E06087: Adomnán, in his On the Holy Places, reports the recent visit of the Franco-Gallic bishop Arculf to the tombs near Hebron and Mamre (Palestine) of the Old Testament patriarchs *Abraham (S00275), *Isaac (S00276), *Jacob (S00280), with their wives, Sarah (S00278), *Rebecca (S02281) and *Leah (S02282), and of *Adam (the first man, S00772). Written in Latin at Iona (north-west Britain), possibly 683/689.
Creators: name: Bryan
Publisher: name: University of Oxford
Year: 2018
Subjects: History

description: Adomnán, On the Holy Places - Book Two<br><br>VIIII. X. DE UALLE MAMBRE ET DE SEPULCHRIS IIII PATRIARCHARUM<br>1. Ab orientali vero plaga eiusdem Chebron ager ille occurrit speluncae duplicis respiciens Mambre quem emit Abraham ab Effron Aetheo in possessionem duplicis sepulchri. (x.) 2. In huius agelli ualle sanctus ille Arculfus locum sepulchrorum Arbe uisitauit, hoc est .iiii. patriarchum, Abraham, Isaac, Iacob et Adam primi hominis; 3 quae plantae non sicut in aliis orbis regionibus ad orientem humatorum conuerti moris est sed ad meridiem uersae, et capita contra septemtrionalem plagam conuersa. 4. Horum locus sepulchrorum quadrato humili circumuenitur mur. 5. Adam protoplaustus [...] separatus a ceteris tribus haut longe in sazeo in petra sepulchro super terram ut ceteri de semine eius honorati quiescunt sed in terra humatus humo tectus et ipse puluis in puluerem uersus expectans resurrectionem cum uniuerso semine suo pausat et sic de tali sepulchro eius ad ipsum de se ipso prolata expletur diuina sententia. 6. Et iuxta exemplum primi parentis sepulchri caeteri tres patriarchae et ipsi uili puluere tecti dormientes pausant. Quroum .iiii. sepulchra habent circumcisas et dolatas de singulis lapidibus fabricatas iuxta mensuram longitudinis et latitudinis unius cuiusque sepulchri formatas.<br><br>7. Abraham, Isaac et Iacob tria sepulchra uicina tribus superpositis duris candidis lapidibus ad hanc de qua scribsimus figuram formatis, ut superius dictum est, proteguntur; Adam uero sepulchrum superposito quidem sed obscurioris lapide coloris et uilioris operis protegitur. 8. Trium quoque feminarum uiliores et minores memorias ibidem conspexit Arculfus, Sarrae uidelicet, Rebeccae et Liae, humatarum in terra. 9. Illorum itaque patriarcharum sepulcralis egellus a muro illius antiquissimae Chebron in unius stadii spatio orientem uersus distare dinosctitur [...]<br><br><br>'(9) (10) CONCERNING THE VALLEY OF MAMBRE AND THE SEPULCHRES OF THE 4 PATRIARCHS<br>East of Hebron, looking towards Mamre, one finds the field of the double cave, which Abraham bought from Effrom the Hethite for the possession of a double sepulchre. (10) In the valley in this field the holy Arculf visited Arbe, the site of the sepulchres, of the 4 patriarchs that is, Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and Adam the first man. In burial their feet are not turned towards the east as is customary in other regions of the world, but towards the south, and their heads are turned northwards. The site of the sepulchres is surrounded by a low square wall. Adam, the first man ... is at a small distance from the other three towards the extreme northern end of the square stone enclosure. He does not rest, like the other honoured men of his seed, in a stone sepulchre hollowed out in the rock above the earth's surface; but is buried in the earth, covered by the turf, and dust that he is, to dust returned, he rests awaiting the resurrection with all his seed. And thus is fulfilled the divine sentence about him proposed to himself concerning the character of his sepulchre. And according to the example of the sepulchre of the first parent, the other three patriarchs, covered too in vile dust, rest sleeping. Their four sepulchres have small memorials placed over them, dressed and shaped from single stones, and constructed rather after the fashion of a basilica according to the measure lengthwise and crosswise of each sepulchre.<br><br>The three sepulchres of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, which adjoin one another, are protected, as was said above, by three white stones placed over them, which are shaped according to the pattern we described. The sepulchre of Adam is likewise protected by a stone, but of darker colour, and the work is cruder. There too Arculf saw the smaller, and cruder, memorials of three women, Sarah, that is, Rebecca and Lia, who are buried in the earth. One finds the burial field of those patriarchs to be at a distance of one stade east of the wall of the most ancient city of Hebron ...'<br><br>Text and translation: Meehan 1958, 80-81, lightly modified.