Jerusalem Tombs

The weekend after the first week of the Shiloh excavation was a long weekend. There was a holiday on Friday, and Shiloh was closed, so we weren’t able to excavate that day, which gave us a three day weekend. On Saturday, I had a big adventure which I’ll share in a separate blog post. On Friday and Sunday, I didn’t go on day trips. I had work to do in the office. But, I did take a little time off for some adventures closer to home.

The Tomb of Jason

At the Tomb of Jason

Looking into one of the tomb chambers at Jason’s tomb. I could see more openings leading off of this chamber. I’m not sure how extensive the tomb was.

On Friday, I joined a group that wanted to go in search of Jason’s tomb. I didn’t know who Jason was, and I wasn’t aware that he had a tomb in Jerusalem, so I had to look him up. As it turns out, there was a Jason who was a Jewish high priest in the first century BC. He was in favor of Hellenization – the adoption of Greek culture. He had plans to build a Greek-style city complete with a gymnasium at or near Jerusalem. The more traditional Jewish people weren’t big fans of the idea.

Now, here is where the story gets complicated. We know that the tomb in question belongs to someone named Jason, because there is an inscription saying so. And we know that it dates to the same period as when Jason the high priest lived and died. But, did it belong to the same Jason? Or a different one? Inside the tomb, there are pictures of boats, and an inscription stating that Jason sailed to the coast of Egypt.

Exploring the tomb. When I looked at this photo, I discovered that one of the boat paintings is visible on the wall. See the area circled in white and the photo below where I zoomed in on it.

Maybe someone has done some research on this and figured it out. I only did a quick Google search, but I’m thinking that maybe this is a different Jason than the high priest. Because, the inscriptions in the tomb make him sound more like a sailor and not so much like a high priest. If any of you know more about this, let me know. I’m kind of curious, but not curious enough spend a bunch of time researching the topic!

We walked through Jerusalem and found the tomb fairly easily. The top had probably collapsed at some point, because it had a modern concrete top protecting it. There were bars, presumably to keep people out of the tomb, but the gate wasn’t latched very well, so some of us squeezed through. There were several tomb chambers leading off of the main entry chamber. It looked like there were multiple levels of tomb chambers. I’ve seen that same thing in other large tombs like the tomb of Queen Helena in Jerusalem.

We looked for the paintings of boats that were supposed to be in the tomb, but we weren’t sure where to look, and we didn’t find them. The next weekend, another group from the Shiloh team went to see the tomb, and they were able to find the paintings. Apparently they were on the side wall near the entrance, and they were really faint. I looked back through my photos and discovered that I actually got one of the paintings in a photo without realizing it.

Here is a zoomed-in view of the wall painting in the tomb. This isn’t a great photo, since I wasn’t focussing on the wall, and it’s at an angle, but the faint grey lines are part of the boat painting.

Kidron Valley Tombs

Looking at the Mount of Olives from the edge of Old City Jerusalem. There are modern Israeli tombs all over the hillside, and some ancient tombs and monuments at the bottom. The one I marked with the arrow is the one I was particularly interested in.

On Sunday, I spent part of the day working in the office, but eventually, I decided to go out for a walk. I kind of had in mind that I wanted to go to Saint Anne’s church, since I hadn’t been there in quite a while. I headed that direction, but the church was closed to tourists. I had kind of suspected that it might be. I think that they have church services there on Sundays, and they don’t want a bunch of tour groups coming through and interrupting them.

The gate was open!!!

I walked on, and ended up circling the Old City, walking through the Muslim graveyard on the east side of the city. From there, I crossed the road and headed down in to the Kidron Valley that separates the Temple Mount from the Mount of Olives. In the valley, there are several ancient tombs and monuments. There is one tomb in particular that I’ve been wanting to explore for a long time. In fact, I think that it’s been on my bucket list since my very first trip to Israel. I probably would have given up on it a long time ago, but someone told me that sometimes they let people in, so I’ve checked regularly almost every time I’ve been in Jerusalem. But, the gate is always locked, and I’ve never gotten in.

As I walked by, I climbed up to the gate out of habit, checking to see if it was open and expecting it to be closed. But, for once, it was open. I didn’t waste a minute, but scampered in afraid that someone would come along and lock it back up before I’d had a chance to explore properly. I walked up a wide hallway carved into bedrock and into the open area with carved pillars looking out over the Kidron valley. There was a sign explaining that it was a Hasmonean-era tomb belonging to a priestly family. An Hebrew inscription over the entrance to the tomb reads,

The inscription over the entrance to the Hasmonean tomb

“This is the grave and the soul of Elazar Hania Yo’ezer Yehuda Shimon Yohanan sons of Yosef ben Oved and Elazar sons of Hania priests of the sons of Hezir.”

Chambers inside the Hasmonean tomb

Behind the pillared entryway was the opening to the tomb itself. I went inside and peeked into the multiple chambers that branched off of the main room. This tomb was even more complex than the tomb of Jason! After I finished exploring, I headed out, a little relieved to find that nobody had come and locked me in. I climbed up the Mount of Olives, exploring the Jewish cemeteries on its slopes. I spotted some caves in the hillside and went to check them out. It took a while to wend my way between the gravestones, but I finally arrived. My footsteps startled a mangy dog that had been resting in the shade of the cave. It jumped up, barked at me, and then limped off. I came a little closer to check out the caves, cautious in case there might be more dogs. It looked like the caves might have originally been ancient tombs that had collapsed. Now, modern tombs extended into the ancient tomb, reusing the burial space.

An ancient tomb or cave with modern graves inside

I headed back down the Mount of Olives, this time sticking to the road. I came out at the Garden of Gethsemane, and popped in for a chance to rest in the shade. The garden is beautiful, with all kinds of flowers blooming. There are ancient olive trees, protected from tourists by high fencing. I meandered around the garden, and then headed out again.

Across the street from the garden is a place called the Grotto of Gethsemane. I had been there before, but I usually don’t stop there, and I couldn’t remember what there was to see. I followed a group of tourists down some stairs. I’m not sure why, but I kind of got creeped out, and I suddenly remembered that I also got creeped out when I was there before, and that’s why I usually don’t go there. It’s kind of weird that I can happily explore tombs and graveyards without a second thought, but some religious places really bother me. I didn’t even go all the way to the bottom of the stairs before I turned around and got out of there.

I headed back to the hotel, skirting the Old City. It had been a good day. I not only accomplished all the work that I needed to do, but I had done some fun exploring and gotten into that tomb that I had wanted for so long to explore.

At the Garden of Gethsemane