Tomb Cult on the Halikarnassos Peninsula

Investigated here is the ancient settlement at the village of Geriş on the northwestern coast of the Halikarnassos peninsula. Both a fortification and a monumental tomb probably dating back to the fourth century B.C. are known at this site. The tomb is described as a princely tomb subject to ancestor or tomb cult, and is related both to the Maussolleion and other Karian chamber tombs. It is suggested that ancestor cult played an important role in the power structures of Archaic and Classical Karia and that these traditions constituted part of the ideological foundation of the Maussolleion. Furthermore, traditional views of the effects and consequences of the Maussollan synoikism for the settlement structures are challenged by a closer analysis of the archaeological remains at Geriş.