Sofraz Monumental Tomb

Sofraz Monumental Tomb lies about 45 kilometres from Adıyaman, south-east of Sofraz village in Besni district. From outside it looks like a grassy hill. Inside, the 15-metre-high tumulus, built in the 1st century AD, hides three spaces under the earth: a dromos (entrance passage), a connecting corridor and the burial chamber.

Everything is built of cut stone, floors included. An arched doorway at the north end of the dromos leads into a transition room, and the corridor that links the dromos to the burial chamber runs south to north beneath a barrel vault. A second arched doorway opens onto the chamber itself.

The chamber is a rectangle of 3 by 4 metres running east to west. A red-painted band circles the walls at floor level. The sarcophagi, made of cut stone and still fitted with their lids, stand in front of the east and west walls.