entrance. Such circular stones, not frequently found, might weigh as much as a ton or more.—Matt. 27:60; Mark 16:3, 4.

Simplicity marks the earlier Jewish burial places. They thus contrasted greatly with the pagan tombs, which often had paintings on the walls and other ornamentation. The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge (Vol. II, p. 308) comments: “Wherever in Jewish tombs rich ornamentation is found, foreign influence (generally Greek) is recognized . . . the stern opposition . . . to ancestor-worship discouraged adornment of burial-places, which thus differed widely from Egyptian and Phenician tombs. This and the lack of inscriptions make it difficult to determine the date of Jewish graves.” Although Jacob erected a pillar over Rachel’s grave, perhaps a single stone (Gen. 35:20), this seems to have simply been a marker, not a monument. (1 Sam. 10:2) A “gravestone” is also mentioned at 2 Kings 23:17 as marking a burial spot. Jesus referred to tombs “not in evidence, so that men walk upon them and do not know it.” (Luke 11:44) Due to the ceremonial defilement associated with the dead, burial places of the Jewish people were frequently whitewashed, thereby advising the passersby of their presence. (Matt. 23:27) This whitewashing is said to have been done annually following the latter rains, prior to the Passover.

Following the death of an individual, the body was generally washed (Acts 9:37) and anointed with aromatic oils and ointments, which, if considered a type of embalming, was not the kind done by the ancient Egyptians. (Mark 14:3-8; John 12:3, 7) The body was then wrapped in cloth, generally linen. (Matt. 27:59; John 11:44) Spices such as myrrh and aloes were customarily included in with such bandages (John 19:39, 40), or the body might be laid in oil and ointment as was done with King Asa’s body. (2 Chron. 16:14) The great “funeral burning” mentioned in this latter case was evidently a burning of such spices, giving off an aromatic incense. The head might be covered by a separate cloth.—John 20:7.

The women who went to Jesus’ tomb on the third day to grease his body with spices may have done so due to the hurried circumstances under which Jesus was buried and hence with the purpose of doing a more complete work as a means of preserving the body for a longer period or simply because of the fragrance thus produced.—Mark 16:1; Luke 23:55, 56.

The body was likely carried to the burial site on a bier or funeral litter, perhaps made of wickerwork, and a considerable procession might accompany it, perhaps including musicians playing mournful music. (Luke 7:12-14; Matt. 9:23) Amid weeping, some expression concerning the deceased might be spoken at the gravesite.—2 Sam. 3:31-34; 2 Chron. 35:23-25.

In course of time cemeteries came into existence as the number of dead multiplied. These were customarily outside the city walls. But Judean kings were buried in the “city of David” and those of Israel were buried in the capital city of the northern kingdom. (1 Sam. 25:1; 1 Ki. 22:37; 2 Chron. 9:31; 24:15, 16; see BURIAL PLACES OF THE KINGS, OR, OF DAVID.) J. G. Duncan in the book Digging Up Biblical History (1931, Vol. II, p. 186) writes: “As a rule the Hebrews, though they sometimes buried within the city walls, excavated their rock-tombs on a hill-slope near to their city. The presence of rock-tombs on one hill-slope is often a sure indication that the hill opposite or near had had a settlement on it, and, on the other hand, the absence of any indication of burials near a site is a sure proof that the site had not been occupied.” The cliffs surrounding Jerusalem abound with burial places. (Compare Isaiah 22:16.) The reference to the ”graveyard of the sons of the people” (“burial place of the common people,” RS) in the valley of Kidron is believed to refer to a graveyard for the poorer class. (Jer. 26:23; 2 Ki. 23:6) Mention is also made of “the potter’s field” for the burial of strangers.—Matt. 27:7; see AKELDAMA.

Cremation, widely practiced by the later Babylonians, Greeks and Romans, was rare among the Jews. The corpses of Saul and his sons were burned, the bones, however, remaining.—1 Sam. 31:8-13; note also Amos 6:9, 10.

The ancient pyramids of Egypt were huge burial places for royal personages. The Great Pyramid covers an area of some thirteen acres (5.3 hectares) and is composed of 2,300,000 blocks of stone, each block weighing about two and a half tons (2.3 metric tons) on the average. The Egyptian belief in immortality of the soul was the prime reason for mummification, and they also made elaborate provisions of food, furniture and equipment for use by the deceased royalty in the “afterlife.”

Also notable as burial places were the catacombs of Rome, used for both Jewish and Christian burials. The catacombs consisted of a network of subterranean passages with burial niches excavated in the walls of the passages. While the greater part of Rome remains unexcavated, it is believed that there are over five hundred miles (805 kilometers) of such passages or galleries, containing as many as two million graves. During times of intense persecution these Roman catacombs served as meeting places for the Christians.

In the Hebrew Scriptures the words qeʹver and q^evu·rahʹ are used to refer to burial places and are distinct in meaning from the Hebrew sh^eʼohlʹ, which refers, not to an individual grave or graves but to the common grave of all mankind, gravedom. Likewise, in the Christian Greek Scriptures the Greek word taʹphos, the common word for burial place or grave, and the words mneʹma and mne·meiʹon, meaning “tomb” and “memorial tomb,” are distinct from the word haiʹdes, the Greek equivalent of sh^eʼohlʹ.—See HADES; MEMORIAL TOMB; SHEOL.

BURIAL PLACES OF THE KINGS, OR, OF DAVID

Peter on Pentecost stated: “David . . . both deceased and was buried and his tomb is among us to this day.” (Acts 2:29) This indicates that the burial place of King David was still in existence as of the year 33 C.E.

1 Kings 2:10 tells us that David was buried in “the city of David,” and apparently this became the customary burial place of later kings of Judah. Twelve of the twenty kings following David are directly mentioned as being buried in the city of David, though not all of these were placed in “the burial places of the kings”; Jehoram, Joash (Jehoash), and Ahaz being specifically mentioned as not buried there. (2 Chron. 21:16, 20; 24:24, 25; 28:27) Rather than being one common tomb of many chambers, the “burial places of the kings” may have constituted a particular area within the city of David where the memorial tombs of the kings were located. King Asa was buried in a “grand burial place that he had excavated for himself in the city of David” (2 Chron. 16:14), and Hezekiah is spoken of as being buried “in the ascent to the burial places of the sons of David.” (2 Chron. 32:33) Leprous King Uzziah was buried “with his forefathers, but in the burial field that belonged to the kings, for they said: ‘He is a leper.’” This would seem to indicate the placement of his diseased body in the ground rather than in a rock-hewn tomb.—2 Chron. 26:23.

Of the other kings of Judah, Manasseh and Amon were evidently buried in a different location, in “the garden of Uzza.” (2 Ki. 21:18, 23, 26) The statement that Amon’s son, faithful King Josiah, was buried in “the graveyard of his forefathers” may refer either to the royal tombs in the city of David or to the burial places of Manasseh and Amon. (2 Chron. 35:23, 24) Three kings died in exile: Jehoahaz (in Egypt), Jehoiachin and Zedekiah (probably in Babylon). (2 Ki. 23:34; 25:7, 27-30) Jehoiakim received the “burial of a he-ass,” “thrown out to the heat by day and to the frost by night” in fulfillment of Jeremiah’s prophecy.—Jer. 22:18, 19; 36:30.

Righteous High Priest Jehoiada was accorded the