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Advanced level – ‫רמה מתקדמת‬

Yason Grave

In 1956 ground was dug on Alfasi Street in Jerusalem in order to build the
foundation of an apartment building. In the course of digging an exquisitely
beautiful mausoleum was uncovered. After the tomb was discovered, it was
decided not to build at this location. It was further decided to grant the tomb the
number that was supposed to be for the apartment building. The shape of the tomb
and coins that were found there imply that apparently the mausoleum is from the
end of the Second Temple Period. The original tomb had been damaged in an
earthquake and had been restored during the Second Temple Period. It contained
two rooms. The first contained the burial crypts; in the second, the deceased
persons' bones were collected. There is a pyramid on the top of the structure. The
original pyramid was destroyed over the years and was restored using stones found
on site. Writings and drawings were found in the mausoleum. In the drawings we
can see a menorah, a warship in pursuit of a merchant ship, and a sitting deer. The
writings are in various languages. The word Yason is engraved in Hebrew. A dirge
on Yason's death is written in Aramaic and Greek. It is very difficult to decipher
the writings but one Greek writing states, "Rejoice, ye living". The writings are
mostly in very bad condition and it is still not possible to discern the meaning of
most of them.

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