The architecture of the Tombs of the Kings in Paphos “combines Greek, Egyptian and Macedonian elements”, the antiquities department said on Wednesday, adding that this fact reflects “the multicultural character of the Hellenistic period”.

A book is being published documenting the department’s excavations of the Tombs of the Kings to mark the 35th anniversary of the excavations’ completion, with the first volume, which covers the years between 1977 and 1981, now having been published.

It declares that the excavations “opened a window into the previously unknown history of Hellenistic Paphos”, with a total of 14 excavation periods having been undertaken.

“The impressive funerary monuments, attributed to the Ptolemies, find their counterparts mainly in Alexandria and Macedonia. In fact, they represent a mixture of elements from the two regions. The study of the complex architecture, as well as the variety of findings in the monuments, enriches the history of Paphos,” it said.

It added that the site’s “Tomb 8” is particularly impressive, but that it “has become the subject of misinterpretations” and “unfounded conclusions which are based on fabricated evidence”.

For this reason, it said, particular emphasis has been placed on that tomb’s history in the book.

It said that Tomb 8 was first excavated in 1979, with archaeologists finding that it is “notable for its size and complex architecture”.

“The monument is carved into the natural rock and is organised around a central rocky cube and an open courtyard with four symmetrical wings. The entrance is via a monumental stepped road, which leads into the interior of the complex and underlines the imposing character of the structure,” it said.

It went on to explain that a total of 18 burials were revealed by the excavations, while evidence of cremations, in the form of a lead urn, was also discovered. Cremation, it said, was “a practice rare in Cyprus but known in the Macedonian world”, with this suggesting “possible cultural influences and contacts beyond the island”.

“The architecture of the tomb combines Greek, Egyptian and Macedonian elements, reflecting the multicultural character of the Hellenistic period. The central cube housed a particularly elaborate burial chamber with a Doric façade, which suggests that it was intended for a person of high social or political status,” it said.

It added that one of the tomb’s “most distinctive features” is the presence of a well, which it said was “integrated into the design of the central space and accessible via a stepped recess”.

“The presence of a skylight and water-related facilities may be linked to purification rituals, practices which are also found in funerary monuments in Alexandria,” it said.

Various aspects of the tomb, it added, “suggest that [it] was used for a long period of time and for more than one generation”, while the fact that there was “a variety” of burial practices, including the burial of a child in a dead pipe, was said by the department to “reveal the diversity of customs and the dynamic evolution of rituals”.

The department also said that the existence of two limestone falcon sculptures in front of the main burial case suggests that those buried there may have had a connection to the administration the ancient Ptolemaic kingdom or even to members of its royal family.

This, it said, is because the falcon “was associated with the [Egyptian] god Horus and was a symbol of royal power in Egypt”.

“Cyprus played a key role in the political and strategic organisation of the Ptolemaic state, especially during the last centuries of the Hellenistic period,” it said.

The last Ptolemaic ruler of Cyprus, Ptolemy of Cyprus, committed suicide in 58 BC after Roman Senator Cato the Younger had advised him to submit to the Roman Empire and allow Cyprus to become a Roman province.

Cato had offered Ptolemy personal safety and the office of high priest of the temple of Aphrodite in Paphos. However, Ptolemy refused, deciding to die a king instead, and killed himself.

The Romans found the tomb empty and desecrated the monument, beheading the stone falcons.