Who Built the Tomb of the Kings?

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Since its discovery, most scholars have argued that Jerusalem’s Tomb of the Kings belonged to Queen Helena of Adiabene. But was she the original commissioner of the tomb? Our author presents new archaeological clues that suggest the ownership history of this impressive monument is far more complex than originally thought.

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Footnotes

1. For the possible discovery of Helena’s palace, see R. Steven Notley and Jeffrey P. García, “Queen Helena’s Jerusalem Palace—In a Parking Lot?” BAR, May/June 2014.

2. Hershel Shanks, “The Jerusalem Wall That Shouldn’t Be There,” BAR, May/June 1987.

3. See “Sarcophagi from the “Tomb’ of the Kings,’ ” sidebar to “Queen Helen’s Jerusalem Palace—In a Parking Lot?” BAR, May/June 2014.

Endnotes

1.
Félix de Saulcy and Evelyn Hofer, F. De Saulcy et la Terre Sainte (Paris: Ed. de la Réunion des musées nationaux, 1982), p. 379.

2.
I interviewed Humbert in Jerusalem in December 2018; he also gave a short talk on his theory that same year in Paris.

3.
Lee I. Levine, “Yiśra’el,” in Lee I. Levine, ed., The Galilee in Late Antiquity (New York: Jewish Theological Seminary of America, 1992), p. 362.