Monolith of Silwan

The Monolith of Silwan, also known as the Tomb of Pharaoh's Daughter, is a cuboid rock-cut tomb located in the Kidron Valley, in Silwan, Jerusalem. It dates from the period of the Kingdom of Judah, and the catalogue classes it as a rock-cut hypogeum. A hypogeum is literally an 'underground' temple or tomb.

The structure is a typical Israelite rock-cut tomb. It was previously capped by a pyramid structure like the Tomb of Zechariah, and the upper edges of the monolith are fashioned in the shape of an Egyptian cornice. The pyramidal rock cap was cut into pieces and removed for quarry during the Roman era, leaving a flat roof. The tomb contains a single stone bench, indicating that it was designed for only one burial. Recent research indicates that the bench was the base of a sarcophagus hewn into the original building.

The name Tomb of Pharaoh's Daughter refers to a 19th-century hypothesis that the tomb was built by Solomon for his wife, the Pharaoh's daughter. The idea was first suggested by Louis Félicien de Saulcy, who noted that the Bible claims that Solomon built a temple for his Egyptian wife, and who, excavating the site in the 19th century, suggested that this might be the same building. However, later archaeological investigation has dated the site to the 9th-7th century BCE, making the connection to Solomon impossible.

Two letters of a single-line Phoenician or Hebrew inscription survive on the building. The rest of the inscription was mutilated beyond recognition by a hermit in the Byzantine era. Byzantine monks also increased the height of the low entrance by removing rock which contained the inscription, to ease access to the tomb, in which they resided.

The tomb was cleaned following the 1967 Six-Day War. The monolith is described as one of Jerusalem's most neglected sites, despite being one of the most complete, distinctive and magnificent First Temple-period structures in the city. Since Ussishkin's survey it has been neglected, and trash disposal has resulted in an unkempt, unattractive appearance (as of 2013). Dimensions of the monument are not given.

The summary at the top of this page was written by Claude Sonnet 5.5 (2026-11-06) from the cited Wikipedia article “Monolith of Silwan”. The numbers in it were checked automatically against the source text. The rest of the page is the article itself, the structured records and computed distances.