Tomb Door with Ten Panels

Monumental stone doors for elaborate stone tombs are known in pagan, Jewish, and Christian contexts in the eastern Mediterranean. They allowed access to the tomb and symbolized the passage between life and death. Carved in imitation of wooden doors, the auspicious motifs on the panels guarded the dead. Originally this door had extensions, now lost, at each end on one side, that allowed it to open and close on a ball and socket hinge. It was locked with a bolt sent through the holes in the thickness of the door.