science

Tomb of Zechariah

Tomb of Zechariah is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Tomb of Zechariah rather than just read about it. In short: The Tomb of Zechariah is an ancient stone monument in Jerusalem that is considered in Jewish tradition to be the tomb of Zechariah ben Jehoiada. It is a few meters from the Tomb of Absalom and adjacent to the Tomb of Benei Hezir.

Key takeaways

Tomb of Zechariah belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Tomb of Zechariah to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Tomb of Zechariah from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Tomb of Zechariah is an ancient stone monument in Jerusalem that is considered in Jewish tradition to be the tomb of Zechariah ben Jehoiada. It is a few meters from the Tomb of Absalom and adjacent to the Tomb of Benei Hezir.

Location The tomb is cut into the limestone cliff face on the eastern escarpment of the Kidron Valley, directly across from the Temple Mount, some 6 metres (20 ft) southeast of the façade of the Tomb of Benei Hezir. The cliff features several geological units: the harder, dense limestone of the Shivta Formation and the softer Nezer and Menuha formations above it. The Tomb of Zechariah, like the adjacent Tomb of Benei Hezir and the lower part of the Tomb of Absalom, is cut into the Shivta limestone; the overlying formations along the same slope support, by contrast, the burials of the modern Jewish cemetery on the Mount of Olives. Schmidt hammer rebound measurements on the Tomb of Zechariah, a method used to assess the hardness and strength of rock or concrete, yielded R-values between 58.9 and 64.4, consistent with "hard, dense, crystalline limestone".

Architectural description The monument is a monolith—it is completely carved out of the solid rock The lowest part of the monument is a crepidoma, a base made of three steps. Above it there is a stylobate, upon which there is a decoration of two ionic columns between two half ionic columns and at the corners there are two pilasters. The capitals are of the Ionic order and are decorated with the egg-and-dart decoration. The upper part of the monument is an Egyptian-style cornice upon which sits a pyramid. The fine masonry and decoration that is visible on the western side, the facade, is only the western side. On the other sides of the tomb, the work is extremely rough and unfinished; it seems as if the work was stopped before the artists could finish the job.

Identification

Traditional identification According to a Jewish tradition, which is first suggested by the 1215 AD writings of Menahem haHebroni, this is the tomb of the priest Zechariah Ben Jehoiada, a figure that the Book of Chronicles records to have been stoned:

And the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest, which stood above the people, and said unto them, Thus saith God, Why transgress ye the commandments of the Lord, that ye cannot prosper? because ye have forsaken the Lord, he hath also forsaken you. And they conspired against him, and stoned him with stones at the commandment of the king in the court of the house of the Lord

Scientific identification and dating The style of the construction, which includes Hellenistic details such as Ionic columns, is similar to that of the Tomb of Benei Hezir, and several authors think that they are near-contemporary with one another; scholars specialising in funerary practices and monuments have ascribed a first-century CE date to the tomb. It has been proposed that the Tomb of Zechariah is actually the nefesh (a Jewish funerary monument similar to the Greek stele) for the Tomb of Benei Hezir, which is accessed from a rock-cut passage adjacent to the monument, and which states that it has an adjacent magnificent structure, an item not otherwise identified.

Gallery

See also Rock-cut tombs in ancient Israel

References

Bibliography Barag, Dan (2003). "The 2000–2001 Exploration of the Tombs of Benei Hezir and Zechariah". Israel Exploration Journal. 53 (1): 78–110. JSTOR 27927026 – via JSTOR. Shtober-Zisu, Nurit; Zissu, Boaz (2018). "Lithology and the Distribution of Early Roman-era Tombs in Jerusalem's Necropolis". Progress in Physical Geography: Earth and Environment. 42 (5): 628–649. doi:10.1177/0309133318776484.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Tomb of Zechariah

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Tomb of Zechariah claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Tomb of Zechariah before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Tomb of Zechariah ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Tomb of Zechariah

In research: Tomb of Zechariah appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Tomb of Zechariah in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Tomb of Zechariah is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Archaeological sites in Jerusalem, Jewish mausoleums, Mount of Olives, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Tomb of Zechariah outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Tomb of Zechariah in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Tomb of Zechariah means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Tomb of Zechariah out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Tomb of Zechariah in simple terms?

Why does Tomb of Zechariah matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Tomb of Zechariah?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Tomb of Zechariah.