DOI article:
Hariri, Khalil: The tomb of ʿAqraban
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.26423#0153
The tomb of 'Aqraban
The finishing of the accompanying figures is even less advanced. Only their heads and hands
of the spouses sitting as usual at the feet of their men have been sketched, while the bodies were
left to be formed out of a bulky protuberance of stone. Between the consorts, there stand two sons
wearing the priestly modii, in one case barely formed, in the other still to be carved in two blocks
left projecting from the background.
The tomb yielded altogether 33 complete or nearly complete terracotta lamps. Twelve of them
belong to the lst century angular nozzle types (Fellmann Dl and D2) and seven are typically 2nd
century, with rounded nozzle and double-roll handles (D3). The largest group, fourteen specimens,
is madę up of molded imitations of Roman Bildlampen of the lst century, although in the East they
can be dated after about AD 150 (Fellmann, Dunant 1975: 23-30, 40-42).
Smali finds also include four pottery alabastra and eleven glass vessels, eight of them intact
[Fig. 22]. Ali glass is green, from light to olive~green and dark, with grey, yellow or white weath-
ering and sometimes flaky iridescence. Among them, there are six unguentaria and three jars of
aryballos type (two with two handles and one with three). There is also a smali polygonal bottle,
found in Palmyra for the first time [PM 9716/11, see Fig. 12, bottom left], These vessels were all
containers for precious oils or unguents used in funerary rites. They are typical of grave finds
from the lst and early 2nd century.
The most remarkable is a cinerary urn with conical lid, not encountered previously in Palmyra
[PM 9513, see Fig. 12, top left].). It was found about one third fuli of charred bones. This seems to
be the first known instance of cremation in Palmyra, suggesting the possibility that the deceased
was a foreigner and was buried following Roman custom in a characteristic Container. This habit
died out in the West towards the end of the 2nd century (Toynbee 1971).
The generał impression is that the tomb, although planned on a grand scalę, was abandoned
soon after being founded in the late lst-early 2nd century, no doubt because of the risk of collapse.
References
Fellmann, R., Dunant, Ch.
1975 Le sanctuaire de Baalshamin a Palmyre VI. Kleinfunde — Objets divers [=Bibliotheca
Helvetica Romana 10.6], Romę: Institut suisse de Romę
Ingholt, FI.
1936 Inscriptions and sculptures from Palmyra I, Berytus 3, 83-127
Sołtan, A.
1969 Ikonografia meharystów palmy reńskich. Studia Palmy reńskie 3, 5-46
Toynbee, J.M.C.
1971 Death and Burial in the Roman World, Ithaca-New York: Cornell University Press
151
Studia Palmyreńskie XII
The finishing of the accompanying figures is even less advanced. Only their heads and hands
of the spouses sitting as usual at the feet of their men have been sketched, while the bodies were
left to be formed out of a bulky protuberance of stone. Between the consorts, there stand two sons
wearing the priestly modii, in one case barely formed, in the other still to be carved in two blocks
left projecting from the background.
The tomb yielded altogether 33 complete or nearly complete terracotta lamps. Twelve of them
belong to the lst century angular nozzle types (Fellmann Dl and D2) and seven are typically 2nd
century, with rounded nozzle and double-roll handles (D3). The largest group, fourteen specimens,
is madę up of molded imitations of Roman Bildlampen of the lst century, although in the East they
can be dated after about AD 150 (Fellmann, Dunant 1975: 23-30, 40-42).
Smali finds also include four pottery alabastra and eleven glass vessels, eight of them intact
[Fig. 22]. Ali glass is green, from light to olive~green and dark, with grey, yellow or white weath-
ering and sometimes flaky iridescence. Among them, there are six unguentaria and three jars of
aryballos type (two with two handles and one with three). There is also a smali polygonal bottle,
found in Palmyra for the first time [PM 9716/11, see Fig. 12, bottom left], These vessels were all
containers for precious oils or unguents used in funerary rites. They are typical of grave finds
from the lst and early 2nd century.
The most remarkable is a cinerary urn with conical lid, not encountered previously in Palmyra
[PM 9513, see Fig. 12, top left].). It was found about one third fuli of charred bones. This seems to
be the first known instance of cremation in Palmyra, suggesting the possibility that the deceased
was a foreigner and was buried following Roman custom in a characteristic Container. This habit
died out in the West towards the end of the 2nd century (Toynbee 1971).
The generał impression is that the tomb, although planned on a grand scalę, was abandoned
soon after being founded in the late lst-early 2nd century, no doubt because of the risk of collapse.
References
Fellmann, R., Dunant, Ch.
1975 Le sanctuaire de Baalshamin a Palmyre VI. Kleinfunde — Objets divers [=Bibliotheca
Helvetica Romana 10.6], Romę: Institut suisse de Romę
Ingholt, FI.
1936 Inscriptions and sculptures from Palmyra I, Berytus 3, 83-127
Sołtan, A.
1969 Ikonografia meharystów palmy reńskich. Studia Palmy reńskie 3, 5-46
Toynbee, J.M.C.
1971 Death and Burial in the Roman World, Ithaca-New York: Cornell University Press
151
Studia Palmyreńskie XII