Second Temple Period
During the Second Temple period, rock-cut tombs were built outside the walls of the city of Jerusalem in every direction. The tombs extend as far as 7 km from the city walls, with the more prestigious tombs located close to the city.
Among the notable tombs are the Jason's Tomb, a large, elaborate, family tomb with multiple chambers and inscriptions in both Hebrew and Greek. The most elaborate group of tombs, and apparently the most prestigious location, was in the Kidron Valley beneath the tombs of the ancient Kings of Judah on the ridge where the village of Silwan now stands. These include the Tomb of Benei Hezir, the Tomb of Zechariah and the Tombs of the Kings which, ironically, is the tomb not of kings, but of a queen, Queen Helena of Adiabene.
The elaborate Tombs of the Sanhedrin lie to the north of the city. They were so called by later generations because the largest of them contains 70 chambers with burial benches, and the Sanhedrin had seventy members. Each of the three tombs would actually have contained the burials of a single, multi-generational, wealthy family. They were constructed between the reign of Herod and the year 70.
Read more about this topic: Rock-cut Tombs In Israel
Famous quotes containing the words temple and/or period:
“To the virtuous man, the universe is the only sanctum sanctorum, and the penetralia of the temple are the broad noon of his existence.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“After all, the practical reason why, when the power is once in the hands of the people, a majority are permitted, and for a long period continue, to rule is not because they are most likely to be in the right, nor because this seems fairest to the minority, but because they are physically the strongest. But a government in which the majority rule in all cases cannot be based on justice, even as far as men understand it.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)