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The NET Forum
Tombs and Burial Practices in the 1st Century A.D.
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The best first-century examples may be seen in the "Tombs of the Kings," a complex belonging to a royal convert to Judaism, Queen Helena of Adiabene. The limestone of the mountain has been carved into cave-like grave chambers. Some have the form of an oven-like shaft cut into the rock, others of a bench topped by an arch (an "arcosolium"). |
Burial occurred in two stages. Relatives laid the body in the shaft or on the bench. The cave as a whole was then closed. It was the custom, after three days, to visit the tomb and verify that the person was really dead. This may explain the presence of the women at Jesus' tomb on Sunday. It would also explain why Jesus waited until the fourth day to raise Lazarus. |
After verification, the shaft was closed again and the whole chamber sealed, sometimes by a rolling stone. |
A year later the relatives return and find only bones. They gather these and place them in an ossuary, which they put with those of the ancestors in the center of the chamber. Now they can re-use the shaft. (We can tell how tall people were, since the ossuary had to be big enough to include the femur.) Sometimes the sides are inscribed with the names of the dead. Among the names found in graves around the city, for example, were Yeshua (Jesus), Simon, Miriam (Mary), Martha and Eleazar (Lazarus), all common at the time. Several may be seen at the Israel Museum. Among these is one with the name Yosef Bar Kafatz (Joseph Caiaphas) -- not a common name! © 2003 Near East Tourist Agency (NET) Text © 2003 Stephen Langfur |