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Customs |
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Source:
Jerusalem, Bethany, and Bethlehem, p.
11. |
Ancient Wall of the
Temple Area, East Side, With Muslem Cemetery
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The simplest form of tomb is that in which a common grave is sunk in the rock,
and a reveal cut round its mouth to receive a covering slab. In some cases the
slab is flush with the surface of the rock; in others it is raised above it and
ornamented like the lid of a sarcophagus. Another simple form of tomb, to which
the name of "trough grave" has been given, is that in which an arched recess is
cut in the face of the rock and a common grave sunk in its floor. A third simple
form is that in which a rectangular space is cut into the vertical face of the
rock, after the manner of an oven, extending six feet or more horizontally
inwards, and sufficiently wide and high to admit of a corpse being pushed in.
The opening is closed by a stone slab or by a rough unhewn mass of rock. Such a
grave is called in the Talmud a "kok" (pl. "kokim"). A fourth kind of tomb is
the "shelf grave"-a shelf or bench, six feet long, cut in the vertical face of
the rock, upon which the corpse was laid even when it had first been placed in a
sarcophagus. The most common description of tomb is that in which a number of
kokim, shelf, or trough graves are grouped together in one or more chambers of
the same excavation. (Source:
Picturesque Palestine, vol. 1, p. 95.) |
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Plan of the Tomb of the Kings |
Source:
Jerusalem, Bethany, and Bethlehem, p.
92. |
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These tombs may be divided into three
classes. The first class is that in which a
natural cavern in one of the softer strata of
limestone is adapted to sepulchral purposes.
Kokim are cut in the sides of the cave, with
their beds on a level with the ground, and the
openings are then closed with rough stone
slabs resting against the face of the rock or
fitting more closely into the excavation. In
this class of tomb no arrangement was made for
closing the entrance to the cavern. It seems
not improbable that these tombs were used for
the burial of the poor, and they were perhaps
constructed at the public expense. In the
second class of tomb a square or oblong
chamber is carefully cut in the solid rock;
the entrance is by a low square opening,
closed either by a closely fitting stone slab
or by a stone door turning on a socket hinge
and secured by bolts on the inside. These
tombs, remarkable for the care which has been
bestowed on the excavation, were probably the
family vaults of wealthy people. The third
class of tomb is that in which one entrance
leads to several tombchambers, each containing
a large number of graves, and sometimes
sarcophagi. (Source:
Picturesque Palestine, vol. 1, p. 95.) |
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Source:
Picturesque Palestine, vol. 1, p.
103. |
Rock Tombs North of
Jerusalem |
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In our own land we are all familiar with the
grassy mounds and marble monuments which fill
the cemeteries, and which pass away almost as
quickly as man himself. In Rome and Pompeii we
see the habitations of the dead lining the
great highways, and crumbling to ruin like the
palaces of their tenants. But the moment we
set our feet on the shores of Palestine, we
feel that we are in an ancient country-the
home of a primeval people, whose tombs appear
in cliff and glen and mountain-side, all hewn
in the living rock, and permanent as the rock
itself. The tombs of Jerusalem are rock-hewn
caves. I found them in every direction.
Wherever the face of a crag affords space for
an architectural façade, or a projecting rock
a fitting place for excavation, there is sure
to be a sepulchre. I visited them on Olivet
and Scopus, on Zion and Moriah, inside the
modern city and outside; but they chiefly
abound in the rocky banks of Hinnom and the
Kidron. Near the junction of these ravines the
overhanging cliffs are actually honeycombed.
(Source:
Jerusalem, Bethany, and Bethlehem, p.
81.) |
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Arab Home in an Ancient Tomb |
Source: Those Holy Fields, p. 127. |
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The façades of many are elaborately
ornamented; but one thing is very remarkable,
they contain no inscriptions. The tombs of
Egypt are covered with hieroglyphics, giving
long histories of the dead, and of the honours
paid to their remains. The tombs of Palmyra
not only have written tablets over the
entrances, but every separate niche, or
loculus, in the interior has its inscription.
I have counted more than fifty such in a
single mausoleum; yet I have never been able
to discover a single letter in one of the
tombs of the Holy City, nor a single painting,
sculpture, or carving on any ancient Jewish
tomb in Palestine, calculated to throw light
on the story, name, or rank of the dead.
Simplicity and security appear to have been
the only things the Jews aimed at in the
construction of their sepulchres. To be buried
with their fathers was their only ambition.
They seem to have had no desire to transmit
their names to posterity through the agency of
their graves. . . . With the Jews the tomb was
an unclean place, which men endeavoured to
avoid rather than honour by pilgrimages.
(Source:
Jerusalem, Bethany, and Bethlehem,
pp.
81-82.) |
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See
Houses, Marketplace,
Temple Mount,
Gordon's Calvary,
or
Church of the Holy
Sepulcher |
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