Guide
Early Medieval Tombstones
7th to 12th Century
Restricted
Some Jewish tombstones remain from Italy, Spain, and Germany. Surprisingly few have survived from the Islamic world.
Tombstones and their inscriptions are of particular historical interest, for they can illuminate the social and religious values that inspired Jewish communities, often displaying their complex relationship with local languages.
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Tombstone (Brindisi, Italy)
This tombstone, from Brindisi in the Puglia region of Italy, is inscribed with a series of biblical verses (Isaiah 52:7, Nahum 2:1, Psalms 145:19, Job 25:2, and Esther 10:3). These verses are also…
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Tombstone (Venosa, Italy)
This tombstone, with a Hebrew inscription, marks the grave of a Rabbi Abraham, who died at age thirty-seven. The dating system, popular in early medieval Italy, measures dates with respect to the…
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Tombstone (Córdoba, Spain)
This marble headstone, belonging to a Jew named Judah bar Akon, is the only Jewish headstone preserved from medieval Córdoba, Spain. The text, dating to very early in the Jewish history of this city…
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Tombstone (Worms, Rhineland)
This tombstone of Samuel ben Asher ha-Levi, in the Jewish cemetery in Worms, Germany, dates to the late eleventh century. Now broken and weathered, it stood in place for more than eight hundred years…
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Tombstone (Bari, Italy)
This shows a roughly inscribed Hebrew funerary epitaph in Bari, Italy, for an otherwise unknown Elijah ben Moses, from Puglia. His name is on one side (right) and on the reverse (left) he is called “s…
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Jewish Cemetery (Worms, Rhineland)
Known as the Heiliger Sand (Holy Sands), the Jewish cemetery in Worms, Germany, contains gravestones that date back to 1058/9, although the site could have been used for burials even earlier. The…
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Tombstone (Worms, Rhineland)
The gravestone of Jacob ha-baḥur (“the unmarried” or “young man”), once considered the oldest tombstone in the Jewish cemetery of Worms, Germany, dates to 1076/7. The text asks that Jacob rest with…
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Tombstone (León, Spain)
Discovered in León, in Castile, Spain, the stele of Solomon bar David ben Parjad is dated to July 1097. The marble stele measures about 15 inches (38.1 cm) by 1 inch (2.5 cm) and remains well…
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Tombstone (Palermo, Sicily)
This marble tombstone, from Palermo in Sicily, commemorates a Norman Sicilian woman named Anna and dates to 1149. The stone contains five panels. In the middle is a colorful Greek cross, and the other…