24 Items
Entrance to the Tomb of the Three Brothers
The Tomb of the Three Brothers is a well-known frescoed hypogeum to the south of the Valley of the Tombs. The entrance has an extensive Palmyrene inscription over the door detailing the names of those interred inside.
Type: Inscription
Tags: Archaeology, Architecture, Fresco, Hypogeum, Inscription, Palmyra, Palmyrene, Sculpture, Syria, Syrian Civil War, Tadmor, Tomb, Tomb of the Three Brothers
Palmyra Valley of the Tombs
These pictures show some of the tomb towers that populate the 'Valley of the Tombs' the most famous necropolis associated with Palmyra and located south of the ancient city.
Type: Architecture
Tags: Archaeology, Architecture, Palmyra, Syria, Syrian Civil War, Tadmor, Tomb, Tomb Tower, Valley of the Tombs
View of the Valley of the Tombs from Qalat Ibn Maan
These photographs show the valley dotted with tomb towers south of the ruins of Palmyra. The pictures were taken from the hill on which the castle stands.
Type: Archaeological Site
Tags: Archaeology, Architecture, Palmyra, Syria, Syrian Civil War, Tadmor, Tomb, Tomb Tower
The ancient monastic cemetery of Deir Mar Musa 
The ancient monastic cemetery of Deir Mar Musa is located in the wadi west of the monastery. It was mentioned by Sir Richard Burton in the C19th and had been comprehensively looted by the latter part of the C20th.
Type: Landscape
Tags: An Nabk, Cave, Deir Mar Musa, Grave, Landscape, Mar Musa al-Habashi, Monastery, Syria, Tomb
Defile north of Maaloula that was used for early Christian burials
The narrow rock defile north of Maaloula is called by the local inhabitants the siq and (not entirely seriously) compared with the defile at Petra in Jordan. This part of the town and the high ground above and around the town was used for Roman and Late Antique burials.
Type: Landscape
Tags: Grave, Landscape, Maaloula, Qalamoun, Siq, Syria, Tomb
Sarcophagus of Mar Elian 
The Byzantine sarcophagus believed to hold the remains of Mar Elian (St. Julian) and is covered with pilgrimage graffiti believed to date back to at least the C9th. The form of the sarcophagus is late antique and dates from the C5th-C8th. These images show the tomb before it was cleaned by excavators and damage to the grave, reputedly caused by villagers in the 1920s, is clearly visible. It also shows the sarcophagus before its coverings were removed with the votive offerings placed at the shrine by the faithful and the green satin covering given by local Muslims denoting the tomb of a holy man in their tradition.
Type: Sculpture
Tags: Archaeology, Church, Dayr Mar Elian, Dayr Mar Elian Archaeological Project, Mar Elian, Mar Elian esh-Sharqi, Monastery, Qaryatayn, Sarcophagus, Shrine, Syria, Syriac, Syriac Inscription, Tomb
The Cave of the Seven Sleepers, Ephesus
Associated with the legend of the "Seven Sleepers" where seven Christian men miraculously slept for 200 years in a cave thereby avoiding persecution. Seen as a miracle of God the men were revered and when they died they were buried here and a church was erected above. Many graves are to be found at the site likely as so many wanted to buried near to the miracle men. The excavations here concluded that the Church and the graves appeared to be from the 5th and 6th centuries.
Type: Architecture
Tags: Church, Ephesus, Late Antique, Tomb, Turkey
Cyrrhus
The city of Cyrrhus lies to the north of the Limestone Massif near the contemporary Syrian-Turkish border. Today it is known locally as Nebi Uri as a late antique tomb on the site is believed by the local population to be the tomb of the Old Testament prophet Uriah. Apart from the tomb, the most notable remains still extant are the Roman bridge and amphitheatre - there is little clear evidence above ground of the Christian city that played a significant role in the C5th church councils thanks to the participation of Theodoret, Bishop of Cyrrhus.
Type: Architecture
Tags: Architecture, Bridge, Cyrrhus, Late Antique, Nebi Uri, Roman, Syria, Theatre, Theodoret, Tomb, Uriah
Inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem
Early sources reveal that Constantine’s church of the Holy Sepulchre was sumptuously decorated with fine marbled panels, columns and a coffered ceiling. A cross was set up on the rock of Golgotha to commemorate the exact site of the Crucifixion and was replaced over the following centuries with one decorated with gems, a golden cross and a simple wooden one in the seventh century. Christ’s tomb was in two parts: the first a porch that contained part of the stone that formed the door to the tomb and the second the tomb itself. It had a roof of silver and gold, outer walls made of marble and it was topped with a cross.
The modern church has been significantly modified and little of the Late Antique fabric has survived as much of it was rebuilt in the nineteenth and twentieth century following a fire and an earthquake that caused much damage.
Type: Architecture
Tags: Architecture, C12th, C19th-C20th, C2nd, C4th, Christ, Christian, Church, Constantine, Cross, Crucifixion, Crusades, Domed Basilica, Golgotha, Holy Sepulchre, Holy Site, Israel, Jerusalem, Joseph of Arimathea, Mosaic, Pilgrimage, Resurrection, St. Helena, Tomb
The external architecture of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem
The first church of the Holy Sepulchre built by the Emperor Constantine was dedicated in the year 328 AD. It was accessed off one of Jerusalem’s main thoroughfares, the Cardo. The entrance led to a narthex, the basilica, an atrium and culminated with the Anastasis (or Resurrection) Rotunda that surrounded the much smaller edifice of Christ’s Tomb. Unfortunately, very little of this church now remains. The Late Antique foundations exist below ground level of the current church and are cut off from public view. Throughout its history, the church has undergone many remodelling and rebuilding programmes, much of which was caused by its turbulent history during the Persian invasion in the seventh century and the Muslim conquest of the city in the eleventh century. Much of the visible external architecture dates to the Crusader period.
Type: Architecture
Tags: Architecture, C12th, C19th-C20th, C2nd, C4th, Christ, Christian, Church, Constantine, Crucifixion, Crusades, Domed Basilica, Golgotha, Holy Sepulchre, Holy Site, Israel, Jerusalem, Pilgrimage, Resurrection, St. Helena, Tomb