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Rare look at ancient tomb under Jerusalem

Rare look at ancient tomb under Jerusalem
Rare look at ancient tomb under Jerusalem

2019-01-25 00:00:00 - Source: Baghdad Post

Flashlight beams pierce the darkness and reveal an

archaeological gem, an ancient tomb, in underground Jerusalem few have had the

chance to glimpse in recent years, according to AFP.

The elaborate, 2,000-year-old tomb’s stone shelves once held

sarcophagi, and its steps are hewn from rock connecting its chambers.

It serves as a remarkable example of a Roman-era tomb —

considered among the largest in the region — but it remains closed for now and

largely forgotten in a corner of east Jerusalem.

Talks are ongoing between France, which owns the site known

as the Tomb of the Kings, and Israel to reopen it, and AFP was recently given

an exclusive tour.

“We are talking about probably the most important,

fascinating and large monument in Jerusalem outside the Old City,” said Yuval

Baruch, Jerusalem regional archaeologist for the Israel Antiquities Authority.

The tomb has been closed since 2010 due to renovations

costing around a million euros ($1.1 million).

But its unique status, Jewish veneration of the burial site

and its location in the disputed city have added to complications in reopening

it.

Archaeological sites in east Jerusalem are often freighted

with religious significance and questions linked to the Israeli-Palestinian

conflict.

The Tomb of the Kings is no exception, though with

international involvement since France owns it.

Israel occupied mainly Palestinian east Jerusalem in the

1967 Six-Day War and later annexed it in a move never recognized by the

international community.

It sees the entire city as its capital, while the

Palestinians view the eastern sector as the capital of their future state.

France wants guarantees

Groups of ultra-Orthodox Jews have gathered at the tomb’s

gate to press for its reopening so that they can pray there. They describe it

as a holy burial site of ancient ancestors.

“All we ask is to enter, make a prayer and leave,” said

Natanel Snir, who was part of a group of around 12 ultra-Orthodox Jews who

briefly gathered outside the gate Thursday.

There has also been a challenge at Israel’s rabbinical court

— which rules on matters related to Jewish law and holy sites — over access to

the tomb and France’s ownership.

A concert at the site organized with a Palestinian group

around a decade ago also led to criticism.

The court case has been abandoned for now at the request of

Israel’s foreign ministry, but there are discussions about whether to resume

it, said Rachel Shakargy of the Israeli rabbinical courts.

Before reopening the site, France wants guarantees it will

not face legal challenges and is asking for commitments on how visits will be

managed.

French officials declined to comment, while Israel’s foreign

ministry said negotiations are continuing, without elaborating.

Both states are concerned it could become more of a

religious than archaeological site after its reopening.

In the meantime, an iron gate leading to ancient steps,

ritual baths and the expansive tomb further below remains locked.

Queen’s tomb?

Both the history of the site and how France came to own it

are complex.

An excavation in the 1860s, when the Ottoman Empire ruled

the region, is thought to be the first modern archaeological dig in the Holy

Land, said Jean-Baptiste Humbert, a French archaeologist who has carried out

excavations at the tomb.

Felicien de Saulcy of France took on the project in 1863 and

sought to confirm it was the tomb of biblical figures King David and Solomon,

giving rise to the site’s name.

That theory has been ruled out, but the name has endured.

Several sarcophagi were found inside and are now in the

Louvre museum in Paris, including one with an Aramaic inscription.

According to the most commonly accepted theory, it refers to

Queen Helena of Adiabene, in today’s Iraqi Kurdistan, and she may have built

the tomb for her dynasty.

She is thought to have converted to Judaism and her remains

may well have been buried there.

Whether or not that is the case, the site is also believed

to have been reused over the years.

After de Saulcy’s excavation, the tomb was purchased by the

Pereire brothers, a Jewish banking family in Paris that would later hand the

property over to France.

‘Much too big’

The site is set around 700 meters (yards) from Jerusalem’s

Old City.

Stone stairs lead down to two ritual baths and a courtyard

in front of the tomb itself, with the remains of an ancient frieze above its

entry.

The underground tomb spreads over some 250 square meters,

slightly smaller than a doubles tennis court.

For Humbert, the site’s grandeur and other factors mean it

could not have been built for Helena’s dynasty.

He theorizes it could have been built by Herod Agrippa,

grandson of Herod the Great.

“It is a tomb much too big for her,” he said.

No matter why it was built, it captured visitors’

imaginations before fading from public consciousness.

There are pictures of German Kaiser Wilhelm II visiting in

1898.

For Baruch, the site should be open — and the artifacts at

the Louvre returned.

“In my perspective, it must stay or exist as an

archaeological cultural site, and of course if you want as an individual to go

there and to pray, you can do it,” he said.





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