Tombs of the Sanhedrin
About
Wealthy Jewish families of the Second Temple period cut roughly 1,000 burial caves into a hillside north of Jerusalem's walls. Its most elaborate single chamber held 63 rock-cut burial niches, a number close to the seventy-one seats of the Great Sanhedrin that later gave the necropolis its name. Triangular pediments and carved acroteria dressed up entrances leading to plain, cool chambers below.
What happened here
The dead are outside the walls because the law requires it, so the approach to every town is lined with them. Tombs face the road in rows, grand ones in front and simpler markers behind, all of them addressed to the passer-by. Burial clubs let ordinary people and slaves pay a monthly subscription for a place in a communal vault and a decent funeral; the alternative is a pit. Families come out on anniversaries and at the February festival, eat at the graveside, and pour wine into a pipe set into the ground. Undertakers, stonecutters and letter-cutters work nearby and compete on price. Ground is bought by the foot, and the frontage on the road costs the most.
Sources
Nearby
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