Buried Cistern

History. This cistern was built to collect stormwater that flowed from the upper chambers, thereby preventing the Tomb of Divine Rays from flooding.

Features. This large, dark stone chamber is twenty feet tall, with five-foot-wide limestone pillars spaced at regular intervals along the base. Thick patches of black silt cover the slimy, mold-covered floor, which slopes almost imperceptibly toward the south.

Three grate-topped shafts allow a small amount of light to seep through from the chambers above: a south shaft (climbing five feet to the Chapel of Phodias), a central shaft (climbing fifteen feet to the Hall of Heroes), and a northern shaft (climbing fifteen feet to the Gathering Hall).

Secrets. Carved fifteen-foot-tall "ladders" in the walls ascend to water-smoothed openings overlooking the cistern below:

• a southeastern shaft (climbing five feet diagonally to the Peasants' Ossuary)

• a southwestern shaft (climbing five feet diagonally to the Embalming Chamber)

• two eastern shafts (climbing ten feet diagonally, then a final five feet vertically to the Vaults of Dawn and Dusk)

• one western shaft (climbing ten feet diagonally, then a final five feet vertically to the Vault of Day)

A trio of iron-grate-covered, five-foot-radius stone pipes descend from the south end, continuing through the earth for a quarter mile before spilling runoff into the Roudine River.