Hebrew Voices #10 – Lost Tomb of the Maccabees (Rebroadcast)

Maccabee Tombs by Amit ReemIn this episode of Hebrew Voices, Lost Tomb of the MaccabeesNehemia Gordon visits with Israeli archaeologist, Amit Reem, at the newly-discovered probable site of the Tomb of the Maccabees in Modi’in. Reem and Gordon once studied together at Hebrew University. Reem now works for the Israeli Antiquities Authority and is acquiring a PhD in archaeology. For the first twenty years of his career, Reem excavated the walls, fortifications and palaces of Jerusalem and thought he would be bored when reassigned to Modi’in, but has since become impassioned with the area and finding the lost tomb of the Maccabees. According to Reem, every inch of Israel is filled with marvelous things, and no less so in Modi’in. Reem and Gordon discuss the history of Modi’in, the setting of the Hanukkah story, and why Christian connections to this place gives credence to the site being the elusive tomb of the Maccabees. Reem also shows Gordon the place among the tombs where 23 Israelis created a fox hole in the 1948 War of Independence. Unused ammunition was found there, for like the ancient Maccabees, these Israelis sacrificed their lives for the nation of Israel.

The tomb disucssed in this episode is described in the First Book of Maccabees and in Josephus's Antiquities of the Jews. More pictures below.

I look forward to reading your comments!

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Hebrew Voices #10 - Lost Tomb of the Maccabees

You are listening to Hebrew Voices with Nehemia Gordon. Thank you for supporting Nehemia Gordon's Makor Hebrew Foundation. Learn more at NehemiasWall.com.

Nehemia: This is Nehemia Gordon with Hebrew Voices, and I am here at a place called Khirbat Midya. A lot of people identify this as the tomb of the Maccabees. And I'm here with Amit Reem, who's an Israeli archeologist. He works for the Israeli Antiquities Authority. He has a master’s in archeology. He's currently working on his PhD in archeology, and I actually studied with him. And I have a confession Amit, I always was jealous of your hair.

Amit: Wow.

Nehemia: It’s 20 years later, I have no hair and this man, he was blessed with like the greatest hair ever, and he still has it. So Shalom, Amit.

Amit: Hi, Nehemia. I am excited to see you and your audience. And I want to share all of you with the adventure of searching for ancient Modi'in an elusive tomb of the Maccabees. And allow me to open with a personal story, and I'm taking you about less than 20 years. By the way, you know Nehemia, I'm researching, more than 20 years I'm excavating. And now I’m the Jerusalem district archeologist on behalf of the Israeli Antiquities Authority. I began my career in Jerusalem, excavated in Jerusalem, walls, fortifications, palaces. You all know ancient Jerusalem and the meaning.

I got married and I moved to the city of Modi'in, the modern city of Modi'in. The modern city of Modi'in is located in the middle between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. It's a modern city, but actually everybody thinks that around the modern city is the ancient city of Modi'in.

Nehemia: And what is the significance, for those who don't know, of the city of Modi'in? What happened there?

Amit: So, the illustrious brothers, the Maccabean brothers, raised a revolt against the Greeks here in this area, in the area known as Modi'in. They lived here and they were buried here.

Nehemia: So, this was the town…And we call them the Maccabees. And actually, only one of the brothers was a Maccabee. That's a different story, but we call the Maccabees or the Hasmoneans in proper English, they were a family of Priests. When the Greeks came to Modi'in, they were trying to force the Jews to participate in the sacrifices to Apollo. Guys, this is the Hanukkah story, we don't have time to tell it over right now. But we're actually at the spot where possibly, we're gonna find out if the brothers who participated, and their father and mother who participated in this war against the Greeks, and eventually were successful in bringing independence for a time the people of Israel, if they were actually buried right here. But anyway, somewhere in this area was the ancient town of Modi'in. And that's what you've been searching for, for years.

Amit: Yes, yes, and I'm returning to my personal story. And then I got married, I moved and lived in Modi'in. I left Jerusalem and started to excavate in the area of Modi'in. And I was very bored, and I went to the manager of the Israeli Antiquities Authority and told him, “Listen, what have you done to me? I was excavating in the city of Jerusalem. Everybody looked at me, and now you bring me to this isolated land. There is nothing here for me.”

Nehemia: I think a lot of my listeners think archeologist is very glamorous and exciting, it's Indiana Jones. And a lot of it is salvage excavations, right?

Amit: It is, it is.

Nehemia: Oh, it is. Okay, so tell us about it.

Amit: But the major of the work are salvage excavation, and you know…

Nehemia: And what's that, for people who don't know?

Amit: It's agriculture, common building, we have a lot of them in Israel. Every inch in Israel is filled with antiquities from many periods, from different cultures, from different religions, and it's marvelous. But, you know, everything is minimized if you compare it to ancient Jerusalem. But, Nehemia, I did something smart.

Nehemia: Oh, what did you do?

Amit: I went to the elders who lived here in the area of Modi'in and I told them, "Please, I want to learn on the vicinity of Modi'in. Tell me the stories. Show me the antiquities.” And indeed, I learned about the story of the Maccabees. I learned about the antiquities of this area. And you know what, Nehemia? I became obsessive with this area, with the quest for searching ancient Modi'in and the lost tomb of the Maccabees.

Nehemia: Wow, so let me just explain something really quick to the listeners. Israel has a law, and correct me if I'm wrong here, you're the expert. You know, I studied archeology. You're actually an archeologist, I just have a degree in it. So, under Israeli law, from what I remember, whenever you do any kind of new construction project you have to do an archeological excavation, and that's what a salvage excavation is, right?

Amit: Yes.

Nehemia: In other words, there’s some contractor who's burning money, he's dying for you to come and say, "there's nothing here.” And it's your job to come in, and if you find something, does he pay for it?

Amit: Never minds if he pays or not.

Nehemia: Ok, it's a complicated thing.

Amit: Yes.

Nehemia: But you're being rushed and it's from all kinds of periods. And what you're saying, after digging in Jerusalem and you come out, and you’re digging, I don't know, something from some other period. Maybe it's not that important of a site, maybe we don't know who was there. And you're living here in the area of Modi'in, the story where Hanukkah began, the story where the Feast of Dedication began and where the Maccabees are buried.

One of the things that we had talked about before the interview is the passage in the Book of Maccabees which describes this monumental tomb that they built for the brothers. We'll get to that. But you had this passion, and that's what my listeners love.

Amit: Nehemia, I should interview you.

Nehemia: No, no, no.

Amit: Not otherwise.

Nehemia: No, no, no, no.

Amit: But let's go for the beginning.

Nehemia: Yes.

Amit: In order to search ancient Modi'in and the famous tomb of the Maccabees, we had a hint, we had a clue. We had two ancient sources, two books, 2,000 years old approximately, the Book of the Maccabees and the book written by the famous historian, Josephus Flavius.

Nehemia: The first one is what we call in English “1 Maccabees.”

Amit: 1 Maccabees, exactly. And in both of these ancient books we have an accurate description of the tomb of the Maccabees. You know, it was such a lavishly decorated building that people could see it from the shore, from the sea, from a long distance. It has beautiful big white stones, a second floor roofed with a kind of pyramid, and all around the surroundings there were pillars. It was a royal tomb, fit for the Jewish dynasty of the Hasmonean, the Maccabees.

Now, we should take these clues and search in the hills of Modi'in for this magnificent building. And you know what? I'm not the first. Already, the Crusaders searched for the lost tomb of the Maccabees. But they identified it near Jerusalem, not in the right place. But in the 19th century, here in the Holy Land, there was a boom of romantic archeologists.

Nehemia: What are romantic archeologists?

Amit: They were semi-archeologists.

Nehemia: Like, that's Indiana Jones.

Amit: Yes.

Nehemia: I suppose, to you, who's a real archeologist, who uses seismic... I mean, the guy uses ground penetrating radar and excavation. This is real archeology, guys.

Amit: Yeah, they were adventurers. They were espionage on behalf of the Royal British Army etc. Their hobby was archeology. Some of them were very, very professional, and they came to the Holy Land, those British archeologists, those French archeologists, those German archeologists, and searched for the sites that are mentioned in the Bible, in the New Testament and in the writing of Josephus Flavius.

And of course, also they looked for ancient Modi'in and the tomb of the Maccabees. And our story began in 1866. In 1866 came a Franciscan Priest. His name was Emanuel Forner. He came to an Arab village, Nehemia, about 200 meters east from where we are standing.

Nehemia: That's about 600 feet, for the Americans.

Amit: Yes, and now it's in Palestinian territory.

Nehemia: We're that close to the Palestinian territory?

Amit: We're are just a few meters from the border.

Nehemia: Okay, I didn't realize, all right.

Amit: He came to this Arab village and the name of the Arab village was Al-Midya. And he said, "Wait a minute. Al-Midya sounds to me very familiar to Modi'in, which is mentioned in the Scriptures. And I’ve found ancient Modi'in. The Arab village of Al-Midya is Modi'in.”

Nehemia: And it's very common for Arab names to preserve ancient sites and often the name is corrupted like Yerikho, which is Jericho for the American, is Arikha. Meaning, the name has been corrupted slightly. Al-Midya was Modi'in, and we don’t actually know that it was called exactly Modi'in from what I read, right? Some people say it's maybe Madaait.

Amit: It’s maybe Modeta, but you know, you have…

Nehemia: So, Midya might not be as much of a corruption as we think. But okay, so they found this in the 1866.

Amit: And then, this Franciscan Priest published an article in the French Gazetteer paper "Le Monde," and he wrote, "I’ve found ancient Modi'in.” Another European scholar who lived in Jerusalem, his name was Charles Sandreczki, read this article and he came to the villagers and said to them, “If you are Modi'in, then I want you to show me the famous tomb that we all search for.” And this…

Nehemia: The lost tomb of the Maccabees.

Amit: Yes, and these Arab villagers were very smart. Indeed, they were even businessmen, and they told him, "If you want us to show you the tomb of the Maccabees, please pay us a little bit of money,” and he paid. They took him to a site nearby which is called in Arabic, “Qubur al-Yahud,” which means “the tomb of the Jewish.” And they pointed to those stones and said, "This is what you are looking for.”

Nehemia: "The Tomb of the Jews.” And how far is that from where we are right now?

Amit: It's about 400 meters, 500 meters from where we are standing to the south.

Nehemia: Okay, it's about 1,500 feet to the south, maybe 1,200 feet. So, that's what they showed this guy in 1860 or so?

Amit: 1869.

Nehemia: Okay.

Amit: And he said, "Wow, this is the tomb of the Maccabees,” and he also published an article. But wrong, absolutely wrong, because Nehemia, I will take you to this site and you will see simple tombs that we know, dozens of them, hundreds, in the surrounding area. Nothing special in those tombs. It doesn’t fit to the Josephus's description that he tells us and the Book of the Maccabees tells us. You know what? From the archeological perspective, those tombs are of tombs of pagans, of Christians from the 3rd and 4th century AD.

Nehemia: And by the way, you don't mean to say that Christians are pagans, but the pagans and the Christians. They buried in similar ways in that period.

Amit: Yeah, the burial customs from the archeological perspective is very typical for pagan population and later on, Christian population.

Nehemia: That's because the pagans converted to Christianity and they had the same burial. And what you're saying, is a Jewish tomb from the time of the Maccabees wouldn't look like that?

Amit: No.

Nehemia: And there wouldn't be hundreds in the area, it would be something probably unique.

Amit: Yes, exactly. This is wrong, this is not the place.

Nehemia: I want to make a comment here for the listeners. We're standing here in this forest that was planted by the Jewish National Fund. You know, when you plant a tree in Israel, these are the guys. And on one side there's a tomb of an Arab sheikh, we'll talk about that, hopefully. On the other side is the site that he excavated that was also excavated in the 1800s. And 1,500 feet to the south is this other spot, and that's how precise he is.

He says, "No, you're completely wrong. You're 1,500 feet off. I've got the actual spot.” I mean, think about that. A lot of times when we talk about things in history, certain battles that took place in different places, we know the general area. We're standing here in the exact spot and he's saying…Or maybe I got it wrong, it's not the exact spot?

Amit: Nehemia, wait till the end of the story.

Nehemia: Okay, I'm gonna let the archeologist talk.

Amit: We have to be very accurate; we are the professionals. So, add to this that in the traditional site of the tomb of the Maccabees which I've spoken about minutes ago, in the beginning of the 20th century when Zionism came to the Holy Land, people searched for sites to identify it with them. And of course, the Maccabees story is wondrous to us, to the Zionists, to the Jewish people who returned to the Holy Land.

Nehemia: Why is this story important?

Amit: Because they were heroes. They defeated the Greek people. They fought for their nationality and their religion. And you know what? The Maccabees has a special and important place here in Israel.

Nehemia: So, you'll been hearing this on Hanukkah and you're saying this is a really important thing for Jews today around the world, but especially for Jews in Israel who are fighting for their survival. And here's a story of Jews thousands of years ago, these were Jews who stood up for their rights, stood up for their faith and were willing to die and defend their faith and not be persecuted by these Greeks. And so, this is an important story, this isn't just another tomb. This is a national symbol.

Amit: You're absolutely right, Nehemia, you're absolutely right. But from that period, in the beginning of the 20th century, all the people came to Qubur al-Yahud, to those fake tombs and started to pray, and started to celebrate and light the candles of Hanukkah. But this is wrong, this is absolutely wrong from the perspective of archaeology.

Nehemia: Even though I could understand that Arabs of that village, maybe they weren't trying to deceive anybody. The name of the place and their tradition was "Tomb of the Jews," and some Frenchman comes and says, "Show me where these Maccabees are.”

Amit: But I will ask you, Nehemia, who guarantees that indeed, this is the correct ancient name of this site and that no one invented it in order to satisfy these scholars? And you know what? Things happened in the 19th century, believe me.

Nehemia: So, you're saying the guys comes and says, “Show me the tombs,” and they say "Give us some money. You're looking for the tombs of some Jews? This is Qubur al-Yahud, the Tomb of the Jews.” That could have happened, you say.

Amit: Possibly.

Nehemia: So, we don't know how long it was called that. We just know when they guy came to pay money; it was called that.

Amit: Yes.

Nehemia: And you're saying, archeologically that can't be the spot.

Amit: Absolutely, this is not the spot. And I'm returning to our story. Another scholar, adventurer, read the article of Emanuel Forner in the French paper Le Monde. His name is Victor Guérin. Victor Guérin is a famous traveler and he wrote three important books on the topography, history and the archeology of the Holy Land. And he came again to the village of Al-Midya and he said to the villagers, "I'm not Charles Sandreczki. I know this land. I know your language. I want you to show me exactly where is the famous tomb,” and they said to him a very interesting thing. They said to him, “Listen, the name of our village, Al-Midya, is wrong. Actually, the hill west opposite to our village, the name of this is hill is Al-Midya. And in this hill, you have a sheikh tomb, and the name of the sheikh tomb is Al-Gharabwi. And near the sheikh tomb you have big building which we call it in Arabic, El-Khahla.” Now, you have to understand, if an Arab calls a building “El-Khahla,” the meaning of El-Khahla is a fortress. It means that there is a huge, magnificent structure in this spot.

Nehemia: So, there's a tomb of a Muslim sheikh right next to where we are, and they knew it wasn't this other spot they showed the first guy. They said, "We know that there's some kind of fortress here, it's some big building.” And we're standing right next to it.

Amit: Yes.

Nehemia: Can we go in it?

Amit: In a minute.

Nehemia: Okay, I want to get in.

Amit: I see your enthusiasm. You're absolutely right. Now, Victor Guérin came to the sheikh tomb and indeed, near the sheikh tomb he saw a beautiful large building. He hired a few workers from Al-Midya village and he started to excavate inside the structure. And he started to see three tombs under this huge structure, and he was very, very excited. And he wrote in his book, "Indeed, I found the tomb of the illustrious Maccabees. I'm very, very excited.”

He brought to these archeological sites very famous archeologists and scholars, British ones who lived and worked in the Holy Land in the 19th century. And all of them came to this site and said, "Wow, this is a unique structure. It must be the real tomb.” Victor Guérin rushed to Jerusalem, to the French consul. He wanted him to give him money to continue the excavation and to purchase this piece of land because this piece of land is very, very important. In it is the tomb of the Maccabees.

Nehemia: So, why was it important to Christians in the 19th century? I know why it’s important to me.

Amit: You will get an answer in a few minutes.

Nehemia: Wonderful.

Amit: Now, Victor Guérin didn't manage to raise the right money and he left the site. Another archeologist came here in 1874. He's a really famous archeologist, French in origin, Charles Clermont-Ganneau. He was a very accurate archeologist, very pedantic, a very serious archeologist. And he also hired workers from the village and started to excavate this structure. Inside the structure he reached the tombs themselves, kind of a niche in the tomb that in it you put the dead body, the corpse, or the sarcophagus.

And on the floor of the niches, he found, Nehemia, a mosaic. On the mosaic he found decorations of crosses, Christian crosses. And he said in his report, "No more Maccabees. This is the end of the story. This place is an important place, but its time is from early Christianity.”

Nehemia: And just a quick overview, the Maccabean Revolt was sometime around 167 BCE, Before the Common Era, before Jesus was born. And of course, the Christian era is in the land of Israel, starting around maybe 325, or sometimes after that, after the Council of Nicaea, the Roman Empire became Christian. So, he's saying, “Look, this is from at least 500 years later. It can't be the tomb of the Maccabees, it's a Christian site.”

Amit: But Charles Clermont-Ganneau was a very serious person and a smart one, and he said to us, “You have to understand that the Maccabees were very, very important to Christianity. Although there's a little bit of a mix up between the story of the Maccabean warrior brothers and the story of Hanna and the seven sons who also died in the time of the Maccabees, who died in the name of God. Never mind.”

Nehemia: Wow, actually we can't never mind it, that's important. This is homework for you, I give homework to my listeners. Go and at least do an overview of 1 and 2 Maccabees. Those are two books that talk about the Maccabean wars. And Hanna and her sons, I think are maybe like a footnote there, they're barely mentioned.

Then there's 3 Maccabees which is a whole book about Hanna and her sons who were horribly and viciously tortured to death, trying to get them to accept the pagan god. And I understand why the Christians in this period would have identified with the Maccabees, because that's what the Romans did to the early Christians, they tortured them. And here was a paradigm, an example back in Jewish history, where somebody had done this before, this whole idea of being martyred for your faith. So, you're saying that according to Clermont-Ganneau, maybe the Christians came here…

Amit: To summarize things.

Nehemia: Yeah.

Amit: Like I told you, the Maccabees have a special place in Christianity. You know what, Nehemia? Without the Maccabean warriors, we all, Jewish people and Christian people would pray for idols.

Nehemia: We'd all be pagans.

Amit: We'd all be pagans. So, we all have to pay our debt to the Maccabees.

Nehemia: Our debt to the Maccabees.

Amit: Yes.

Nehemia: And look, we could say theologically, that it would have come from some other place. But it didn't, it came from the Maccabees who defeated the Greeks and allowed Judaism to continue. And of course, Christianity 200 years later came out of that. Jesus, as he was known then, Yeshua, was born into that. He wouldn't have been born into a Jewish family, you’re saying, he would have been born into a pagan family if it weren't for the Maccabees. So, even for that, that was important for the Christians of this period, okay.

Amit: Exactly. So, it's only logical to assume that early Christianity searched for the Tombs of the Maccabees, found them or created them, and this is what we found in the Tomb, the adding of the mosaic with decoration of the crosses. And you know what? Again, from an archeological perspective, finding a mosaic with a cross in the burial niche, is very, very unique.

Nehemia: Oh, so it's not a common thing at all?

Amit: It's not common.

Nehemia: Okay.

Amit: We do not know it from the archeology of Israel.

Nehemia: So, mosaic was typically in houses or maybe in wine presses?

Amit: Also, in tombs. But finding a cross, a decoration of a cross, inside a burial niche, is very, very unique. Maybe, just maybe, it's an evidence that someone very, very important, very, very sanctified, is buried inside this tomb.

Nehemia: Now, what that can bring us to is that some Christians in the 300s thought this was the Tomb of the Maccabees. It still doesn't prove…But you're saying that the mosaic could be like a secondary thing that was added later, is that what you’re suggesting?

Amit: Yes, exactly.

Nehemia: Okay. And so, maybe the early Christians thought it was the Tomb of the Maccabees…

Amit: Maybe they came to this spot, and they saw some kind of a unique structure, which they identified as the Tomb of the Maccabees. Maybe it was the actual spot. And maybe, you know, it happens in the Holy Land, maybe they heard some story, some tradition about this hill, about this mountain and they erected and they created. It's hard to me as an archeologist to prove or disprove these claims. But let's return to our story. After the revealing of this mosaic with the cross…

Nehemia: And we are still in the eighteen hundreds?

Amit: 1874. After the excavation of Charles Clermont-Ganneau people left this site. All the structure, the beautiful building which stood up above the Tomb was robbed. All the stones were taken away to build the surrounding cities like Jaffa, like Ramla, the surrounding villages, and the site was vanished from the place of the earth. Nobody knew where it was.

Nehemia: So, basically, the local people came, local Arabs came and they pillaged the stones, because they see this beautiful structure. Some Frenchman went to the trouble of exposing the stones and they said. “Oh, free building stone. I just saved $50, $100. And there's 10 of them.” And you're saying that in the 1870s he comes here and excavates and now it's gone.

Amit: Yeah, absolutely.

Nehemia: Wow.

Amit: Gone and forgotten. Now, in 1985 a local guy, living here in the Jewish village named Shilat, and the late archeologist Zvi Ilan, took all the maps and the sketches of Charles Clermont-Ganneau and located again where this magnificent building tomb stood. But again, it was forgotten and nobody knew where it was. Two months ago, the Israeli Antiquities Authority, in a rare and unique step, decided once and for all to solve this ancient riddle. We invested money. We located again with a ground penetrating radar the location of the site, and we started to excavate. And Nehemia, let's go inside the site.

Nehemia: Wow. I love this. So, this started out, at least for you, as your passion. "I'm living in this area, I was excavating Jerusalem, there's gotta be something around here, too.” And here we are, we're now walking into this site. There's like a little fence here and he's helping me get over it, I think it's gonna be easier for him than it is for me. Okay, so we're hopping the fence with the permission of the archeologist, you guys are not allowed to do this. Oh, so some of it has been preserved. You're saying a lot of the stones were pillaged but I can see here the bedrock where the stones stood.

Amit: Yes, yes, and it's a little bit hard to understand because it was raining now, and the excavation ended two months ago. But you can see the base of four-square pillars holding the upper story of the building. Everything was built. This is the magic of archeology, because in the writing of Charles Clermont-Ganneau and Victor Guérin, we have the painting, the sketches. And you can see the building’s standing to the height of more than five meters with a second floor, maybe with a pyramid, and you could imagine and reconstruct everything. But what was left is only the base. And between these pillars you have the niches of the tombs themselves, these are the niches. And inside those niches…

Nehemia: So basically, there was a niche where they put a body or possibly some kind of a coffin or sarcophagus maybe.

Amit: Yeah.

Nehemia: And these are massive pillar… piers, I guess we call them in English, that would have held up a large structure.

Amit: But let me show you something very unique.

Nehemia: Okay, hold on. You're gonna show me something unique?

Amit: In this stone there were some kind of ancient inscriptions…

Nehemia: Oh, okay.

Amit: …and symbols. But all of them were ruined purposely in the early Islamic period, because for Islam this was a sort of pagan site.

Nehemia: Why would they think it was a pagan site?

Amit: Because Christianity, for them it's the wrong religion.

Nehemia: Oh okay, so from the perspective of the Muslims, in this period at least, Christianity was pagan and they saw Christians were coming here and probably engaging in some sort of prayer and devotion at a tomb. And to the early Muslims that was idolatry. And so, you’re saying they destroyed the site.

Amit: They destroyed the mosaics, the inscriptions and the symbols. And Nehemia, if they were left, we could read who was buried here. But it wasn't left, apart - listen carefully here - apart from the eastern niche. In the eastern niche there was a fig tree, sacred to the Muslims.

Nehemia: You mean an actual living tree?

Amit: Actual living tree.

Nehemia: And this is something that people may not realize here about Islam being monotheist, but actually, certainly the Arab villagers of this area used to worship trees. There were sacred trees. There's all kind of stories about the sacred trees. If you had some property you could leave it next to the tree and no one would dare steal it.

Amit: Yeah.

Nehemia: Because there were all these, I guess I would call them “superstitions.” But they worshiped this fig tree.

Amit: You know what? As an archeologist who works and lives in the Holy Land, you have to listen to those superstitions, to those traditions and legends. In the end, there is some core of truth in them. You have to listen and to learn them all. And you know what? Regarding this place, there is a lot of legends and traditions, like this fig tree, like a big black snake keeping the place. When the 19th century scholars wanted to come and excavate in this place, the villagers didn't want to come because they said, "This is a sacred place. There is a big black snake guarding it. There is a demon here.” And you know what? For an archeologist this is the…

Nehemia: There wasn't an actual snake, but the Arabs believed there was a demon which they called a snake.

Amit: This is another layer in the story of the place. Because, see how holiness transmitted from period to period, from culture to culture, from religion to religion. There is something here from ancient times.

Nehemia: And the way I would look at that, is there is folklore and in that folklore often we'll preserve very, very early traditions. I know, when we studied together in archeology, one of the examples I remember we learned about was the Damascus Gate which in Arabic is called “Bab el-Amud,” the “Gate of the Pillar,” and nobody today has any idea why it's called the “Pillar.” And it's because Hadrian set up there a pillar after defeating the Jews, it was a great monument to celebrate. And, so here's an example, they'll tell you all kinds of stories of why it's called the “Gate of the Pillar.” And they don't know, but the collective consciousness remembers through this folklore that there was once a pillar there. And so, you're saying, the local Arabs believing this was a sacred spot with a genie, they translate it usually as a demon, living on this spot, and so they were afraid to dig here. But that actually indicates that maybe this was sacred to the Jews and then it was sacred to the Christians, and then the Muslim remembered that in some kind of distorted way, I guess.

Amit: Yeah. But let's return to our fig tree.

Nehemia: Yeah, the fig tree.

Amit: The holy fig tree.

Nehemia: So, the fig tree was here when?

Amit: The fig tree was here in the end of the 19th century, but the fig tree guarded this niche and protected this niche, and they didn't destroy the mosaic in this niche. And when Clermont-Ganneau excavated this niche, and when we came and re-exposed the burial chamber, let me show you what we found.

Nehemia: Yeah. Now, I'm excited. All right, so let me just describe what we have here. We've got these bags and there's a thing, oh, so there's a mosaic there, I'm gonna take a picture of it. There's a mosaic and I see a cross. And you're saying, because of the fig tree the Muslims didn't destroy this part of the mosaic, but there was a lot more mosaics that we don't have anymore.

Amit: Yeah.

Nehemia: Okay.

Amit: But again, this is a symbol and a kind of an evidence, and I'm very careful in my saying, somebody very important and holy was commemorated here, was buried here.

Nehemia: And this is a big deal, the Christians in the 4th century or whenever decided to put a cross here in a burial niche. They at least believed that someone important and sacred was buried here.

Amit: Yeah. Who? This is a riddle. Now, let me return being an archeologist. We didn't find in our excavation, material evidence from the 2nd and 1st centuries BC. Again, this is the time of the Maccabees. We should have expected to find ceramic, coins, and other archeological materials from this period, from the period of the Maccabees. But we didn't find. We didn't find the smoking gun, the conclusive archeological evidence which enables us to date this magnificent place perfectly to the time of the Maccabees. So, there is now still a big question mark. We returned, you can say Nehemia, that we returned to square one, okay, like our predecessor.

Nehemia: And that's a good thing. In other words, Clermont-Ganneau came here and said, "You guys are crazy. This isn't the tomb of the Maccabees.” And you’ve gone back to square one where you're saying, “It could be. We haven't proven it.”

Amit: It could be, it could be. We are still searching for the smoking gun. We have to enlarge our excavation. But I could tell you, Nehemia, this is a unique place, okay? All the names concerning this place, all the folklore. And the building itself, you do not see it now, but if I would take you to the 19th century, it's unique, it's a royal mausoleum, it's rare. We do not know such a building. All this points - let me phrase it to be very careful - that probably, just probably, this was the place where early Christianity identified the Tomb of the Maccabees.

Nehemia: Wow.

Amit: So, the search continues.

Nehemia: The search continues. And I'm gonna step out on a limb here, you're a professional archeologist and you’ve got to be very careful, and you have to deal with exactly what we've proven and what we haven't proven. And what you're saying is this could be the spot, or even probably it's the spot the early Christians believed it was. I want to read really quickly from the first Book of Maccabees and go look up also in Josephus. I’m gonna post it on my website, nehemiaswall.com. You can go read this source for yourself.

I want to read the description of the building where we might be standing. And we don't know for sure, but you're saying there's a good chance - I'm gonna say, there's a very strong probability - that's me speaking, not the archeologist, that this is it. And that above us were these pyramids. I'm gonna read it to you, it's from 1Maccabees. It says, "Simon sent and took the bones of his brother, Jonathan, and buried him in Modi'in, the city of his ancestors. All Israel bewailed him with great lamentation and mourned for him many days. And Simon built a monument over the tomb of his father and his brothers. He made it high so that it might be seen with polished stone at the front and the back. He also erected seven pyramids opposite one another.”

So, on top of this building was a pyramid. And many of you listeners will say, "Oh, pyramids, that's something from Egypt,” but we actually have a number of spots in Israel where there was something that looks like a pyramid which actually became in Second Temple period a Jewish symbol which they called the “nefesh,” the “soul,” that they put on top of the tomb. And we could see them, for example, in the Kidron Valley and some other places. “So, he built these seven pyramids, these seven souls, to mark the spots. He also erected seven pyramids opposite one another for his father and mother and four brothers. For the pyramids he devised an elaborate setting, erecting about them great columns. And on the columns, he put suits of armor for a permanent memorial. And besides the suits of armor, he carved ships so that they could be seen by all who sailed the sea.” When I read that yesterday, I said, "I have no idea what that means.” And you're saying they could see it from the ocean or from the Mediterranean Sea, rather.

Amit: Yes.

Nehemia: Wow. How far are we from the Mediterranean approximately?

Amit: It's about, approximately 20 km, even less.

Nehemia: And we're in the hills, so it's downhill from here. And you know, they would see it up in the hills. Wow, that’s amazing. And it goes on, “This is the tomb that he built in Modi'in. It remains to this day.” And what you're saying is, when the Christians came here in the 4th century, it's just possible that they came here and they saw the seven pyramids, or something that remained at least. And they decided, "Okay, this is the Tomb of the Maccabees described in 1 Maccabees, described by Josephus,” which they may have had access to. They probably did, because 1 Maccabees was in the Greek Christian Bible of that time. And they may have come here and said, "Oh, this is the spot. These were martyrs, just like we were martyred,” meaning the Christians. “And these were Jewish martyrs,” and they may have made this a sacred spot. And what you're saying is even until the 19th century, the Muslim still believed this was a sacred spot with a sacred tree. And we've seen a lot of spots like this around Israel in archeology, where there's a sacred tree that marks a Biblical spot. The example that comes to mind is, I think it's at Tel-Dan which has the tomb of a sheikh. I think it's called “Sheikh al-Qadi” which is the Arabic word for judge and the Hebrew word, Dan means a judge. So again, in this folklore, in this tradition that’s been distorted, they think that Dan was a sheikh, maybe there was a sheikh there. But he's named after the biblical Dan, and then the excavations, and topography, and history, and historiography then confirm that this is the spot.

I don't know, you can’t as an archeologist, tell me a 100 percent this is the spot. But I'm looking, I'm seeing these giant stones, this was a significant structure. I mean, this wasn't somebody's, you know…

Amit: Nehemia, I could tell you, to summarize, one thing. I'm excavating in the Holy Land more than 20 years. I never excavated a more elusive and enigmatic site than this. And you know what? Maybe this elusiveness and riddle-ness is another kind of a proof to what was here in ancient times.

Nehemia: Wow. There you have it. Thank you so much, Amit. I'm very grateful that you came and you took me here into this site. And I got to see something, I think a lot of people don't like if you come here as a tourist, you can't see, I think, what I just saw. It's hidden, you'll never find it and don't try. This is amazing. So, this could be the actual spot where the Maccabees fought against the Greeks.

It's because of them that we can stand here today as Jews in a Jewish state, because of what they fought, the way they fought. And look, also give credit to the Christians who preserved this spot. And in some way, even to the Muslims who through some distorted memory of what was here, they didn't quite understand. They thought it was a demon and a snake, but they knew it was a sacred spot. It had been by previous people. It kind of reminds me, in some way, of the Dome of the Rock which early had been a temple, possibly for Hadrian, a pagan temple. And before that obviously, it was the Second Temple and the First Temple. So, these spots are preserved throughout history. The story changes. The story gets distorted but the sanctity…

Amit: The memory of holiness.

Nehemia: The memory of holiness is preserved. That's pretty cool. And you could go to Rome and you'll find churches that today it'll be the Church of the Virgin Mary, and at one time it was the Church of the Vestal Virgins. So, that memory is preserved. What you do in archeology is, you take all of this information, you take the traditions, you take the folklore, you take the historiography, and the history, and the descriptions of these travelers, and then you go and you dig. And when you dig you find stuff. And what you’ve found here was this cross which is unusual. How many other tombs do you have in Israel that have a mosaic with a cross in them from this period?

Amit: This kind of a cross?

Nehemia: Yes.

Amit: None.

Nehemia: So, this is the only one. This is a unique spot, guys, and the Tomb of the Maccabees was unique. We don’t have a lot of tombs, I think, that are described in ancient literature from this period. And the tomb of the Maccabees was so special that it got a description both in 1 Maccabees and in Josephus. And I don't know, I think this is the spot. I'm gonna proclaim it, this is the spot. The archeologist didn't say it, but Nehemia has proclaimed it. And I don't know, is it important that this is the spot? I think it is.

I think it’s amazing that we can read in this ancient source about these people and then we can go and we can find the place that was built to commemorate where they were buried. I think that's amazing. Where could people find about more about this? He made me read it for my homework, this Hebrew article with all these diagrams. I loved it. It was great.

Amit: The English version. In the site, you could enter the Internet site of the Israeli Antiquities Authority.

Nehemia: We'll post a link to that article in English, excellent.

Amit: Post a link. You have a little bit of a professional article, but it would be of interest. You have all the background and the historiography of the research. And I hope that in the future, I will publish a book and more articles about this unique place, and wait.

Nehemia: Is there gonna be more excavation?

Amit: We hope. We are trying in the Israeli Antiquities Authority to raise some money to continue the excavation, because this site is much, much larger than the 19th century explorers saw and what we excavated now. And maybe 1 meter from us, 2 meters, 10 meters, there is this smoking gun that we are searching for. Maybe in inscriptions, maybe in architectural elements which would give us the clues that this was the place from the 2nd, from the 1st century BC.

Nehemia: Wow. Thank you so much Amit. Shalom.

Amit: Shalom, shalom. Thank you.

Nehemia: Just when I though this program was over, Amit turns to me and he tells me something amazing. You know, it has happened to me all the time, where the best thing in the entire interview happens after the recorder’s turned off. So, I want to share what he told me.

He showed me this, what they call the “eastern niche,” or I think the British say “niche.” This is the spot where they found the cross which marks where early Christians came, believing that this was the spot of the Tomb of the Maccabees. And that's really, right now, along with the name and a few other things, the strongest proof that this was the spot of the Tomb of the Maccabees.

And so, when they were first excavating, Amit told me, they started to dig. And they found, before they even uncovered the cross, that this spot had served as a foxhole during Israel's War of Independence, that there was a fierce battle there and they excavated and found bullets. And they knew from documents of the period, but they actually found the archeological remains from this fierce battle where 23 Israelis were killed. And this exact spot, the one that had the Tomb of the Maccabees, this eastern niche which had the cross mosaic in a later period, it also had what the Muslims considered at one time to be a sacred fig tree. That's why the mosaic survived. It was protected by the fig tree.

It was a fierce battle where 23 Israelis died and their bodies were taken to the nearby Arab village of Al-Midya, which is the name Modi'in, and their bodies were mutilated. It was a horrific event. And the really emotional part of it - I’m getting emotional – is that they found, stashed in a little crevice of this eastern niche, they found the clips that the soldier would put in his gun. He had a bunch of clips and he was firing, trying to defend the fledging state of Israel in 1948. And he put those clips there and never got to use them, because he was killed on that exact spot.

Think about this, the same spot where the Maccabees were buried, the ones who defended the faith of Israel against the Greek persecution, on that very spot, this is really…He spent his last minutes there, trying to defend the Jewish state. Three years after the Holocaust he's on that spot, the spot where the Maccabees were buried, and he puts his clips there and he never gets to use them.

And all these years later, the archeologists come along and they uncover this. And, wow. I want to give a shout out, a thank you to my friend Mark Gee in New York who sponsored this episode, thank you very much Mark. This was a deep honor for me to go to the place where all these things happened.

Even the Jews of that period, sometimes in the 160s or 150s BCE, realized the significance of what had happened. And they made this monumental Tomb, that I could go there today and realize that throughout history there's something about this spot. Have a great Hanukkah, happy holiday. Shalom.

Amit: Yesterday, I was filmed in one of my excavations in Jerusalem, a really important one, you should come here, under the Kishle…

Nehemia: Okay, I would love that.

Amit: …fantastic Herod's palace, etc. etc.

Nehemia: Oh, you're excavating Herod’s palace?

Amit: Something like this. And we shot there, and actually it was, it's a secret. There was some very important crew from Great Britain, filming for a very famous production in the US. After they photographed it with special cameras etc. etc., they put the camera on the floor and it was robbed and taken away. They have to come again and film it again.

Nehemia: Oh, so they lost the tape.

Amit: They lost the tape.

Nehemia: Oh, my. Wow.

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Show notes:

Amit Reem is a Jerusalem district archaeologist with the Israeli antiquities authority.  He is married, has 2 children, and lives in Modi'in.  He has been involved in more than 23 explorations in the field of archaeology, specialized in Crusader and Christian archaeology. He has excavated numerous sites mainly in Jerusalem, among these are: The Holy Sepulchre, Mount Sion, Jaffa Gate, Mount Olives, Christian Quarter and many more.

Israeli archaeologist Amit Reem at the Tomb of the Maccabees. His excavations suggest that this is probably where early Christians believed the tomb was located. However, further excavations at the site are required to prove it definitively.

Israeli archaeologist Amit Reem at the Tomb of the Maccabees. His excavations suggest that this is probably where early Christians believed the tomb was located. However, further excavations at the site are required to prove it definitively.

A mosaic cross marking the spot where early Christians apparently believed the Tomb of the Maccabees to be located. Later Muslims worshiped a "sacred" fig tree on this spot. In 1948 it served as a fox hole where an Israeli soldier laid down his life defending the fledgling state during Israel's War of Independence.

A mosaic cross marking the spot where early Christians apparently believed the Tomb of the Maccabees to be located. Later Muslims worshiped a "sacred" fig tree on this spot. In 1948 it served as a fox hole where an Israeli soldier laid down his life defending the fledgling state during Israel's War of Independence.

Donate to the Israel Antiques Authority to continuing excavation of the Tomb of the Maccabees.
  • Cadence says:

    God saw to it that the identification markers were preserved down through history that made certain the location of the burial place of the Maccabees , so that they could be properly honored. In Psalm 37 it says, God keeps the bones of the righteous man…..could that be also in death as well as in life, that he watches over the remains of the righteous that their tombs not be desecrated? I feel this is the hand of God at work, and is a very moving story of his love for his faithful ones, his martyrs, how he protects them even after their deaths.

  • Mary says:

    Great story teller. Thank you

    Pictures were helpful!

  • Barbara J says:

    What a pleasure to listen to Amit Reem, he is a natural story teller. Any updates on the site?

  • John downing says:

    Maccabees toms its amazing

  • Brenda says:

    Nehemia, I love you, you are a NATIONAL TREASURE! Both American and Israeli! Your interviews are incredibly important and so interesting that I’m constantly on the edge of my seat. Thank you for your amazing work, Nehemia. Praying for a boat-load of Yehovah’s blessings on you. Happy Hanukkah, dear one!

  • Cyndie Simmons says:

    WOW … just WOW!!! What an incredible interview! I’ve been reading the book of I Maccabee’s the last couple of nights and had just read about this tomb. I love it when history comes to life and Todah Rabah Nehemia and Amit Reem for bringing this to life for us all!

    QUESTION FOR YOU: Who were the Assideans that were mentioned in I Maccabee’s 2:42. I wish I had an Hebrew/English of these books, as there are so many things I’d like to dig into a little deeper, but for now I’ll have to be content with studying in the KJV 1611, Brenton English Septuagint, Bishops 1568, Geneva 1587and Douay Rheims 1899.

    “Assideans who were mighty men of Israel, even all such as were voluntarily devoted unto the law.”
    {I Maccabees 2:42}

    Blessings and Chag Sameach Chanukkah!

    • Russell kerr says:

      During my stay with the state, in a Catholic bible I found all 4 books of maccabees in another only (1&2)
      I could mistaken but 3&4 are a repeat of 1&2 both books were english

  • MARK LANCASTER says:

    THANK-YOU…
    FOR YOUR WORK…
    GOD BLESS

  • Aron Brackeen says:

    TY, Nehemia! This Hebrew Voices was excellent. The on-location Israeli archaeologist, story time Amit Reem is passionately knowledgeable about his work and captivating to listen to as well. The two of you made a very dynamic dialogue about one of the greatest stories from history in the last 2,200 years. Great job! it was as though I could see your words. Because of it, I can read John 10:22-38 with great appreciation, knowing there were some Jewish Jewels that put it all on the line. That is noteworthy valor and commitment. (There is coming another time for the same response.)

    May they continue digging…

  • Mike says:

    The best HV’s I was on the edge of my seat waiting to hear what was going to be said next. Love this. Please keep it up brother.