Archaeologists Discover Ancient Tomb Marker Cursing All Who Enter In Israel

Archaeologists discovered a warning from a man known as Jacob the Proselyte, who lived 1,800 years ago and really didn’t want you to mess with his grave. This ancient person, who took the name Yaakov Ha’Ger after converting to Judaism, had a creepy message scrawled across his tomb in blood-red Greek letters warning that “any who open this grave will be cursed," according to The Times of Israel.

The epitaph is actually written in crimson paint, not blood, but the look of the tomb is still harrowing and, as it turns out, extraordinary beyond the menacing posthumous threat. Jacob’s message is the first inscription in the ancient Jewish Beit She’arim necropolis, a UNESCO World Heritage Site located in the Galilee, to be identified in 65 years. It is also the only one in this historic site that makes clear a convert is the occupant of the tomb. 

Archaeologists discovered the grave marker for Jacob, who was 60 when he died, last year during excavations of the historic Beit She’arim cemetery. The find was announced in a joint press release from the University of Haifa and the Israel Antiquities Authority before a conference held on June 1, reports The Times of Israel.

Unfortunately, it seems that the tombstone was separated from his grave at some point since his burial by looters, so his final resting place remains unknown. The phasing of the inscription was likely chosen by Jacob himself, according to Jonathan Price, a classics professor at Tel Aviv University. 

“I’m sure he prepared his stone before he died,” Price said, according to The Times of Israel. “Whether he wrote with his hand or not, we can’t know,” he added, noting that it is also not clear where Jacob was originally from because “Beit She’arim is known for being an international burial ground for Jews from all over the east.”

Wherever he was from, and wherever his body ended up, Jacob’s threat still reverberates across time and adds to a list of epitaphs that warn against messing with the earthly  remains of the dead.