Salah ed- Diri Str, Jerusalem
Bus: 23, 27
Open: 8am- 5pm
Mon- Sat
King's Tomb is a deceptive name given in the modern times by travelers who assumed that it belonged to a family of king David's family. In reality it was cut in the solid rock in the 1st century AD. Queen Helena of Adiabene from Mesopotamia moved to Jerusalem, converted to Judaism and was buried here.
The tomb of Helene of Adiabene (also known as the tomb of the kings),
erected around AD 50 during the reign of Emperor Claudius, is the
largest ancient tomb in Jerusalem. The building was mentioned several
times in antiquity. According to sources, Queen Helene of Adiabene and
two of her sons are said to have been buried here near the pyramids. She
had converted to Judaism with her family and then moved to Jerusalem,
where she is said to have built several palaces.
The tomb is
north of what is now the Old City of Jerusalem. Its forecourt, carved in
the rock, was lined with cut stones and sunk into the ground. A
monumental staircase on the south side leads down to the forecourt. The
entrance of the actual tomb on the west side has a staircase decorated
with Ionic columns. There was a decorated lintel above the entrance.
From there you enter a hall carved into the rock. To the south are rows
of seven burial chambers with burial niches in the walls. Above the
facade of the entrance there were probably three temple-like buildings,
each crowned by a pyramid. The pyramids have not been preserved, but are
known from ancient descriptions. Stones found during excavations were
assigned to the pyramids. Several sarcophagi were found in the tomb. One
of them bears a two-line inscription in two different Aramaic scripts,
each with different orthography: Queen Sadan (צדן מלכתא), Queen Sadah
(צדה מלכתה). According to general opinion, it should be Helene von
Adiabene. Helene would therefore be her Greek name, Sadan or Sadah her
Semitic name. The inscription is on the front of the sarcophagus, which
is otherwise decorated with two circles carved in the stone. The lid is
gable-shaped. There is only one other inscribed sarcophagus from this
period from Israel. Another sarcophagus from the tomb has four holes in
the bottom, apparently for drainage of bodily fluids.
The tomb
was found in 1895 by the French explorer Louis Félicien de Saulcy
(1807–1880), who named it the Tomb of the Kings and suggested that kings
of Judah were buried here. The tomb had already been heavily robbed in
antiquity. Some of the finds ended up in the Louvre.