Image Details

Private Collection, Archives Charmet/Bridgeman Art Library

One of the seven wonders of the ancient world, the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus was the inspiration for the grand Hellenistic tomb erected by Simon Maccabee, younger brother of Judah Maccabee, for the family tomb and victory memorial he erected in Modiin, the family’s home town. The Modiin tomb, in turn, helped spread Hellenistic styles to Jersualem tombs in the Hasmonean Period, the era of Maccabee-family rule (152-37 B.C.E.). Neither the Mausoleum nor the tomb of the Maccabees survive, but other examples, such as Jason’s Tomb in central modern Jerusalem and the tomb of Zacharias from the necropolis in the Kidron Valley preserve Hellenistic architectural elements.