Abstract

The Sidon Sarcophagi - I

It is informed that behind Sidon and Tyre, at the foot of the mountains, there is an almost continuous line of rock-cut tombs. As in Palestine and the country east of the Jordan, so in Phoenicia also, the dead were buried in rock-cut tombs on steep hillsides and along deep watercourses, where the formation of the land allowed caves to be excavated with the least labor. However, rich peoples often used to build their tombs in their gardens, although this was liable to cause more labor, at least at places where the surface of the rock was flat. Tombs like this are often found In the grain fields and gardens behind the town of Sidon and between that and the mountains. The whole surface of the rock plateau above the gardens and below the hills is honeycombed with these tombs, occurring sometimes singly, sometimes in groups. Stone-cutters pursuing their occupation continuously discover such tombs containing sarcophagi.