Modelli e ideologia nell’architettura funeraria di Ghirza in età imperiale (Tripolitania interna)

Abstract · Models and Ideology in the Funerary Architecture of Ghirza during the Roman Imperial Period (Internal Tripolitania). The study examines the funerary architecture of Ghirza, one of the most important ancient settlements in the interior of Tripolitania. The development of stable settle- ments in the pre-desert reached its peak in the Late Imperial period, as evidenced by the extensive for- tified dwellings and the various burials, often with a monumental structure. The remains of the monumental tombs at Ghirza are compared with the Late Classical and Hellenistic models that were widespread in the Mediterranean. The tombs can be traced back to models consisting of three for- mally distinct categories of funerary monuments: the funerary temple, the mausoleum and the ob- elisk tomb. The funerary temple (Tomb A of the northern necropolis) combines the memory of the deceased with religious devotion in a single monumental context. The mausoleum (Tomb B of the northern necropolis), with some modifica- tions, recalls late classical models such as those of Xantos. The obelisk tomb (Tomb A of the south- ern necropolis) is a very common type in Tripo- litania, which has a regional antecedent in the monumental tombs of Sabratha, in particular ‘Mausoleum B’, which has been completely recon- structed. The study also highlights the emergence of a category of itinerant skilled workers involved in the construction of both monumental tombs and fortified settlements. The workers active in Ghirza (Uadi Zemzem area) probably followed trade routes that could have started from Simna- na-Misurata or Cercar-Tarhuna. The widespread use of monumental tombs in the interior under- lines the important symbolic role attributed to the celebration of the dead, whose heroic status was almost sacralised. Genealogy was a motif of family promotion, sometimes made explicit through the apotheosis of the parental couple. The possession of territory by the family clan was then indicated by obelisk tombs visible from afar. The tombs were built by Libyans for Libyan patrons, using Punic-Hellenistic models in Roman shapes, but adapted to the culture and symbolic world of the interior.