Tomb Door Carved as a Double Door

This commanding slab is carved in imitation of a wooden double door. A spiral central post separates the halves, on which are carved three symmetrical panels. The incised lines at their corners suggest that they were copied from doors covered with metal plates. The top and bottom panels are decorated with large bosses, imitating metal ones. The circles at the top may be meant as door knockers.

Monumental stone doors for elaborate stone tombs are known in pagan, Jewish, and Christian contexts in the eastern Mediterranean. Carved in imitation of the structure and decoration of wooden doors, they allowed access to the tomb and symbolized the passage between life and death. Originally these doors had extensions at each end on one side, now lost, so that they could be opened and closed on a ball and socket hinge.They were locked with a bolt sent through the holes in the thickness of the doors.