Page:History of Art in Sardinia, Judæa, Syria and Asia Minor Vol 1.djvu/315

Sepulchral Architecture. 285 is by supposing that they were tunnelled chambers. 1 The passage in Chronicles which records the death of Asa seems to imply some such arrangement ; for we read that " he was buried in his own sepulchre, which he had made for himself in the city of David " (2 Kings xvi. 20). This was probably a chamber added to the general vault ; for it is specified a little further as " the sepulchre of the sons of David" (2 Chron. xxxii. 33). In Manasseh's time the royal vaults were no longer used as places of burial ; for he is described as " having been buried along with his descendants in his sepulchre in the garden of Uzza" (2 Kings xxi. 18, 26). We may conclude, therefore, that the sepulchral memorials had become full to overflowing ; a state of affairs likely to happen where incineration was not customary. 2 On the other hand, it was found more practicable to inaugurate a new necropolis rather than protract excavations further afield into the side of the mountain. The tomb of the Maccabees at Modin seems to be the only specimen which has a chamber built above ground ; 3 all the others, including those of the kings, were rock-hewn. The latter have not yet been discovered ; but of all the unlikely places hitherto proposed, not one is so utterly at variance with biblical evidence as that put forward by De Saulcy. He seems to consider the hypogée north of Jerusalem, known as Kûbûr-es-Molûk, as the ancient memorial of the kings of Judah ; he went so far in his advocacy as to identify two of the sarcophagi which he brought to light as having contained the remains of David and Solomon. Without discussing afresh the late style of their ornamentation (Fig. 159), the mere fact of their having been unearthed so far from Zion or Moriah is sufficient condemnation of his theory. 1 1 Kings ii. 10 ; xi. 43 ; xiv. 31 ; xv. 24 ; xxii. 51. 2 Cremation was not practised among the Jews, nor among the Phoenicians. The passages in Amos vi. 10, and 2 Ckron. xvi. 14, have been supposed to allude to this funereal rite. But the reading of the word mesraf, " burner," on which rests the theory, according to Reuss, is doubtful ; and is more likely to have been figuratively used as forshadowing the punishment that would overtake the wicked Samaritans, whom the prophet depicts as sore pressed by the Chaldees. On the other hand, the chronicler merely bears witness to the immense quantity of spices and aromatic herbs that were consumed around the body to diminish the offensive smell, which, in summer, may well have been unbearable, even to Oriental nostrils. Reuss's translation of the verse reads as follows : " He was interred in the vault which he had hewn for himself in the city of David, after he had been laid or exposed upon a bed filled with perfumes and aromatic herbs, with an exceedingly great fire." 3 Consult Cuerin, Descript. Geog., Hist, and Arch, de la Palestine, torn. i. pp. 47-57, and torn. ii. pp. 55-64.