Inscriptions of Israel/Palestine Prinicipal Investigator Michael Satlow

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 jeru0188 jeru0188

Judaea. Jerusalem. 20 BCE to 70 CE. Soft limestone ossuary with chip-carved ornamentation. Funerary.

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three-columned porch front of chest multi-leaved branches on columns encircled twelve-petalled rosettes intercolumnar spaces ivy-shaped petals rosettes line circles encircling rosettes ivy leaves corners of intercolumnar spaces entablature above porch frieze of lotuses sprouting from running scroll in entablature zigzag border base of frieze inverted leaf-and-dart pattern cornice line frame at top and bottom of front of lid zigzag frame at sides of front of lid metopes within frames on lid's front encircled six-petalled rosettes in metopes line circles encircling rosettes palm trees triglyph scalloped incisions linking branches of tree 20 BCE to 70 CE Judaea Jerusalem Mount Scopus Botanical Gardens

Judaea. Jerusalem. Eastern slope of Mount Scopus, Botanical Gardens, Tomb III.

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 Creation Normalized objectDesc/@ana Adding Pleiades IDs to origin/placenames adding period attribute to date element, with Periodo value.

Ἰθαρου

of Itharos (or: "of Jethro")

Ἰθαρου

Ossuary has inner ledge on two sides, low feet, slightly protruding cornice, and two holes bored in base. On another ossuary, Avigad explains similar holes as outlets for body secretions or for the establishment of contact between body and soil (in accordance with Jerusalem Talmud, Kil'ayim 32b), though the latter would be purely symbolic here. Height describes that of chest plus that of gabled lid with fingergrips. Ornamentation on the chest's front side consists of a porch with three rectangular columns, each with a vertically superimposed multi-leaved branch. Each intercolumnar space contains a twelve-petalled rosette with ivy-shaped petals within a line circle. Ivy leaves point toward circles from each corner of intercolumnar spaces. Above the porch an entablature, containing a broad frieze of lotuses sprouting from a running scroll, sits between the inverted leaf-and-dart pattern of the cornice and a zigzag border at its base. Ornamentation on the front side of the lid consists of a line frame at top and base and zigzag frame at sides, containing three metopes and triglyphs transformed into palm trees. Tips of their upright branches are linked by scalloped incisions. Each metope contains a six-petalled rosette within a line circle. Name is written in charcoal on the chest's right side. Ἰθαρου is the genitive of Ἰθαρος (Latin Itharus). Reich and Geva considered this name to derive from יתרא, but that name appears in Greek as Ἰοθόρ, Ἰεθόρ, and Ἰεθέρ in the Septuagint and as Ἰέθρας in Josephus, whereas here the second vowel appears between the theta and rho.

214 plate 93, fig. 643