Herod's Family Tomb
About
Five cross-shaped chambers cut from precisely dressed Herodian ashlar masonry held the burials of King Herod's relatives, including two carved sarcophagi still found in place inside. Tradition names Herod's wife Mariamne among those interred here, distinct from Herod's own burial place at Herodium far to the south. It had held its Herodian-era dead for well over a century by the time Trajan died in 117 CE.
What happened here
Roman burial is a family matter conducted in public. The dead are carried out of town, cremated or laid in the ground, and mourned with formal noise; the funeral of anyone important is a procession with masks of the ancestors carried by hired men. The tomb that follows is designed to be read by strangers on the road: name, age, offices, sometimes a trade shown in relief, often a line addressed directly to the passer-by. Ordinary people appear here as they nowhere else — a baker with his ovens carved on the front, a freedman naming the woman he could finally marry, a child's age given in days. Anniversaries bring the family back with food and wine.
Sources
Nearby
Roman Maps shows the empire frozen at 11 August 117 CE, the day Trajan died — its moment of greatest territorial extent. Explore the full map →