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‘Atiqot 58 (2008)
ISBN 2948-040X
A Jewish Mausoleum of the Roman Period at Qiryat Shemu’el, Tiberias
(pp. 7*–29*)
Fanny Vitto
Keywords: Galilee, cemetery, burial, glyptics, ethnography
The tomb, constructed from large, roughly dressed basalt stones, consisted of a courtyard, a burial chamber surrounded by two stories of loculi (
kokhim
) and a large subterranean chamber. Part of a basalt-stone door, which originally sealed the tomb opening, was found; it was carved in imitation of a paneled wooden door, and originally swung on hinges, one of which survived in situ. The finds within the tomb included pottery and glass vessels, an iron nail and a limestone ossuary, mostly dating to the end of the first–early second centuries CE; a magical amulet, representing a reaper and incised with a Greek inscription, was found in a heap of debris near the tomb. The
kokhim
and the ossuary point to the Jewish character of the interred, although the overall plan is not typical of Jewish tombs.