Zechariah's tomb

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The tomb of Zacharias

The tomb of Zacharias ( Hebrew קבר זכריה) is one of the four known rock tombs in the Kidron Valley in Jerusalem . It dates from the time of the Herodian Temple .

architecture

The grave of Zacharias is called a "grave", but it is a monolith that was carved out of the naturally grown rock and does not contain a burial chamber. The term “monument” is therefore more appropriate. The base of the monument is a crepidoma with three stages. On the top step, the stylobate , stands the monument with a square floor plan. The four sides have two Ionic columns between two pilasters , but only half of them were carved out of the monolith.

The cornice in the upper part of the monument is made in the Egyptian style. It is topped with a pyramid. The fine grain of the decoration on the western side is interesting. On the back, the facade is extremely rough and gives the impression of an unfinished work.

Jewish tradition

According to Jewish tradition, it is the tomb of the priest Zacharias Ben Jojada, a figure who describes the 2nd book of the Chronicles :

“Then the Spirit of God came upon Zacharias, the son of the priest Jehoiada. He went before the people and said, Thus says God: Why do you transgress the commandments of the Lord? So you can no longer have luck. Because you have forsaken the Lord, he will forsake you. But they banded together against him and, on the order of the king, stoned him in the courtyard of the Lord's house. "

But there is no evidence for this assumption. This is contradicted by the fact that the monument does not contain a burial chamber.

The style of the monument with its Hellenistic details is reminiscent of the style of the tomb of Bnei Hesir . Therefore, some researchers suspect that these are contemporary buildings. Scholars who specialize in funeral customs and monuments write the tomb of Zacharias to the 1st century BC. Chr. To. This contradicts the Jewish tradition that it was the grave of the priest Zacharias Ben Jojada.

Nefesh the Bnei Hesir?

The grave and the monument

Another theory is that the monument was named Nefesh ( Hebrew נפש, literally: “soul”) belongs to the grave of Bnei Hesir because there is an access from the monument to the grave carved into the rock and because the monument fulfills the requirement of a “magnificent structure”. But this theory cannot be proven either.

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 978-90-04-12373-1 .
  • 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.

Web links

Commons : Tomb of Zacharias  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The other three tombs are the tomb of Bnei Hesir , the tomb of Absalom and Joschafat's tomb .
  2. ↑ 2 Chr 24.20-21  EU
  3. ↑ Rachel Hachlili: Jewish funerary customs, practices and rites in the Second Temple period. Brill, Leiden 2005, ISBN 978-90-04-12373-1 , p. 132.
  4. ↑ Rachel Hachlili: Jewish funerary customs, practices and rites in the Second Temple period. Brill, Leiden 2005, ISBN 978-90-04-12373-1 , 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 978-1-4982-2454-3 , p. 365.

Coordinates: 31 ° 46 ′ 34.5 "  N , 35 ° 14 ′ 20.8"  E