But what are they really? Actually the two legitimate ones I've seen, the Mycenaean Tomb of Agamemnon and the structure I photographed on the Island of Crete, may well have been tombs. I rather prefer the notion of them as Ghost Houses, however.

Guest houses for the gods. Devils, make that!

You can find a schematic of the tholos found in Peloponnesian Olympia, site of the original Olympic Games, elsewhere. But the model of the one once built beyond the baths of Bath, England, is of the standard design.

So what's the big hairy deal anyhow? Why shoot picture after picture of domed buildings built on circular foundations?

The answer(s) to that will no doubt take another 'PHANTACEA And ...' Section; one that will be constructed over the next few months. Or not. But, as with the material on the Serendipity Pages, it's mostly because I reckon I'm onto something relatively valid.

This picture of another tholos found in Bath, just above the underground model in fact, might give you an idea of what I reckon's so valid. Tholoi are next to everywhere. Likely found on every continent. And not just atop churches as belltowers, -- though that's where they're most commonly spotted.

There's a reason for that, I understand. Loud noises are supposed to scare away devils and all things evil. Which in PHANTACEA means all things devazur. As for the reason they're circular, it's so that the aforementioned nasties can't hide in the shadows; there being no shadows cast in circular structures.

At least so goes the theory.

However, I read in Baigent, Leigh, Lincoln: 'The Messianic Legacy' (Corgi Books, 1988) that the Nazi SS were in the process of building a circular structure at a place called Wewelsburg by 1941.

According to the authors, it was intended to be a 'cult centre' for the SS, -- who, given what they did for a living (killing people), probably didn't want to keep away devils at all.

More than likely wanted to attract them in fact. Which is vaguely consistent with one of the theories I present in PHANTACEA. Namely that Xuthrodites and Antheans used Tholoi to attract devils to the Outer Earth.

Whereupon they promptly dusted them with Solidium/Stopstone and turned them into statues very much like the one of Ramazar, the Apocalyptic of Disaster, that I walked into in Catania last year when I was motoring around Sicily.

Not far from where I took the shot of something that I figure might approximate All the Invincible She-Sphinx of Incain, as it happens. (All's featured in 'The Volsung Variations' and is a major player, if machine's can be considered players, in "Feeling Theocidal", which can now be ordered.)

Not only are tholoi found on every continent, they're as old as the proverbial hills. The two I've seen are from circa 2000 - 1500 B.C. (if I'm still allowed to use that archaic dating system). I would classify the Roman Pantheon and even the Colosseum as tholoi as well.

Certainly the Maya had them, -- dedicated to their Rain God, I'm told --, and you frequently hear about the Tholos Tomb for Pygmies in the Eastern Congo when you're reading my stories on the Web. I describe the latter as a kind of omphalos or raised navel but I rather fancy it looks like the Pope's Pine Cone.

As for whether they're still being built, there's not much doubt of that.

Last year, while I was dodging raindrops on Malta (which, for various reasons that I won't get into now, I figured would become my model for Apple Isle, as located in Sedon's Human Eye on your map of the Headworld), I very nearly walked right into one.

Turns it was built sometime after World War Two and dedicated by Queen Elizabeth at some later point in time to the British Navy. (Maybe even the navies of all the Allied Powers, -- sorry, I wasn't taking notes.) Turns out also it's a belltower.

I guess the Maltese want to keep devils away too!

• Depiction of Tholos Shrine found on a ceiling in the Vatican Museum, Rome, photo by Jim McPherson, 1997
• A Tholos-shaped turret on a building in Bath, England, photo by Jim McPherson, 1995
• Model of Tholos Shrine found in the Bath Museum, England, photo by Jim McPherson, 1995
• Statue reminiscent of Ramazar, the Headless Apocalyptic of Disaster, as photographed in Catania on the Island of Sicily, Italy, photo by Jim McPherson, 1997
• Wooden model suggestive of All, the self-proclaimed Invincible She-Sphinx of Incain, as shot in Catania on the Island of Sicily, Italy, photo by Jim McPherson, 1997
• The Pope's Pine Cone, outside the Vatican Museum in Rome, Italy, photo by Jim McPherson, 1997
• A Mexican Tholos, found along the Route Maya on the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico, photo by Jim McPherson, mid-90s
• View along the waterfront of the daytime city of Valetta, Malta, photo by Jim McPherson, 1997
• View of the Tholos-shaped Maltese Belltower, photo by Jim McPherson, 1997
• A tholos spotted in Jodhpur, India, photo by Jim McPherson, 2005
• Orozco painting entitled "Man of Fire", shot in the tholos-like dome of the Hospicio Cabanas in Guadalajara, Mexico, photo by Jim McPherson, 2005
• There are pictures of some other Tholoi on the Gypsies and Etocretans: Chararcter Glossary Webpage
• There is an entry on Tholoi on the Terms Peculiar Webpage