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Ghirza - South Cemetery (G)

Unless otherwise indicated, pictures on this page © Marco Prins and Jona Lendering. Photos can be downloaded and used for non-commercial purposes, but you have to acknowledge Livius.

North Cemetery (Gh129)

Mausoleum A
Mausoleum B
Mausoleum C
Mausoleum D-E
Mausoleum F
Other

South Cemetery (Gh128)

Mausoleum A
Mausoleum C
Mausoleum NN
Mausoleum G
Other

Other

Town (Gh127)
Gh 82

The cemetery recorded as Gh128 in Graeme Barker e.a., Farming the Desert. The UNESCO Libyan Valleys Archaeological Survey (1996) is also known as Ghirza's South Cemetery.

It is two kilometers west of the North Cemetery, but don't expect too much of it. The main monument, Mausoleum G, was transported to the Museum of the Jamahirjia in Tripoli in 1958. On top of it we can discern the same motif as we saw here: two predators -in this case a lioness and a lion- and a ram's head, which may or may not be a symbol of the Libyan god Ammon.

The spandrels are decorated with vines and grapes, sun flowers, and fish. It may seem strange to find pictures of fishes in the desert, because they can not have lived in the wadis. However, even in small desert lakes, little fishes can be found, although the ones represented here appear to be larger than those.

The Museum of the Jamahirjia displays more reliefs from the South Cemetery, which belong to Mausoleums B, D, E, or F. The common themes are repeated: fish, hyenas with a ram's head, and date palms. The one to the right has a charming man climbing in it.

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