Tomb of Bnei Hesir

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The Bnei Chesir tomb today
The grave complex in 1854

The tomb of Bnei Hesir ( Hebrew קבר בני חזיר,) Of sons / descendants of Chesir , also falsely grave of Saint James called, is the oldest of the four known rock tombs in the Kidron Valley in Jerusalem . It dates from the Hellenistic period.

The tomb contains several burial chambers. It was originally reached from the north by stairs carved into the rock. At a later time, another access was created via a tunnel from the tomb of Zacharias . This is today's access to the burial chambers.

history

The tomb dates from the 2nd century BC. It is the oldest of the four rock graves in the Kidron Valley. It is built in the Hellenistic style. On the column capitals and friezes are Doric and Ionic motifs seen. The architrave bears a Hebrew inscription identifying the tomb as that of the priestly family named Bnei Chesir. The inscription can be palaeographically dated to the late 1st century BC. And reads:

"זה הקבר והנפש שלאלעזר חניה יועזר יהודה שמעון יוחנן בני יוסף בן עובד יוסף ואלעזר בני חניה כהנים מבני חזיר"

“This is the grave and the Nefesh funeral memorial of ʾEleʿazar, Ḥanyah, Yoʿezer, Yehudah, Shimeʿon, Yoḥanan, sons of Yosef, the son of ʿOved, (and) of Yosef, and ʾEleʿazar, sons of Ḥes Ḥanyah, sons of Ḥes Ḥanyah, sons of Ḥes Ḥanyah "

The Bnei Hesir family

The inscription on the tomb shows that at the time of writing eight men from the Chesir priestly family from two generations were buried here. With such a collective inscription, the priestly family Chesir also documented their old, historical claim to this burial place. The family must have been very wealthy because they could afford a burial site in the Kidron Valley.

There are two places in the Hebrew Bible that mention men by the name of Chesir. One was the founder of the 17th priestly caste ( 1 Chr 24.15  EU ), the other was one of the leaders who made a covenant with Nehemiah ( Neh 10.21  EU ). It is not known whether there is a relationship between these and the family of the tomb.

Nefesch

The inscription includes the term Nefesh ( Hebrew נפש, literally: "soul"). The term is also used for a magnificent structure built on or next to the tomb. One theory says that this could mean the tomb of Zacharias immediately next to the tomb of the Bnei Chesir. Another theory is that there was an additional facade above the pillars. This could have had the shape of the Nabataean tombs, as they can be found in Petra .

Christian James tradition

In the late 4th century AD, bones were discovered in a tomb in the Kidron Valley (apparently the tomb of the Bnei Chesir) that were believed to be the remains of the Lord Brother James. As a result, a wealthy Christian from Eleutheropolis had a chapel built near the site and the alleged bones of James buried under the altar. The remains of this Byzantine St. James church were probably uncovered during the excavations of 1962 and 2003 in front of the pyramid monolith; it existed until early Islamic times. There was also a Chapel of St. James here during the time of the Crusaders, but it was not assigned to the Lord's Brother, but to the apostle of the same name ( James, son of Alphaeus ). Since the 15th century there was a church of the Lord Brother James in the Armenian quarter of the old town , which attracted the James traditions to itself, so that the James Chapel in the Kidron Valley lost its importance. Hardly anything of the buildings has been preserved, the Hellenistic grave complex served as a cattle shelter in the 17th century.

literature

  • Rachel Hachlili : Jewish funerary customs, practices and rites in the Second Temple period (= Supplements to The journal for the study of Judaism. Volume 94). Brill, Leiden 2005, ISBN 978-90-041-2373-1 .
  • Amos Kloner, Boaz Zissu : The Necropolis of Jerusalem in the Second Temple Period (= Interdisciplinary studies in ancient culture and religion. Volume 8). Peeters, Leuven 2007, ISBN 978-90-429-1792-7 .
  • Dan Barag: The 2000-2001 exploration of the tombs of Benei Hezir and Zechariah. In: Israel Exploration Journal . Volume 53, Number 1, 2003, pp. 78-110.
  • Max Küchler : Jerusalem. A handbook and study travel guide to the Holy City (= Places and Landscapes of the Bible . Volume IV / 2), Göttingen 2007, pp. 715–724.

Individual evidence

  1. The three other tombs are the tomb of Zacharias , the tomb of Absalom and Joschafat's tomb .
  2. Max Küchler: Jerusalem. A handbook and study travel guide to the Holy City (= Places and Landscapes of the Bible . Volume IV / 2), Göttingen 2007, p. 716; Transcription for Old Hebrew: DIN 31636 .
  3. Max Küchler: Jerusalem. A handbook and study travel guide to the Holy City (= Places and Landscapes of the Bible . Volume IV / 2), Göttingen 2007, p. 717.
  4. Rachel Hachlili: Jewish funerary customs, practices and rites in the Second Temple period. Brill, Leiden 2005, ISBN 978-90-041-2373-1 , p. 30.
  5. Samuel Rocca: Herod's Judaea. A Mediterranean state in the classical world (= texts and studies on ancient Judaism. Volume 122). Wipf & Stock, Eugene (OR) 2008, ISBN 978-1-498-22454-3 , p. 365.
  6. Max Küchler: Jerusalem. A handbook and study travel guide to the Holy City (= Places and Landscapes of the Bible . Volume IV / 2), Göttingen 2007, pp. 720–722.

Web links

Commons : Tomb of Bnei Hesir  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 31 ° 46 ′ 35.2 "  N , 35 ° 14 ′ 20.9"  E