Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1922-10-10
HER0D'S COUSINS TOMB
FOUND BY u. P. MAN
Antiochus Was One Who Dr.
rected Slaughter of Chill
dren Of Bethlehem.

Philadelphia, Oct. 10.-The burial
place of Herod's first cousin. Antio-
chus, has been found by explorers OF
The Museum OF the University of
PENNSYLVANIA. nj Bath Shan. in Pales-
tine, according to announcement just
made at the museum by DR.. George
Byron Gordon, the Director.
Antiochus, in all probability, was
one Of the men charged by Herod with
directing the slaughter Of the child
rem OF Bethlehem, as narrated by st.
| Matthew, in the vain effort to kill the
| Christ Child, who had been described
10 Herod by the wise men as the king
OF the Jews"
No discovery made by archaeolo-
gists since the start was made a CEN
fury ago on the exploration of buried
cities in the Near East has aroused
so much interest among followers OF
Christianity. 1t is the nearest APP
proach 50 far made TO the finding OF
contemporary records OF Christ and
OF the event leading up to the found
ing of the Christian religion.
Information Ct the discovery came
TO the museum from DR.. Clarence
Stanley Fisher, director of eycava-
tons at Beth Shan, who has just con-
Guided the second half year of opera
tions there. In Il letter to DR.. Gordon
some time ago he announced that a
hard stone sarcophagus was found
in one OF the Roman tomhs at the
site. On IL was an inscription in
Greek.
The letters. were quite Clear. DIR,
Fisher wrote, but the date at the be-
ginning and the name at the end puz-
zled us. We have in the camp no
works OF reference. and so could not
look up any OF the details. On Mon
day we had a visit from Pere Vincent
a--d two Of his colleagues and. OF
course. showed them the sarcophasus
They also could lot get the meaning
but supposed. as we had done. thai
the last name was some local family
name.
AS soon a. they returned 10 Jeru.
salem Pere Vincent looked up the
name and a just sent me a letter
giving the results OF his serrch. Ths
inscription refers to Ant!ochus, tn,
son OF Phalhon. The latter was tn,
brother OF Antipater, founder OF III,
Herodian Dynasty. and father o
Herod the Great. Hence. the owner o
our S~arcophagus Ia the nrst cousir
OF Herod the Great.
Nov the interesting part Is that tn,
father. Phall!on. wac killed in this dis
trict during the battle with Pompey
n his son. Antiochus, was suppose
10 have died here some time later. TIL
discovery OF his coffin in our cemeter,
proved the point beyond a doubt. S,
far as l know, this is the first esrco
phagus Of the Herodian family which
has been found.
or mo- equal Importance IA tn,
announcement that DIR. Fisher ha,
found in deeper levels OF cup ITO,
the first known Sarcophanki Of tn,
readers OF the Bible that the Phihs
tines defeated King Saul on Noun
Gilboa, which overshadows the ancien
fortress city, and. cutting of his heac
nailed his body to the city walls.
Historians have been puzzled to &C
, count for the Phinstines heretofor,
as contemporary records Of them wer
D few and far between. The hope
I now entertained that somewhere |
: the ruins may be found perhaps the.
own version OF the great battle stor
told in First Samuel.
Archaeologists consider the Phllis
tine cofiine Of even greater importanc
!. than the sarcophagus OF Antiochu
or the eto!e OF King Sety /, OF Esyp