Tomb of Menecrates

The Tomb of Menecrates or Monument of Menecrates is an Archaic-period cenotaph in Corfu built around 600 BC in the ancient city of Korkyra [1]. The tomb and the funerary sculpture of a lion were discovered in 1843 during demolition works by the British army in the United States of the Ionian Islands who were demolishing a Venetian-era fortress in the site of Garitsa hill in Corfu [1]. According to an Ancient Greek inscription found on the grave, the tomb was a monument built by the ancient Korkyreans in honour of their proxenos Menecrates, son of Tlasias, from Oiantheia [1]. Both the tomb and the sculpture are made of local limestone [1]. The tomb is cylindrical with a conical roof [1]. The cylindrical part consists of five circular rings made of stones of equal thickness featuring isodomic construction [1]. The monument is 1.4 m in height and 4.7–4.9 m in diameter [1]. The inscription is one of the oldest extant in Greece [1].