Title
Jerusalem: Inscription from the Tomb of Matthias
Description
This inscription was discovered in a tomb in a northern suburb of modern Jerusalem. It is written in Aramaic, a common language of the Second Temple period, but the script, called Paleo-Hebrew, is like the one that was used hundreds of years earlier, which is very unusual. The inscription reads, 'I Abba, son of the priest E/leazar, son of Aaron the high [priest], I, / Abba, the oppressed and the persec/uted, who was born in Jerusalem,/ and went into exile in Babylonia and brought [back to Jerusalem] Mattath/iah son of Juda[h], and I buried him in the c/ave, which I acquired by writ.' The remains of an old woman who had been beheaded were buried in the ossuary.
Location Modern Country
Israel/Palestine
Location City
Jerusalem