BIBLE HISTORY DAILY

Pilgrimage Pit Stop

Who used the ritual baths at Jerusalem’s Tomb of the Kings?

Despite its modern name, the Tomb of the Kings, located just north of the Old City in Jerusalem, was not the burial site of ancient Israelite or Jerusalemite kings. The monument doesn’t even predate the first century BCE! Readers of this blog and Biblical Archaeology Review will recall several articles discussing the ownership of this funerary monument. The prevalent opinion among scholars attributes this burial complex to Queen Helena of Adiabene, who relocated to Jerusalem in the mid-first century CE from what is today northern Iraq.

Even more informed readers, however, may not know that there are two rock-hewn pools right next to the tomb—that is, unless you have visited the site in person. All visitors to the site have to first descend a monumental staircase and go past the entrances to the pools before they can enter the spacious courtyard of the tomb proper. What was the function of these pools, which most scholars identify as purification or immersion pools (mikva’ot)?

In this article, we review older theories about the purpose of the two immersion pools and offer a fresh interpretation, one based not on their location next to the tomb but rather their broader topographical context. In the late Second Temple period (first century BCE–first century CE), the funerary monument was likely on a main road to Jerusalem and very close to the city walls. These circumstances, we believe, better explain the purpose of the two immersion pools located next to the Tomb of the Kings.ⁱ

One Size Fits All?

Surprisingly, very few ritual baths (mikva’ot; singular: mikveh) from the late Second Temple period have been discovered next to tombs. This archaeological rarity, combined with conflicting accounts in Jewish sources, makes it difficult to pin down the pools’ exact function. Can we even find a single purpose for these pools?

The general assumption—that such ritual baths served to purify visitors to the gravesite—is problematic. According to the Bible (Leviticus 22:4–7; Numbers 19:11–22) and rabbinic law, purification after exposure to a dead body requires a seven-day process, which includes the sprinkling of purification water on the third and seventh days, and is complete only after immersion on the seventh day. Therefore, immersing in a ritual bath immediately after leaving the burial cave would accomplish nothing from the standpoint of halakha (i.e., pertaining to religious law), because the impurity resulting from being in the presence of the deceased would remain.

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Scholars have suggested various solutions to this conundrum:

• The baths were used to wash bodies before burial
• The baths were used by people who were required to immerse on the first day of the purification process as well
• People would immerse after visiting a grave, before engaging in sacred acts (such as Torah study, prayer, and eating ordinary food)
• The ritual baths had to do with a local folk custom, similar to the ritual washing of hands when leaving a cemetery mentioned in Geonic literature

Most recently, Yonatan Adler put out a halakhic solution based on the Bible and rabbinic literature, proposing that ritual baths next to tombs were intended for people with a type of impurity known as tum’at erev (literally, “evening impurity”).ⁱⁱ These people had not personally been in the presence of the dead body; rather, they encountered others who had been. They could immerse immediately after becoming impure and would become pure at sunset.

All of these proposals assumed that any ritual baths located next to tombs were intended for participants in funerals or memorial ceremonies. Their proponents then tried to find one reason behind all of those ritual baths, irrespective of date, geography, or physical properties (i.e., size). We, on the other hand, want to open our inquiry by suggesting that these baths did not have one common purpose. We also suggest that the baths at the Tomb of the Kings were not intended for funeral participants. Rather, they were meant for pilgrims to Jerusalem.

The Tomb of the Kings

Before we develop this idea, we need to consider the two main units of the compound: the entrance area and the tomb courtyard with the burial cave.

The entrance area is a wide, rectangular corridor leading from an entrance gate, which has not survived, to a rock-cut plaza via a monumental staircase. The staircase consists of alternating steps with shallow and deep treads. These steps resemble the ones unearthed in the stepped street in the City of David and in the Southern Wall Plaza. Another example has been found at the entrance to the Cave of Jehoshaphat, which is next to the monument known as Absalom’s Pillar. All of these examples are associated with rituals and the Temple. At the bottom of the staircase, there are two entrances to ritual baths (one straight ahead, the other to the right) and a gate leading to the tomb courtyard located on the northern side to the left. The gate has an arched lintel and measures almost 15 feet tall and 10 feet wide.

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The tomb courtyard, which is carved out of the local bedrock, is particularly spacious, measuring 90 by 85 feet. Except along the eastern wall, the entire perimeter of this courtyard features a rock-cut bench, apparently for participants in funerals and visitors to the tomb. This courtyard provides access to the burial cave.

Importantly, the wall separating the two main units is carved out of the bedrock and has a single opening that connects them, suggesting that the baths are not necessarily directly related to the burial cave. Consequently, not all visitors to the ritual baths would necessarily visit the adjacent tomb complex.

The Ritual Baths

At the bottom of the monumental staircase, two large ritual baths were carved out of the bedrock. Entered via rock-cut, vaulted openings, the eastern bath (B, located opposite the staircase) has a double entrance; the southern bath (A, to the right of the staircase) has only a single entrance. Inside, Bath B is divided by a rock-cut pillar, which also serves as a supporting column. Each bath has a staircase descending to the bottom that consists of two narrow-tread steps of standard height alternating with a relatively high step with a deep tread. At the bottom of each staircase, a small step in the corner of the floor makes it easier to walk down. The installations were coated with hydraulic plaster and fed with rainwater via two large channels carved out of the southern wall of the compound.

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The largest stepped installation in the Jerusalem area, Bath B is 26 feet long, almost 28 feet wide, and nearly 12 feet deep. Although Bath A is smaller, it still measures about 18 by 15 feet and is over 7 feet deep. These extraordinary dimensions could accommodate a large number of people simultaneously.

Pilgrim Purification

Let’s now consider the compound’s geographic location, not far from the present-day Old City. In the late Second Temple period, the tomb was less than 50 feet from the Third Wall, which defended Jerusalem from the north.

In his historical writings, penned in the late first century CE, Josephus refers to the “monuments of Helena” as located north of the city next to the Third Wall (War 5.147), even specifying that they were right outside the northern gate of the city: “The Jews suddenly dashed out in immense numbers at a spot called ‘the Women’s towers,’ through the gate facing Helena’s monuments” (War 5.55).

Accordingly, the monuments of Helena should be on the road leading to the city, in close proximity to the city gate. There is nothing surprising about finding tombs next to city gates or along the road to a city. In the Greco-Roman world, this was the case with the Via Appia, the Via Labicana, and the Via Flaminia leading to Rome; the Via Consolare in Pompeii; the Wadi Siq road to Nabatean Petra; and the Panathenaic Way in Athens. There even seem to have been tombs next to another main road in Jerusalem in that period—the one leading from Nahal Kidron toward the southern gate at the foot of the City of David. Location of burial structures on the roadside guaranteed maximum visibility and easy access, so that all passersby would see the tomb, and the deceased would be memorialized in a more dignified manner.

Moreover, the rabbis allude to the presence of tombs along roads taken by the pilgrims to Jerusalem: “On the fifteenth thereof … the roads, open spaces, and ritual baths are repaired, all public needs are taken care of, and the graves are marked” (Mishnah Shekalim 1:1; italics ours). This Mishnah talks about both marking graves and repairing roads as part of the preparations for the Jerusalem pilgrimage. The Tosefta, too, emphasizes the proximity of tombs to the road: “On the fifteenth thereof, emissaries of the court go out and mark the place of impurity so that the people will not find themselves in it” (Tosefta Shekalim 1:1; italics ours).

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According to the rabbis, graves were not the only things along the roadside; there were also various water installations for drinking and purification. Consequently, David Amit proposed that the pair of large ritual baths that he had excavated near Alon Shevut were part of an array of ritual baths installed for the benefit of pilgrims on their way to Jerusalem.ⁱⁱⁱ This suggestion is based on the location of the baths in an open area far from any populated place, adjacent to a Roman road, near where a milestone was found. According to Amit, this site and the site of the huge Bir Ijda ritual bath near Elonei Mamre were spots where Jerusalem pilgrims would camp and could also use the public ritual purification facilities.

Pursuant to Amit’s proposal, we suggest that the two huge ritual baths discovered near the Tomb of the Kings were also intended to serve pilgrims on their way to Jerusalem or even during their stay in the city. Indeed, pilgrims were required to immerse not only before entering the Temple but also before eating sacrificial offerings outside the Temple grounds (such as the Passover offering and the thanksgiving offering), and before eating the second tithe (Mishnah Ma’aser Sheni 3:9–10). Hence, even while they were in the city, pilgrims had to immerse several times. Whoever did not have friends or acquaintances in the city could use public ritual baths, such as the ones at the Tomb of the Kings located just a short walk from the northern city gate.

Queen Helena’s son, Monobaz, who built an ornate tomb for her in Jerusalem, not only memorialized his mother but also her passion for the Temple and her generosity to it in adding huge ritual baths to the family tomb. These installations were to be used, at no cost, by anyone who wanted to rejoice in the Temple in a state of purity.

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Omri Abadi is an archaeologist who earned his Ph.D. from Bar-Ilan University’s Martin (Szusz) Department of Land of Israel Studies and Archaeology. His research focuses on the material culture and ancient landscapes of the southern Levant. He is currently a research fellow at Jagiellonian University in Kraków, participating in the international project “Travel and Mobility in Hellenistic and Early Roman Palestine.”

Boaz Zissu is Professor of Classical Archaeology at Bar-Ilan University’s Martin (Szusz) Department of Land of Israel Studies and Archaeology, where he heads the Jeselsohn Epigraphic Center for Jewish History. His research focuses on the archaeology and historical geography of ancient Jerusalem, Judea, and Idumea during the Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine periods.

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Notes

[i] For a fuller discussion and bibliography, read our article “The Purpose of the Ritual Baths in the Tomb of the Kings: A New Proposal,” Electrum 26 (2019), pp. 97–108, doi: 10.4467/20800909EL.19.005.11208.

[ii] Yonatan Adler, “Ritual Baths Adjacent to Tombs: An Analysis of the Archaeological Evidence in Light of the Halakhic Sources,” Journal for the Study of Judaism 40.1 (2009), pp. 55–73.

[iii] David Amit, “A Miqveh Complex Near Alon Shevut,” ‘Atiqot 38 (1999), pp. 75–84.

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Related reading in Bible History Daily

Tomb of Kings Now Open!

The Tomb of Queen Helena of Adiabene

The Tomb of the Kings in Jerusalem

Archaeology and Jewish Purity Practices

All-Access members, read more in the BAS Library

Who Built the Tomb of the Kings?

Queen Helena’s Jerusalem Palace—In a Parking Lot?

Site-Seeing: Tomb of Kings Now Open!

Watertight and Rock Solid: Stepped Pools and Chalk Vessels as Expressions of Jewish Ritual Purity