Valley of the Dead. ―― Tombs of the Judges. ―― Of El-Messahney. ―― Of the Kings. ―― Valley of the Kidron. ―― Pillar of Absalom. ―― Traditional Tombs. ―― Jews’ Cemetery. ―― Funeral Procession. ―― Mount of Offense. ―― Virgin’s Fountain. ―― Gardens of Siloam. ―― Bridal Party. ―― Pool of Siloam. ―― Of En-Rogel. ―― Vale of Hinnom. ―― Burning of Children. ―― Valley of Slaughter. ―― Potters’ Field. ―― Solomon’s Coronation. ―― Pools of Gihon. ―― Pool of Hezekiah. ―― Supply of Water.
FROM time immemorial, nations have interred their dead with extraordinary care. Along the dividing line separating the Libyan Desert from the fertile plains of the Nile, the Egyptians constructed tombs of marble and porphyry, and reared the stupendous pyramids of Ghizeh, Abooseer, and Sakkara, for mausoleums for their renowned kings. Beside their noblest highways the Greeks and Romans placed the sepulchres and funeral pillars of their distinguished citizens. And the Christian cemeteries of our own day are as remarkable for the grandeur of their cenotaphs as for the beauty of their situation. Not less sensibly affected by a passion so tender, the Jews prepared the final resting-place of their beloved dead with sincere affection. With them it became a religious pride to beautify the sepulchres of their ancestors, and carefully preserve them from age to age. Though like other nations in these particulars, it is a fact no less singular than true that not a line has ever been found on or in any of the ancient tombs in Palestine;[132] hence their identification is now, as it ever has been, by tradition rather than by inscription and epitaph. It is not therefore strange that, with few exceptions, the sepulchres of kings and prophets are either entirely unknown, or are identified by mere conjecture. Like other works of art, Jewish tombs advanced from a crude beginning to a state of artistic elegance. Originally they were natural excavations in the rocks, as is the Cave of Machpelah;[133] but in the advancement of national refinement they were adorned with all that art could invent and wealth procure,[134] as are the Sepulchres of the Kings. With slight variation in the details, there is a similarity of construction in those of the latter class.