Palestine Exploration Fund - Quarterly Statement for 1894/Buildings and Tombs

by Palestine Exploration Fund

 

XII.—Buildings and Tombs.

In this connection a few words must be said as to the Jewish cubit; for the Talmud gives us the only information on the subject, as annotated by Maimonides. There is no evidence that the Egyptian cubit was ever used by the Jews, and all attempts to deduce a measurement from tombs I have found, after measuring several hundreds of all ages, and in all parts of the country, to fail utterly, on account of the irregularity of their dimensions and the absence of right angles. From measurements of the Siloam tunnel, which is stated to have been 1,200 cubits long, we should obtain a cubit of about 17 inches; but in the times of which we now treat there was a cubit for measuring buildings of 48 barleycorns or 16 inches (three grains of Palestine barley measuring exactly one inch as found by repeated experiment), and a smaller cubit of 15 inches for vessels (Kelim, xvii, 9).

The measurements of the Temple stones, and the breadth of the pilasters which I found in the north-western corner of the Haram, together with their distance apart, and the measurements of the Galilean synagogues, all agree with the view that from the time of Christ to the second century A.D. the Jewish building cubit was 16 inches. Measurements in any other unit will, I believe, only apply to Greek or Byzantine work, and not to buildings which are certainly of Jewish origin. The measurement of the contents of eggs, as compared with the Jewish cubic measure, leads to the same result {see "Conder's Handbook to Bible," p. 57). The measurements of carefully-cut masonry and of well-built structures are evidently more reliable than those of irregularly hewn tombs. The Mishnah (Baba Bathra, vi, 8) gives model dimensions for tombs, and these I tried to apply in Palestine to the innumerable tombs which I measured, but after keeping a register for several years I found that no result could be obtained; whereas the Temple masonry and the synagogues gave a definite unit, which agreed with the statements of the Mishnah and of Maimonides.

Among the building materials noticed in the Mishnah we find wood and stone; there is also reference to chalk, gypsum, pitch, clay, and bitumen (Kelim, x, 2). The full account of the Temple which is our best guide in study of the subject (Middoth) need not here be mentioned, but it should be noticed that it had two veils woven annually by women (Shekalim, viii, 4)^[1] Private houses had fiat roofs on which booths were erected in summer, as is still the practice in Galilee (Shebiith, iii, 7), and some houses had porches (Oheloth, vi, 2), they probably contained little furniture beyond beds and mats. Two kind of beds are noticed (Nedarim, vii, 5) and a folding table. The shops and inns are also frequently mentioned, as well as tanneries, and the glassmakers' manufactories. The purity of the oven was important legally.^[2] The roofs were of cement (Moed Katon, i, 10), and rolled with rollers, as is still usual. Hollows under buildings (Oheloth, iii, 7) prevented contamination by some corpse in a "tomb of the depth," or ancient unknown sepulchre below.

What the synagogues were like we know from remains of those built in the second century as described more fully in "Syrian Stone Lore." They contained arks for the rolls of the law (Taanith, ii, 1; Nedarim, iv, 1), and the Jews were occasionally obliged to sell a synagogue (Megillah, iii, 2) stipulating that it should not be used for disgraceful purposes. The word for synagogue (כנסיה) is that now used for a "church" in Palestine. The synagogue liturgy is noticed (Taanith, iv, 3) on the days of fast.

The fear of impurity from the dead was a most important social feature; but the hair, nails, and bones did not defile (Oheloth, iii, 3), and, consequently, the bones of a father or a mother might be gathered (Moed Katon, i, 5) and transported.^[3] This accounts for the Jewish bone-boxes found on Olivet; and Benjamin, of Tudela, notices such boxes at Hebron in the twelfth century. The cemetery or "house of tombs" (Taharoth, iii, 7) must be placed at least 40 cubits outside a city, and it would seem that lilies were here grown, as they are still planted (the purple iris) in Moslem cemeteries (Baba Bathra, ii, 9; Parah, iii. 2). The only tombs known inside Jerusalem were those of the Kings (Tosiphta Baba Bathra, i) and of the prophetess Huldah, which may, I believe, be recognised in the so-called "Tomb of Nicodemus" in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, while the Sepulchre itself may he conjectured to be that called of Huldah in the Mishnah. The tombs of the first and second centuries at Jerusalem, which are certainly Jewish, are all at some distance from the walls. The sepulchres were whitewashed once a year in March (Shekalim, i, 1); the form of the tomb depended on the rock in which it was cut (Baba Bathra, vi, 8), but two models are suggested in this passage. The first was a chamber four cubits broad, by six from the door to the back, having three kokin (כוכין) oil each side and two at the back. The second was six cubits by eight having a court in front, measuring six cubits by six. It had 13 kokin, four each side, three at the back, and one each side of the door. Malefactors were buried in two pits near the "House of Stoning" (Sanhedrin, vi, 5).

1. The Jews believed that the Ark was hidden under the Temple court by the chamber of wood logs (Shekalim, vi, 1; Middoth, ii, 5), on the north-east side of the court of the women.
2. Various kinds of ovens are noticed (Menakhoth, v, 9), including the cuphah (כופה), or baking vessel; with (רעפים) hot stones placed in an oven; and the Arab oven (יורדת הערביים)) a hole in the ground lined with mud.
3. Palms were carried by women at funerals (Moed Katon, ii, 8), and the palm was a funeral emblem of the Early Christians in Palestine and at Rome. Palms are still carried before the bier at Moslem funerals in Palestine.