tholos

[ thoh-los, -lohs ]

noun

, plural tho·loi [thoh, -loi].

1. (in classical architecture)
   1. a circular building.
   2. a small, round structure, as a lantern.
   3. a circular subterranean tomb, lined with masonry.
2. a subterranean domed tomb chamber of the Mycenaean age.

tholos

/ ˈθəʊlɒs /

noun

1. a dry-stone beehive-shaped tomb associated with the Mycenaean culture of Greece in the 16th to the 12th century bc

Word History and Origins

Origin of tholos¹

First recorded in 1895–1900, tholos is from the Greek word thólos literally, rotunda

Word History and Origins

Origin of tholos¹

C17: from Greek

Example Sentences

Below this stratum was an older shaft grave, as is usual in tholos interments; it had been plundered?

From Project Gutenberg

There is no evidence for the statement sometimes made that there was a well or spring below the Tholos.

From Project Gutenberg

The Tholos of Polykletos at Epidauros was a circular building 107 feet in diameter, situated within the sacred enclosure.

From Project Gutenberg

When Pausanias speaks of the tholos at Epidaurus a second time, he does not call it by that name, but .

From Project Gutenberg

The Tholos of Atreus was itself subterranean; the exterior of the conical mass of masonry was covered with a hill of earth.

From Project Gutenberg