The large number of burial sites and tombs in Jerusalem dating from the Second Temple period (second century BCE – first century CE) have been the subject of intensive and continuing investigation. Hundreds of tombs, elaborate and simple, were hewn into the slopes of the hills surrounding the city, mainly on the Mount of Olives and Mount Scopus.

A cluster of tombs built into the rock on the foothills of Mount of Olives, the resting place of the family of Bnei-Hezir. This cluster is adjacent to the tomb of Zechariah in the Kidron valley and facing the Temple Mount. It is cut into the rock and made entirely from the rock. The tomb is dated to the beginning of the 1st C BC, during the Hasmonean period. In the entrance to the tomb is an inscription which lists members of the Hezir Kohanim family as those buried in the tomb. This inscription, written in ancient Hebrew letters, was found in 1865. In the front of the tomb are two columns. Behind them is the inscription. Inside is a corridor that leads to a cluster of 3 halls and additional rooms. There are also steps that connect to the tomb of Zechariah.

[Nehemiah 9: 38 ; 10: 21]: Nehemiah was a servant in the court of the Persian King Artaxerxes. At about 445BC he visited the returnees in Israel to find out on their situation in the Holy Land. After several months he was asked by the King to remain in Jerusalem. He then helped the population and improved their economic and social situation. This text lists those who signed the “contract” arranged by Nehemiah between the people and G-d, including the Hezir clan. And because of all this we make a sure covenant, and write it; and our princes, Levites, and priests, seal unto it….Magpiash, Meshullam, Hezir.”

This text lists the 24 Kohanim families who served the temple and later where spread throughout Israel: “The seventeenth to Hezir, the eighteenth to Aphses. These were the orderings of them in their service to come into the house of the Lord, according to their manner, under Aaron their father, as the Lord G-d of Israel had commanded him”.

According to tradition when King Azariah became a leper he lived in the Bnei-Hezir tomb cluster, which in Hebrew it reads “Beit-Hahofshit” (house of the free, or separated). Until he died in the 8th C BC, his son was the acting King during his illness. Thus it is called Beit-Hahofshit [2 Kings 15: 1-6], “the free place” since the King was free of the burden of being a King. It is located between the tombs Absalom and Zechariah.

The burial caves were in continuous use for several generations by members of the same family. Simple tombs have a narrow opening, sealed with a square stone. Several dozen particularly large tombs have splendid facades, decorated with columns topped by gables with floral motifs. In primary burial, bodies were placed in niches (kuhim) or on benches (arcosolia) cut into the walls of the burial chambers. The most typical feature of the Jewish tombs of that period are the stone chests with lids (ossuaries). Thousands of these have been found in Jerusalem, some decorated and bearing inscriptions. They attest to the prevalent practice of collecting the bones of the deceased for secondary burial, a custom based on the Jewish belief in the resurrection of the dead. Following are descriptions of some of the more important tombs.

There are three famous tombs in the Kidron Valley:

Yad Avshalom (monument to Absalom, traditionally ascribed to the rebellious son of King David, is the most complete funerary monument dating to the Second Temple period. The 20 m.- high monument is composed of a lower rock-cut square structure containing a small burial chamber. Its four outer sides are decorated with Ionic columns supporting a Doric frieze. The upper part of the monument is round and built of stones supporting a concave conical roof. The monument was probably intended to serve as nefesh (memorial) for the adjacent cave of Jehoshaphat (King of Judah, for whom this part of the Kidron Valley is named); it contains eight burial chambers and has an elaborate facade decorated with a relief of vine leaves and bunches of grapes.

The Tomb of Zechariah (by tradition the Prophet Zechariah or, by another tradition, the father of John the Baptist) is a monolithic monument cut from the surrounding rock. It is a square structure of 5 x 5 m., decorated with Ionic columns and crowned by a pyramid. It probably served as nefesh for the tomb below it.

The Tomb of Benei Hezir is characterized by its free-standing facade with two Doric columns, all cut into the rock. It has a long Hebrew inscription carved on the architrave above the columns, identifying it as the tomb and nefesh of several members of the Hezir family who had served as priests in the Temple and were buried in the rock-hewn tomb below. The name appears in the Priestly Roster of the First Temple: …the seventeenth to Hezir (1 Chronicles 24:15) and again among the priests serving in the Second Temple. (Nehemiah 10:20)

The Tombs of the Sanhedrin are located northwest of the Old City, in the neighborhood still called Sanhedria. Above the entrance is a gable with fruit among stylized acanthus leaves. The large burial cave contains several dozen burial niches, roughly the number of the members of the Sanhedrin (120), from which the tombs’ popular name derives.

The Funerary Inscription of King Uzziah was found in the collection of the Russian Convent on the Mount of Olives, but there is no record of the place from which it was removed. The Aramaic inscription is incised on a stone tablet (35 x 34 cm.) and the style of the script dates it to the latter part of the Second Temple period. It tells of the reburial of the remains of Uzziah, King of Judah (769 – 733 BCE):

Hither were brought the bones of Uzziah King of Judah and do not open The Bible recounts King Uzziah’s deeds and conquests and also describes his burial: Uzziah rested with his fathers in the burial field of the kings, because, they said, he is a leper. (2 Chronicles 26:3)

King Uzziah was obviously not buried in the royal tombs within the City of David. Josephus wrote (Antiquities of the Jews 9:10,4) that “he was buried alone in his garden”. The necessity to remove the bones of Uzziah from their original burial place was probably connected with the expansion of the city during Herod’s reign.

Tomb of Zechariah

This grand monument is built into the rock on the lower western foothills of Mount of Olives facing the old city of Jerusalem, on the eastern side of Kidron valley. This entire area is a large cemetery with thousands of tombs. Zechariah was the son of Jehoiada the priest, who lived in the 9th C BC during the period of the first temple. He was a priest and a prophet who delivered G-d’s message against the deviation from the Lord’s commandments. [2 Chronicles 24:20] tells us that he was stoned to death, in the temple by the orders of King Yoash (King of Judah, son of Ahaziah). “And the Spirit of G-d came upon Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest, which stood above the people, and said unto them, Thus saith G-d, Why transgress ye the commandments of the Lord, that ye cannot prosper? because ye have forsaken the Lord, he hath also forsaken you. And they conspired against him, and stoned him with stones at the commandment of the king in the court of the house of the Lord. Thus Joash the king remembered not the kindness which Jehoiada his father had done to him, but slew his son. And when he died, he said, The Lord look upon it, and require it.” According to Jewish tradition, the grand tomb is where he was buried.

The tomb is dated to the beginning of the 1st C BC, during the Hasmonean period. In the entrance to the tomb is an inscription which lists members of the Bnei-Hezir [Kohanim] family as those buried in the tomb. This inscription, written in ancient Hebrew letters, was found in 1865. The entire tomb is cut into the natural rock and is indeed a remarkable memorial. It is composed of a base with external stairs, a middle part in the shape of a cube with half columns, and a rectangular pyramid top. On the bottom of the front of the tomb is a hole, and stairs lead to an inner chamber. This hole was revealed by the Jordanians while clearing the area. On the right side is the Tomb of Zechariah, and to its left is the cluster of tombs known as the tombs of Bnei-Hezir. There are side steps that lead from the tomb into Bnei-Hezir tomb.

Bnei Hezir Tombs

Photo Caption: Below is a view of the area of the  tomb, in the bottom of the large Jewish cemetery on the lower foothills of Mount of Olives. On the right side is the Tomb of Zechariah, and to its left is the cluster of tombs known as the tombs of Bnei-Hezir. At the bottom of the tombs is the Kidron valley and the large Jewish cemetery on the lower foothills of Mount of Olives.

Photo Caption: Bnei- Hezir Tombs; A cluster of tombs built into the rock on the foothills pf the Mount of Olives, is the resting place of the Kohanim family of Bnei- Hezir. Nehemiah 9:38; 10:21, “and because of all this we make a sure covenant and write it; and our princes, Levites, and priests, seal unto it….Magpiash. Meshullam, Hezir

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