From Greek 'nekros' (corpse) + 'polis' (city) — the cemetery reimagined as a city whose inhabitants are the dead.
A large cemetery, especially one belonging to an ancient city; a city of the dead.
From Late Latin 'necropolis,' from Greek 'nekropolis' (νεκρόπολις), literally 'city of the dead,' a compound of 'nekros' (νεκρός, a dead body, a corpse) + 'polis' (πόλις, a city, a city-state). The element 'nekros' derives from PIE *neḱ- (death, to perish, to kill), which produced Greek 'nektar' (the death-defeater, drink of immortality), Latin 'nex, necis' (violent death — 'internecine'), 'nocēre' (to harm — 'noxious,' 'innocent' — the un-harmed), and 'nēcare' (to kill). The element 'polis' derives from PIE *pelh₁- (a fortified
The ancient Egyptians called their cemeteries 'the beautiful west' because the dead were buried on the western bank of the Nile, where the sun set. The Greeks, encountering these vast burial grounds, described them with their own vocabulary: a 'city of the dead' — a necropolis. The Valley of the Kings near Thebes (modern Luxor) is one of the world's most famous necropolises, containing the tombs of pharaohs including
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