Tombs of the Kings (Jerusalem): Difference between revisions

The '''Tombs of the Kings''' ({{Lang-he|קברי המלכים}} ''Keveri HaMlakhim''; {{Lang-ar|قبور السلاطين}}; {{Lang-fr|Tombeau des Rois}}) are a [[Catacombs|rock-cut funerary complex]] in [[East Jerusalem]] believed to be the burial site of [[Queen Helene of Adiabene]] (died c. AD 50–56 CE), hence: '''Helena's Monuments'''.<ref>The term applied for this site in [[Josephus]], ''[[The Jewish War]]'' (5.4.2.). Cf. ''ibid''. ''[[Antiquities of the Jews|Antiquities]]'' (20.4.3.).</ref> The tombs are located {{convert|820 meters (half a mile)|m|abbr=on}} north of Jerusalem's [[Old City (Jerusalem)|Old City]] walls in the [[Sheikh Jarrah]] neighborhood (Hebrew: {{Script/Hebrew|שכונת שייח ג'ראח}}; Arabic: {{Lang|ar|حي الشيخ جرّاح}})

The grandeur of the site led to the belief that the tombs had once been the burial place of the kings of Judah, hence the name Tombs of the Kings; but the tombs are now associated with Queen Helena of [[Adiabene]].<ref name=Rahmani3>"Ancient Jerusalem's Funerary Customs and Tombs: Part Three, L. Y. Rahmani, The Biblical Archaeologist, Vol. 45, No. 1 (Winter, 1982), pp. 43-5343–53</ref> According to this theory, Queen Helena chose the site to bury her son Isates and others of her dynasty. More recent research by noted French scholar and Dominican friar Jean-Baptiste Humbert has concluded that the tomb was likely designed for [[Herod Agrippa I]], the grandson of [[Herod the Great]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Dospěl |first1=Marek |title=New insights into the Tomb of the Kings |url=https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/the-tomb-of-the-kings-in-jerusalem/?mqsc=E4140669&dk=ZE2410ZF0 |website=BAR Jan 2022 |publisher=Biblical Archeology |access-date=5 January 2022}}</ref>

The site is located east of the intersection of [[Nablus Road]] and Saladin Street. The gate of the property is marked "''Tombeau des Rois''", French for "Tomb of the Kings."

On 15 May 15, 2019, Hekdesh, a Jewish organisation (''Association Hekdesh du Tombeau des rois''), hired [[Gilles-William Goldnadel]], a French lawyer, and took the French government to court. Goldnadel tried to prove that the site, after being purchased in 1878 by a French-Jewish woman, Berthe Amélie Bertrand, or by the brothers Péreire, French-Jewish bankers, was left to the French state on condition that the Jews would preserve the right to visit the site (see below at [[#History|History]]).<ref name=Haaretz19>[https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-french-consulate-opens-disputed-second-temple-site-in-east-jerusalem-1.7418907 French consulate opens disputed Second Temple site in East Jerusalem], Nir Hasson for [[Haaretz]], 28 June 2019</ref><ref name=FigaroJan>[https://www.lefigaro.fr/arts-expositions/2019/01/27/03015-20190127ARTFIG00021--jerusalem-les-juifs-ultra-orthodoxes-reclament-l-acces-au-tombeau-des-rois.php À Jérusalem, les juifs ultra-orthodoxes réclament l'accès au Tombeau des rois], Le Figaro and Agence France Presse, 27 January 2019, accessed 15 May 2020</ref> Goldnadel also hopes to reclaim the sarcophagus of queen Helena of Adiabene, presently housed at the [[Louvre]].<ref name=FigaroMay>[http://www.lefigaro.fr/international/des-rabbins-veulent-chasser-la-france-du-tombeau-des-rois-20190516 Des rabbins israéliens veulent chasser la France du Tombeau des rois], Thierry Oberlé for Le Figaro, 16 May 2019</ref>

From street level a hewn staircase, measuring {{convert|9|m|ft|}} in width and having a length of {{convert|30|m|ft|}}, descends into a carved courtyard.<ref name="Ilan1980">{{cite book |last=Ilan|first=Zvi|editor=Chaim Rubenstein |author-link=:he:צבי אילן |contribution=Tombs of the Kings |title=Israel Guide -– Jerusalem (A useful encyclopedia for the knowledge of the country)|volume=10 |publisher=[[Keter Publishing House]], in affiliation with the Israel Ministry of Defence |location=Jerusalem|year=1980|pages=174-175174–175 |language=he|oclc=745203905 }}</ref> Alongside the staircase there is built a drainage system and cisterns.<ref name="Ilan1980"/> The main courtyard sinks down to a depth of {{convert|8.5|m|ft|}} within the bedrock and has a total measurement of approximately {{convert|27|m|ft|}} x {{convert|26|m|ft|}}.<ref name="Ilan1980"/> The entrance to the tombportal is on its western façade and is ascended by a flight of three steps. In front of the burial cave formerly stood two pillars betweenand two opposing pillars[[pilasters]] carved in the rock face and which are now scarcely visible.<ref>{{cite book |author-last=Barclay|author-first=J.T. |author-link=James Turner Barclay|title=City of the Great King (or, Jerusalem as it Was, as it Is, and as it To Be)|publisher=James Challen and Sons|location=Philadelphia|year=1857|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=TjkPAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA119 193] |language=en |oclc=1152738303}} (reprint: {{OCLC|980280533}})</ref> Above the entrancewayportal is a [[Doric order|Doric]] [[frieze]], made of [[metopesmetope]]s and [[triglyphs]], with a cluster of grapes in the center and wreaths of [[Acanthus (plant)|acanthus]] leaves next to it.<ref name="Ilan1980"/> A leaf [[plexus]] extends along the [[architrave]].<ref name="Ilan1980"/>

The inner tomb is made-up of a complex labyrinth consisting of eight chambers, with a total of 48 burial niches, some of which formerly contained decorated [[sarcophagi]].<ref name="Ilan1980"/> The chambers of the royal tomb are made with both ''[[kokhim]]'' (burial niches) in the old Jewish style, and ''[[arcosolia]]'' in the Roman fashion.<ref>{{cite book|last=Conder|first=C.R.|author-link=Claude R. Conder|title=Syrian Stone-lore; or, The Monumental History of Palestine |publisher=Alexander P. Watt |year=1889|location=London|language=en|url=https://archive.org/details/syrianstoneloreo00conduoft/page/ii/mode/2up |page=[https://archive.org/details/syrianstoneloreo00conduoft/page/220/mode/1up 220] |oclc=751757461}}</ref>

The tomb is mentioned by the Roman-Jewish historian [[Josephus]] in the first century C.ECE. He writes about Helena, queen of Adiabene, a small kingdom from [[Mesopotamia]] (today part of Kurdistan, northern Iraq) who came to Jerusalem at the end of the [[Second Temple Period]]. Her family converted to Judaism and built a palace in the area today known as the [[City of David (historic)|City of David]]. Helena's son [[Monobaz II]] had her remains and those of his brother buried "three stadia from Jerusalem." Medieval Europeans mistakenly identified the tomb as belonging to the kings of Judah.<ref name=Ynet>[https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3286995,00.html In Memoriam: The Tomb of the Kings], Ron Peled for Ynetnews, 8 June 2006</ref>

In 1863, the French archaeologist [[:fr:Félicien de Saulcy|Félicien de Saulcy]] was given permission to excavate the tomb.

In 1864, the French-Jewish banker [[Isaac Péreire]] attempted to purchase the site but without success. In the 1870s, a French-Jewish woman, Amalya Bertrand, paid 30,000 francs for it. It was registered as French property under the trusteeship of the French consul. Bertrand declared: "I am of the firm opinion that this property, the field and the burial cave of the kings, will become the land in perpetuity of the Jewish community, to be preserved from desecration and abomination, and will never again be damaged by foreigners.<ref name=Ynet/> She had a wall and guard post built around the site. In 1886, Bertrand's heirs donated it to the French government<ref name=Ynet/> "to preserve it for science and the worship of the faithful [[Jewish people|children of Israel]]".<ref>[https://oeuvre-orient.fr/actualites/laction-de-la-france-en-faveur-du-patrimoine-chretien-en-terre-sainte/ Terre Sainte : l'action de la France en faveur du patrimoine chrétien], M. Yves Teyssier d'Orfeuil for a round table discussion on the "Cultural heritage of Oriental Christians" at the [[Arab World Institute]], Paris, February 2014. Posted by l'Œuvre d'Orient, accessed 15 May 2020.</ref>. It's a part of the ''[[:fr:Domaine national français en Terre sainte|Domaine national français]]''.

The Tomb of the Kings was a popular tourist site. It was described by the Greek geographer [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] as the second most beautiful tomb in the world (after the [[Mausoleum at Halicarnassus|tomb]] of [[Mausolus]], one of the [[Seven Wonders of the Ancient World]]) who visited Eretzin Israel[[Aelia Capitolina|Jerusalem]]. He declares that he "knows many wonderful tombs" and mentions two of them, one of which is in [[Halicarnassus]] and the other "in [the Land of] the Hebrews" (Greek: ἐν τῇ Ἑβραίων) and has a sophisticated opening mechanism aimed at a certain day of the year and for a certain time: "The Hebrews have a tomb, that of [[Helena of Adiabene|Helena]] , a local woman, in the city of Jerusalem (Greek:πόλει Σολύμοις), which the [[Hadrian|Roman emperor]] razed to the ground. There is a contrivance in the tomb whereby the door, which like the entire tomb is made of stone, does not open until the year brings back the same day and the same hour. Then the mechanism, unaided, opens the door, which, after a short interval, closes itself again. It happens at the same time, but if you try at any other time to open the door, you will not be able to do so; Power will not open it, but will only break it."<ref> Pausanias, ''Graeciae Descriptio'', VIII, 16:4-5</ref> The mausoleum in Helicarnsus is consideredone of the seven wonders of the ancient worlded. The fact that Fausnias places the Tomb of Hellenia in Jerusalem at the same level indicates the tremendous impression he made of it.<ref>[ M. SternTeubner, Greek and Latin Authors on Jews and JudaismVIII, Jerusalem 1980, Vol II16: CVIII. Pausanias, p. 197]4–5</ref>

From the house there is a 9 meter wide staircase (23 steps) that was originally paved and leads to a forecourt. The rain water is collected in baths, which are carved in the steps, and carried via a channel system to the water wells. At the bottom of the stairs there isare ancient ritual baths (mikva’ot) as well as a stone wall to the left with a gate. This gate leads to a courtyard that was cut from the rock at the same date. The dimensions of this courtyard are roughly 27 meters long from north to south and 25 meters wide from west to east.

The tombs are arranged on two levels around a central chamber, with four rooms upstairs and three rooms downstairs. The central chamber itself is entered from the courtyard via an antechamber that goes down into a dimly lit maze of chambers. The access from the antechamber to the exterior courtyard could be sealed closed by rolling a round stone across it, and the stone still remains ''in-situ''. In the first century C.E.CE, a "secret mechanism" operated by water pressure moved the stone.<ref>cf. [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], ''Description of Greece'' (on [[Arcadia (region)|Arcadia]], 8.16.4–5), where the author writes: "[8.16.4] I know many wonderful tombs, and will mention two of them, the one at [[Halicarnassus]] (i.e. [[Mausoleum at Halicarnassus]]) and one in the '''land of the Hebrews'''. The one at Halicarnassus was made for [[Mausolus]], king of the city, and it is of such vast size, and so notable for all its ornament, that the Romans in their great admiration of it call remarkable tombs in their country ''Mausolea'' (i.e. [[mausoleum]]). [8.16.5] The Hebrews have a tomb, that of [[Helena of Adiabene|Helena]], a native woman, in the city of Jerusalem, which the Roman Emperor razed to the ground. There is a contrivance in the tomb whereby the door, which like the entire tomb is made of stone, does not open until the year brings back the same day and the same hour. Then the mechanism, unaided, opens the door, which, after a short interval, shuts itself again. This happens at that time, but should you at any other try to open the door you cannot do so; force will not open it, but only break it down."</ref> Probably a small amount of water pressure activated a system of weights to open the tomb. Two of the eight burial chambers have [[arcosolia]], resting places made of a bench with an arch over it. Some of the arcosolia have triangular niches where oil lamps were placed to give light during the burial process.

The tombs are now empty, but previously housed a number of [[sarcophagus|sarcophagi]]; they were excavated by a French archaeological mission headed by [[Louis Felicien de Saulcy]], who took them back to France. They are exhibited at the Louvre.

<gallery mode="packed">

File:Sarcophagus Louvre AO5029 n01.jpg|thumb|The Sarcophagus in the Louvre

* [[Rock-cut tombs in ancient Israel]]

* [https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium.MAGAZINE-france-orthodox-jews-archaeologists-battle-over-e-j-lem-s-tomb-of-the-kings-1.6766370 Tomb of the Kings Battle Brews Between French and ultra-Orthodox Over Jerusalem Archaeology Site], Nir Hasson for Haaretz, 21 December 2018

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