A chamber is opened in the rock, in the sides of which are hollowed out, horizontally, a number of caverns or _loculi_, each one intended to receive a corpse.[655] If more space is needed, a passage is made from one of the sides of the chamber to a certain distance, and then a second chamber is excavated, and more _loculi_ are formed; and the process is repeated as often as necessary.

But chambers thus excavated were apt to collapse, especially if the rock was of the soft and friable nature so common in Phoenicia Proper and in Cyprus; on which account, in such soils, the second kind of tomb was preferred, sepulchural chambers being solidly built,[656] either singly or in groups, each made to hold a certain number of sarcophagi.

The most remarkable tombs of this class are those found at Amathus, on the south coast of Cyprus, by General Di Cesnola.
They lie at the depth of from forty to fifty-five feet below the surface of the soil,[657] and are square chambers, built of huge stones, carefully squared, some of them twenty feet in length, nine in breadth, and three in thickness, and even averaging a length of fourteen feet.[658] Two shapes occur.

Some of the tombs are almost perfect cubes, the upright walls rising to a height of twelve or fifteen feet, and being then covered in by three or four long slabs of stone.

Others resemble huts, having a gable at either end, and a sloping roof formed of slabs which meet and support each other.