Bin Tepe

The tumuli of the Lydian royal cemetery at Bin Tepe ("thousand hills") can be found a bit north of Sardes. It was not uncommon in ancient Anatolia to bury a king in an artificial hill (e.g., there are similar tumuli at Troy and Gordium), and Lydia was no exception. Several hills have been investigated, such as the one that may have been the last resting place of king Gyges (ruled c.680-644), the founder of the Mermnad dynasty. The burial chamber was found empty.

The tumulus of Alyattes (ruled c.600-c.560) has a diameter of 355 meters and is no less than 69 meters high. It was erected by his son Croesus and can be identified because the Greek researcher Herodotus of Halicarnassus offers a description,^note[Herodotus, Histories 1.93.] which is confirmed by the geographer Strabo of Amasia.^note[Strabo, Geography 13.4.7.] The hills must have belonged to the most impressive monuments of the ancient world. In Antiquity, these mounds were probably crowned by giant phalloi.

Bin Tepe, Two funeral mounds	Bin Tepe, Large funeral mound	Bin Tepe, Small funeral mound	Bin Tepe, Tumuli at the Lydian royal cemetery
Bin Tepe, Funeral mound	Bin Tepe, Funeral mound	Bin Tepe, Funeral mound	Bin Tepe, Funeral mound