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Maresha Painted Tombs (Tomb of Apollophanes)

Hellenistic Idumean tombs with painted animals and Greek epitaphs of the Sidonian colony at Marisa

Return, Persia & the Maccabees · ossuary / tomb, inscription, city / site · Accepted by scholars · found 1902

Rock-cut tomb hall with painted animals above burial niches
Photo: Davidbena · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikimedia Commons

Found 1902 — John P. Peters and Hermann Thiersch, following the Bliss and Macalister excavations of the tell (1898–1900); later exploration by Amos Kloner and Ian Stern (1989 onward)

Where Maresha (Marisa), Beit Guvrin (Israel)

Dates from c. 3rd–2nd century BCE · Hellenistic (Ptolemaic–Seleucid) · Idumea before its conquest and conversion by John Hyrcanus; Edom's fate in the prophets

Now at In situ, Beit Guvrin-Maresha National Park (UNESCO World Heritage Site); paintings restored in 1993

How Maresha Painted Tombs (Tomb of Apollophanes) was found

Local villagers opened the painted tomb, which Peters and Thiersch recorded and published in 1905. Maresha's hundreds of underground quarry-caves, olive presses and columbaria have since been mapped in the Beit Guvrin National Park.

What it is

Rock-cut family tombs with long halls of burial niches. The largest belonged to Apollophanes, 'head of the Sidonians at Marisa for 33 years', and is painted with a frieze of real and mythical animals (lion, rhinoceros, elephant, giraffe, griffin) and Greek inscriptions.

Why it matters for the Bible

Maresha was a Judean town given to Edomite (Idumean) settlers after the exile, then a Hellenistic city of Sidonians, Greeks and Idumeans. The tombs show how thoroughly Greek culture had penetrated the hills of Judah only 30 km from Jerusalem, the world the Maccabees fought against. Judas Maccabeus attacked Marisa (2 Maccabees 12:35) and John Hyrcanus later conquered and Judaized Idumea, from which Herod's family came. The prophets' words about Edom taking Judah's land are illustrated here.

The Hebrew word: eh-DOME

אֱדוֹם

אֱדוֹם is pronounced eh-DOME and means Edom, the nation descended from Esau, later Idumea (Strong's H123).

People this discovery connects to

Places

Events

Edomite settlement in southern Judah after 586 BCE · Hellenization of Idumea · Hyrcanus's conquest of Idumea, c. 112 BCE

Maresha Painted Tombs (Tomb of Apollophanes) in Scripture

Joshua 15:44 First mention of Mareshah in Scripture.

Obadiah 1:19 'Those of the Negev shall possess Mount Esau'; the tombs show Edomites in Judah's hills before the Hasmoneans reversed it.

Micah 1:15 Micah's wordplay on Mareshah, his own home region, as a town that will face a conqueror.

Questions people ask

What is Maresha Painted Tombs (Tomb of Apollophanes)?
Rock-cut family tombs with long halls of burial niches. The largest belonged to Apollophanes, 'head of the Sidonians at Marisa for 33 years', and is painted with a frieze of real and mythical animals (lion, rhinoceros, elephant, giraffe, griffin) and Greek inscriptions.

When was Maresha Painted Tombs (Tomb of Apollophanes) discovered?
It was found in 1902 by John P. Peters and Hermann Thiersch, following the Bliss and Macalister excavations of the tell (1898–1900); later exploration by Amos Kloner and Ian Stern (1989 onward), at Maresha (Marisa), Beit Guvrin.

Where is Maresha Painted Tombs (Tomb of Apollophanes) today?
In situ, Beit Guvrin-Maresha National Park (UNESCO World Heritage Site); paintings restored in 1993.

Which Bible verses does Maresha Painted Tombs (Tomb of Apollophanes) relate to?
Joshua 15:44, Obadiah 1:19, Micah 1:15.

Related discoveries

Sources

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