299. Raqīm, ar- | الرقيم

‘Ammān Governorate

Maqām Aṣḥāb al-Kahf, Roman-Byzantine tomb, cave of the Seven Sleepers

JADIS no.: 2414001

MEGA no.: 14479

Coordinates: 31°53'56.0"N 35°58'25.6"E

31.898889, 35.973778

Plan: The rocky terrain is artificially terraced and the tomb occupies the lower one. It is a rupestrian cave (figs. 200.3-6), the tomb belongs to the cross shaped arcosolium type. It has an elaborate rock-cut façade in its S exterior front. On the upper terrace a small mosque of square plan (no. 300) surmounts in part the underlying tomb. In front of the tomb’s façade extends a second mosque of broad rectangular plan. The E and W arcosolia are filled with reach three rock-carved sarcophagi (two at the long sides and one at the short sides). In axis to the first chamber extends to the N another room (square in plan) with three rock-cut arcosolia to the N, E and W. There is a small corridor from the E arcosolium merging into a perpendicular open shaft which is accessible from the upper mosque. This obviously played a role in the historical tradition (see traveler reports for 298) and the sun-light effects (figs. 299.7-8).

Measurements: unknown.

Exterior: unknown.

Interior: unknown.

Building Materials: The cave is cut into the extant limestone rock, while the two mosques have been constructed of blocks which have most probably been quarried in the immediate environments.

Construction details: The entire tomb has been carved into the extant natural rock. The façade is adorned on both sides of the entrance door with each one pilaster and an engaged half column with Corinthian capitals (figs. 299. 3. 9-10). The space beside each of these columns is occupied by aniche on a pedestal in relief. The interior of the tomb has been widely covered with wall plaster in various layers.

Preservation: The tomb is visited by international Muslim pilgrims all over the year.

Inscription(s): A fragmentary Kufic inscription (1) on (at least) three lines was found inside the cave at the frontal N corner of the W arcosolium, incised into the plaster on the wall (Mhaoesh 2019, 75 fig. 22 G, with photo by TMW-K and facsimile by MMh, transcription and translation by NAt):

Translation: “Care of the Amīr ibn ‘Alām al-Dīn [...]” Another fragmentary Kufic inscription (2) on four or five lines is found inside the cave, also incised into the plaster of the wall. Only the first two lines with the Islamic confession (shuhāda) is legible (photo and facsimile by Mhaoesh 2019, 75 fig. 22 G):

Translation: “There is no God exept Allāh and Muḥammed is his messenger [....]” (NAt).  A third graffito in Kufic script (3 on four lines is close to the previous one, also incised into the plaster of the wall (photo TMWK, transcription and translation NAt):

Translation: :“The cave [...] Qāsem Muḥammed Allāh from [...].

A painted Kufic inscription (4) in a red tabula ansata is preserved on the backwall of the W arcosolium (Mhaoesh 2019, 57 no. 6; photo TMW-K, transcription and translation NAt):

Translation: “There is no god but Allāh. Muḥammad is the messenger of God. (Yūsef bin ‘Ayyūb, only readable on old photos).”

Another graffito in Kufic script (5) on four lines is close to no 2, also incised into the plaster of the wall (photo TMWK, transcription and translation NAt).

Translation: “There is no god but Allāh. Muḥammad is the messenger of Allāh.”

There are countless other graffiti by Muslim pilgrims incised into the plaster of the cave walls, far too many to present all of them in the present gazetteer. They are partly scratched on different layers of the wall plaster, some of them overlapping each other on different patches. It would be a meritorious task for a student in Arabic epigraphy and history to read and register them systematically in future.

Date(s): According to the style of the Corinthian capitals at the façade (fig. 299.10) the architectural decorations have been overworked in the first half of the 6th century AD. At that time, the place was already subject for Christian veneration. The historical sources prove that the cult of the Seven Sleepers continued without interruption during the Islamic period from Umayyad times onward (see no. 298, traveler reports. The rock-cut arcosolium tomb was part of a larger Roman necropolis extending along a road between Saḥāb and Philadelphia / ‘Ammān. There are a number of other rock-cut tombs with elaborate façades further W (figs. 298.5-6), and some rock-cut burial shafts in the immediate environs of the later Islamic sanctuary. The original Roman character of the Tomb of the Seven Sleepers is also proved by natural sun light effects (figs. 299,7-8) produced by the door opening and the vertical shaft in the N arcosolium (Waziri 2010). Such light effects occur frequently in funeral architecture in the city of Rome and Latium, and are attested in the case of the “Royal” hypogaeum at Gadara/Umm Qais (Hariri 2020), 32-33):

Bibliography: see no. 298.