INV. 044 · Archaeological site
The Beth Shearim necropolis
◔ Under review
A rock-cut gallery with stone sarcophagi. In the Beth Shearim cemetery, with some 30 catacombs, the tombs of rabbis were found, among them three successors of Judah the Patriarch: one of the rare marks of rabbinic presence in the archaeology.
Editorial note: The identification as catacomb no. 20 comes from Commons; the book dates the catacombs as a group, not this one in particular.
- Type
- Archaeological site
- Nature
- Modern site photographA recent photograph of a historical site.
- Date of the object
- second century CE to fourth century CEDate of the catacombs according to Efron, Lehmann and Weitzman (p. 130).
- Provenance
- Beth Shearim, Galilee; catacomb no. 20, according to Commons.
- Image
- DavidbenaOwn work
- Licence
- CC BY-SA 4.0 ↗
- Retrieved
- Commons API, 2026-10-14
Sourced historical context
Beside the town of Beth Shearim, in Galilee, lies a vast cemetery of about 30 catacombs, in use from the second to the fourth century. Graves of several rabbis turned up there, three of them successors of Judah the Patriarch. Tradition says that when Judah died, Jews from all over the Roman world wanted to be laid to rest near him.