Hiram's Tomb



Hiram's Tomb (ضريح حيرام or قبر حيرام) is a large limestone sarcophagus and pedestal located approximately 6 km southeast of Tyre, Lebanon, near the village of Hanaouay on the road to Qana.

Although traditionally attributed to Hiram I, it has been dated to the Persian period, 4–6 centuries after the supposed time of Hiram. It shows some similarity with other Persian tombs such as the Tomb of Cyrus and Gur-e-Dokhtar.

Louis Félicien de Saulcy, who visited the tomb shortly after Renan's excavations but published his work beforehand, wrote that "All this has only been half-excavated, and would require intelligent exploration, only after which the tomb of Hiram will say its last word." Renan responded by writing: "I don't believe Hiram's Tomb will ever say its last word, as it has no inscription. One day, people smarter than me will study it; but I doubt they will find anything other than what we found. The excavation that we made of this monument was complete."

Authenticity of name
According to Edward Robinson in his Biblical Researches in Palestine, the first published mention of the proposed connection to Hiram was made by Vere Monro in his description of his 1833 journey to the region. Vere Monro described it as follows: "...the village of Anner... Annowy is a mile beyond. In the rocks between these two places are many tombs, cut to the form and size of coffins, and about the latter village the traces of antiquity are still more numerous. Hewn stones are scattered about near fragments of ancient walls, and the road passes over two wide steps of white marble, on each side of which is a solid square block of stone, that seems to have answered the purpose of a door-post. Half a mile beyond, close to the road, is a gigantic sarcophagus, called Abber Hiram; [The Tomb of Hiram] having a base fifteen feet long, ten high, and ten wide. The sarcophagus upon the top of this, cut from a single stone, is twelve feet long, six high, and eight wide, having a cover three feet thick, cut away round the edge, so as to fit close into the sarcophagus, the interior of which is seven feet long, and two and a half wide. It has been opened at one end; though whether Cambyses or John Hyrcanus made the incision, is not inscribed; but the known wealth of Hiram would render him after death a fit victim for plunder in the eyes of the great sepulchral thesaurophagi."

In his 1861 Mission de Phénicie, the French scholar Ernest Renan studied the monument. He began by explaining: "Many travelers have spoken of the so-called Hiram tomb. This name does not deserve to be discussed. We do not see a trace before 1833, and yet it is a remarkable monument, which must have attracted attention from the Middle Ages. If at that time this enormous tomb had been considered the tomb of Solomon's friend, there is no doubt that it would have been mentioned in Brocard or in any other description of Palestine."

Renan went on to explain his view that the naming of the tomb must have been the work of some French or English tourist of the first quarter of the 19th century, who had wanted to hear the name of the famous Biblical personality, and he described the process of myth-making around Biblical sites in the region, particularly in Jerusalem.

Description
The structure is 4 meters long by 3 meters wide, with an overall height of 7 meters including the 2 meter high sarcophagus.

Renan's excavations
During Renan's excavations in 1860-61, a staircase was found to be carved out of the rock leading into a large empty cavern adjacent to the structure and its foundations. The arrangement of the foundations suggested that the staircase and cavern pre-dated tomb, which appeared to have been built on top. Concrete appears to have been poured into another cavern directly underneath, to create foundations for the monument. Renan, pages 600-601: "Nos fouilles au pied du tombeau d'Hiram, du côté du champ (côté septentrional), nous amenèrent à un résultat singulier. Elles mirent au jour un escalier oblique taillé dans le roc, se rattachant aux fondations mêmes du mausolée et plus ancien que le mausolée; cet escalier conduit à un grand caveau voûté irrégulièrement, relativement très-élevé, revêtu de cailloutage, n'offrant ni un caractère sépulcral, ni un caractère religieux. Nous trouvâmes ce caveau absolument vide... On se convaincra facilement par l'étude des coupes que l'escalier qui descend à la cave n'a pu être pratiqué postérieurement à côté de la masse colossale. La disposition des fondations prouve que l'escalier existait déjà quand le tombeau fut bâti. Il y a plus. M. Thobois pense que le caveau et la partie d'escalier évidée dans le roc qui y donne accès existaient avant le tombeau, et que cest au moment de la construction du tombeau que les marches qui sont de côté et rapportêe ont été ajoutées. En effet, l'escalier qui sort directement du caveau va aboutir sous le tombeau; on le voit encore se prolonger audessous. Pour préparer l'assise du tombeau à cet endroit, on a coulé du béton, qui comble le haut de l'escalier; puis, pour dégager la grotte, on a fait le petit escalier oblique. Il est presque impossible de se dérober à cette conséquence, tout étrange qu'elle est... De cet état d'inachèvement du côté du caveau, et surtout de ce que le monument semble s'épauler de ce côté, nous tirions la conclusion que dans l'antiquité le monument était adossé, au moins jusqu'à une partie de sa hauteur, à une construction, à une ferme par exemple, qui aurait été bâtie en même temps que ce monument. L'entrée du caveau aurait été alors couverte et aurait donné dans un intérieur, ce qui, dans tous les cas, doit être supposé, puisque sans cela le caveau se fût rempli d'eau. M. Thobois m'a ensuite inspiré des doutes sur l'hypothèse de l'adossement. Il croit que la grossièreté de l'un des côtés est une de ces irrégularités si nombreuses dans les monuments phéniciens, dans ceux d'Amrit par exemple. Ce côté devait être moins en vue que celui du chemin; on l'aura négligé. H est certain que l'existence du bandeau autour des quatre côtés du tombeau combat l'hypothèse à laquelle nous nous étions d'abord arrêtés."