Entrance to the 'Treasury of Atreus,' Mycenae, Greece, ca 1330 BC. Alternately the tomb of Agamemnon.

Loculi within the arcosoleum of the mausoleum.

The town and surroundings of Alberobello in Southern Italy maintains the ancient practice of creating tholoid structures with unmortared stone. Stepped tholos in Alberobello, Southern Italy.

As we move toward an understanding of the transition from martyrdom to the veneration of martyrs we can do so through an understanding of the iconography of the martyr-hero in terms of feast, image, heroa, and dome. Here ...

Details of exquisite carving of the capitals in the cathedral. Carved capitals in the Split Cathedral.

Reliquary of Sant' Agnese directly below the altar on the floor above.

Model of projected shelter for refrigeria at site for mausolea.

The wealthy also erected immense mausolea in the form of heroa to glorify their memory such as this one on the ancient Appian Way. Mausoleo/heroum on the ancient Appian Way, South of Rome.

Model of apse of San Sebastiano showing original mausolea attached but outside the church on sloping ground.

The eight-sided domical mausoleum of Diocletian reiterates the shape of the heroa and the use of the dome with its concept of heavens, eternity, divinity, and power. Shot of Diocletian's mausoleum.