

s for cremated human remains or

loculi Loculi () is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Nuoro in the Italian region Sardinia, located about northeast of Cagliari and about northeast of Nuoro. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 538 and an area of .All demograph ...

for buried remains. Occasionally tombs of this type are referred to as built tombs. The term ''hypogeum'' can also refer to any antique building or part of building built below ground such as the series of tunnels under the

Colosseum The Colosseum ( ; , ultimately from Ancient Greek word "kolossos" meaning a large statue or giant) is an Ellipse, elliptical amphitheatre in the centre of the city of Rome, Italy, just east of the Roman Forum. It is the largest ancient amphi ...

which held slaves (particularly enemy captives) and animals while keeping them ready to fight in the gladiatorial games. The animals and slaves could be let up through trapdoors under the sand-covered arena at any time during a fight.

Examples

An early example of a hypogeum is found at the

Minoan The Minoan civilization was a Bronze Age culture which was centered on the island of Crete. Known for its monumental architecture and Minoan art, energetic art, it is often regarded as the first civilization in Europe. The ruins of the Minoan pa ...

Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

site of

Knossos Knossos (; , ; Linear B: ''Ko-no-so'') is a Bronze Age archaeological site in Crete. The site was a major centre of the Minoan civilization and is known for its association with the Greek myth of Theseus and the minotaur. It is located on th ...

Crete Crete ( ; , Modern Greek, Modern: , Ancient Greek, Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the List of islands by area, 88th largest island in the world and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fifth la ...

. Hogan notes this underground vault was of a beehive shape and cut into the soft rock. The

Ħal Saflieni Hypogeum The Hypogeum of Ħal Saflieni ( ) is a Neolithic subterranean structure dating to the Saflieni phase (3300 – 3000 BC) in Maltese prehistory, located in Paola, Malta. It is often simply referred to as the Hypogeum, literally meaning " undergroun ...

Paola, Malta Paola (, , both meaning "New Town") is a town in the Port Region, Malta, Port Region of Malta, with 8,706 inhabitants as of 2019. The town is a commercial centre in the Southern Harbour area of Malta, about from the capital Valletta, contiguous ...

, is the oldest example of a prehistoric hypogeum, the earliest phase dating to 3600–3300 BC. It is a complex of underground chambers, halls and passages covering approximately on three levels, partly carved to imitate temple architecture and containing extensive prehistoric art. In

Larnaka Larnaca, also spelled Larnaka, is a city on the southeast coast of Cyprus and the capital of the Larnaca District, district of the same name. With a district population of 155.000 in 2021, it is the third largest city in the country after Nicosi ...

, Cyprus, the

Lefkaritis Tomb The Lefkaritis Tomb is a hypogeum—a type of tomb—in Larnaca, Cyprus. It was discovered in 1998 in an "un-looted burial chamber, chamber that had been sealed nearly 2800 years ago" in the Kition, city-kingdom of Kition. (This tomb was found w ...

was discovered in 1999. Hypogea were also found in

Dynastic Egypt Ancient Egypt spans the period of Egyptian history from the early prehistoric settlements of the northern Nile valley to the Roman conquest of Egypt in 30 BC. The pharaonic period, the period in which Egypt was ruled by a pharaoh, is dated ...

, such as at the

Northern Mazghuna pyramid The Northern Mazghuna Egyptian pyramids, Pyramid is an ancient Egyptian royal tomb which was built during the 12th Dynasty, 12th or 13th Dynasty in Mazghuna, 5 km south of Dahshur. The building remained unfinished, and it is still unknown whi ...

Southern Mazghuna pyramid The Southern Mazghuna Pyramid is an ancient Egyptian royal tomb which was built during the 12th or the 13th Dynasty in Mazghuna, 5 km south of Dahshur, Egypt. The building was never finished, and is still unknown which pharaoh was the owner, si ...

and

Southern South Saqqara pyramid The Southern South Saqqara PyramidMark Lehner, ''The Complete Pyramids'', Thames and Hudson, London 1997, pp. 187. . (also Unfinished Pyramid at South Saqqara;Dawn McCormack, "The Significance of Royal Funerary Architecture in the Study of 13 ...

. The hypogea in ancient

Palmyra Palmyra ( ; Palmyrene dialect, Palmyrene: (), romanized: ''Tadmor''; ) is an ancient city in central Syria. It is located in the eastern part of the Levant, and archaeological finds date back to the Neolithic period, and documents first menti ...

contained

closed with slabs bearing sculptured portrait reliefs, and sarcophagi with sculptured family banqueting scenes on their lids. The later Christians built similar underground shrines,

crypt A crypt (from Greek κρύπτη (kryptē) ''wikt:crypta#Latin, crypta'' "Burial vault (tomb), vault") is a stone chamber beneath the floor of a church or other building. It typically contains coffins, Sarcophagus, sarcophagi, or Relic, religiou ...

s and tombs, which they called

catacombs Catacombs are man-made underground passages primarily used for religious purposes, particularly for burial. Any chamber used as a burial place is considered a catacomb, although the word is most commonly associated with the Roman Empire. Etym ...

. But this was only a difference in name, rather than purpose and rituals, and archaeological and historical research shows they were effectively the same. Werner Jacobsen wrote: Hypogea were constructed across the

pre-Columbian In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era, also known as the pre-contact era, or as the pre-Cabraline era specifically in Brazil, spans from the initial peopling of the Americas in the Upper Paleolithic to the onset of European col ...

New World during the first millennium AD. Some of these tombs were over 10 meters in diameter and contained two or three free-standing columns, ornamental

pilasters In architecture, a pilaster is both a load-bearing section of thickened wall or column integrated into a wall, and a purely decorative element in classical architecture which gives the appearance of a supporting column and articulates an ext ...

, and side chambers. The largest concentration of these hypogea are found in the National Archeological Park of Tierradentro, a

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

in southwest

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

Other subterranean constructions

Other excavated structures, not used for ritual purposes, include the Greco-Roman

cryptoporticus In Ancient Roman architecture Ancient Roman architecture adopted the external language of classical ancient Greek architecture for the purposes of the ancient Romans, but was different from Greek buildings, becoming a new architectural styl ...

. Other cultures also have constructed underground structures, including the

dugout Dugout may refer to: * Dugout (shelter), an underground shelter * Dugout (boat), a logboat * Dugout (smoking), a marijuana container Sports * In bat-and-ball sports, a dugout is one of two areas where players of the home or opposing teams sit whe ...

souterrain ''Souterrain'' (from French ', meaning "subterrain", is a name given by archaeologists to a type of underground structure associated mainly with the European Atlantic Iron Age. These structures appear to have been brought northwards from Gaul d ...

yaodong A yaodong (窰 in native Jin Chinese, or 窰洞 ''yáodòng'' in Beijing Mandarin) is a particular form of Earth sheltering, earth shelter dwelling common in the Loess Plateau in China's north. They are generally carved out of a hillside or exc ...

fogou A fogou or fougou (pronounced "foo-goo") is an underground, dry-stone structure found on Iron Age or Romano-British-defended settlement sites in Cornwall. The original purpose of a fogou is uncertain today. Colloquially called , , , giant holts ...

erdstall An erdstall is a type of tunnel found across Europe. They are of unknown origin but are believed to date from the Middle Ages. A variety of purposes have been theorized, including that they were used as escape routes or hiding places, but the mo ...

, and

kiva A kiva (also ''estufa'') is a space used by Puebloans for rites and political meetings, many of them associated with the kachina belief system. Among the modern Hopi and most other Pueblo peoples, "kiva" means a large room that is circula ...

Notes

References

Sources

External links

Hypogeum of the Volumnis digital media archive
(

creative commons Creative Commons (CC) is an American non-profit organization and international network devoted to educational access and expanding the range of creative works available for others to build upon legally and to share. The organization has release ...

-licensed photos, laser scans, panoramas), data from a

University of Ferrara The University of Ferrara () is the main university of the city of Ferrara in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy. In the years prior to the First World War the University of Ferrara, with more than 500 students, was the best attended of ...

/ CyArk research partnership {{Authority control Subterranea (geography)