Jerusalem: Tomb of Absalom

There are a few monumental tombs outside and below the southeast corner of the Old City of Jerusalem, in the Jehoshaphat Valley. The one in this picture is known anachronistically as the Tomb of Absalom (Absalom was the biblical son of David who lived and died nearly 1,000 years before this tomb was built). The structure consists of a tomb below and a monument on top that combines several different styles typical of the Late Hellenistic period. The square base was carved out of the bedrock and has column bases and capitals of the Greek Ionic style, but the decoration of triglyphs and rosette metopes above the capital are borrowed from Doric style Greek buildings, and the concave cornice on top comes from Egypt. The combination of features in this building have no exact parallel among other known structures, and its date of construction is unknown, but probably dates to the 1st century BCE or the 1st century CE.