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There was a time, many centuries ago, in which Christians went to an old cave located in the Judea Lowlandsnear the village of Eliav, in search of inspiration. Over the years even a Sacred place For Islam. There (the remains of Salome were supposed to be, a biblical figure with echoes in the origins of Christianity. Some versions identified it as the midwife that attended the birth of Jesus. Others as one of his disciples and witness of the crucifixion. It is even said that she was Maria’s little sister.
Now a group of Israeli archaeologists has reached a fascinating conclusion that relies on vestiges located years ago In the cave: I probably Salome that rested in his day in the crypt was neither the midwife nor disciple of Jesus, but an opulent and powerful aristocrat related to Herod.
In a place of Judea … The Salomé cave is a wide sepulcher located in Sefeláthe lowlands of Judea, with an exceptional archaeological value. In fact there are those who consider it one of the funeral caves “More impressive” discovered in Israel and “More elaborate” of his time, the known as period of the Second templewhich extended between the centuries VI AC and I DC Specifically, experts believe that the crypt built between the I AC and I DC
The cave itself is no novelty. The archaeologists excavated it decades ago, in the mid -80s, after they were located. Throughout the last years, however, they have expanded our knowledge about the grave. By 2022 A group of experts from Israel Antiquies Authority (IAA) made an excavation in part of the enclosure that revealed new data on its architecture and history. He also confirmed that for several centuries that remote Cave of Sefelá was used as a veneration space.
And how is it? Wide. Elaborate. And fascinating. The archaeological set includes a lobby, a large patio surrounded by silry stone walls and a funeral cave with several cameras in which they were preserved Kokhimfuneral niches excavated in the rock, in addition to ossuaries. Although archaeologists studied the thorough crypt in the 80s, a few years ago they wanted to go further, analyzing in depth The 350 m2 courtyard and cleaning the inside of the cave.
“The patio turned out to be one of the most elaborate of its kind compared to other cemeteries of the same period,” he says An article Posted by the IAA. Among other things, experts met stones with Jewish motifs and “delicate plant designs,” such as rosettes, grenades and acanthus vases. Nothing to do with most access courtyards to funeral caves found by archaeologists, who are usually excavated, not raised with masonry.
Cave … and pilgrimage place. If the grave is so relevant, it is not only because of its size, architectural characteristics or decoration. There is another equal or even more relevant factor. For a while the cave was a pilgrimage place. During their excavations of 2022 and 2023 in the front courtyard, archaeologists discovered a row of positions in which clay lamps were sold and rented. “We find hundreds, complete and broken, dating from the eighth centuries and IX DC”, They explain Nir Shimshon-Paran and Zvi-Fire, directors of the excavation.
“The lamps may have served to illuminate the cave or as part of religious ceremonies, similar to the candles that are distributed today in the tombs and churches,” They add. In the cave, Greek, Syriac and Arab inscriptions, recorded crosses and indications that reveal that the funeral space remained in use during the Byzantine and Islamic periods were also located.
“The excavations show that, in the Byzantine period, the site had become a place of Christian pilgrimage,” experts say, which tells us about a wide period of worship that covers from the 5th century to the IX DC DC
The cave of Salome. The question was obvious … Who belonged to the funeral cave? Who rested in his day in the crypt? And why the archaeologists found crosses and dozens of inscriptions recorded directly on the rocks of the walls? The answer is both simple and complex: the Sefelá cave was the resting place of ‘Salomé’. Among the inscriptions in different languages, archaeologists identified several in Greek that mention that same name, ‘Salomé’, supposedly a religious figure relevant to Christians.
In An article Published this year on the sepulcher, IAA experts remember that, in the 1090s, the scholars that analyzed the inscriptions have already concluded that the first monks who arrived in the cave in the Byzantine period discovered an ossary with the inscription ‘Salomé’, a relatively frequent name in the Judea of the beginning of the beginning of Christianity.
“During the second temple period it was not common Explain Paran to The Times of Israel. “It is possible that the cave contained an ossuary with the name of Salome, although we did not find it. It could have been looted.”
So … who was the famous Salome?
The midwife of Jesus? A tradition attributes that name to a figure that appears in it Protoevangelio de Santiagoapocryphal text in which a Salomé is cited as a midwife that doubted the virginity of Mary. The story tells that his disbelief earned him a punishment that ended up turning it into a symbol.
“According to the Christian tradition, Salome was the midwife of Bethlehem who was called to attend the birth of Jesus. He could not believe that they asked him to participate in the birth of a virgin and his hand dried. He only healed when he held the baby’s crib,” Remember From the IAA. Other versions They place Salome as a disciple of Jesus, Mary’s sister or has even confused her with the mother of Santiago and Juan.
“The cult of Salomé, sanctified by Christianity, belongs to a broader phenomenon: the Christian pilgrims of the 5th century found and sanctified Jewish places. The name Salome could have appeared in ancient times in one of the alter’s already disappeared from the tomb and thus the tradition that identified the place with Salomé, the midwife, and the cave began. Christianity “, comment Nir Shimshon-Paran and Zvi-Fire.
A “suspicious” luxury. The reality is that I salome (Shalom either Shlomit) It was a fairly common Jewish name at the time and also closely associated with the Asmoneas and Herodian families, so in reality the cave could have been the resting place of another woman, not the supposed partner or disciple of Jesus.
In fact, three years ago, after checking the luxurious decoration and elaborate architecture of the cave, the IAA He already slid that this could have been the tomb of a powerful person, connected with a “prominent” saga of the ancient Judea. “The tomb attests that its owners belonged to a high -ranking family in the Judea Sefelá during the second temple period.”
Who was Salome then? Now the Israeli agency goes further in a broad article Posted in the magazine Atiqot in which they stop and lifshits are ‘wet’ with a much more concrete response: before the scale, majesty and location of the cave, both experts slide that the grave was related to the highest layer of the society of the second temple period: the royal family.
“In our opinion, accumulated data point to Herod’s family as owner of the cave,” archaeologists slide. His theory does not remain there and identify what, in his opinion, she is the “most likely candidate” to occupy the place of the mysterious Salome: the sister of Herod the Great.
“Since Herod and his family had an edomite ancestry and that the region where the cave is located was known at that time, it is plausible that the royal family had links in this area,” collect in your article. “While there is no documented evidence that Salomé, Herod’s sister, had properties in the vicinity of this cemetery, ethnic connection and family ties with the region suggest the possibility that one of the largest cemeteries of the period was a resting place of a member of the royal family.”
Of midocrat. The theory of Paran and Lifshits is just that, a theory, but if it were correct, it would give a radical turn to the Judea cave: to consider the sepulcher of the midwife or a disciple of Jesus would become the crypt of The Herodian dynasty. An irony if one takes into account that Herod I the Great is also associated with the origins of Christianity, but in a very different way: history attributes the killing of the Holy Innocents. Even if it were correct, there would be the doubt of who exactly was Salome. It could be the monarch’s sister, but also of her daughter with Elpis, who is little known.
Images | IAA (YouTube) and Wikipedia
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