Tomb of Hamrath
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The Tomb of Hamrath was a late Hellenistic mausoleum that formerly stood in As-Suwayda, a city in the Hauran area, in modern-day Syria. From its inscription, it is known that the mausoleum was dedicated to a woman named Hamrath, and the style of lettering allows for its dating to the 1st century BC. The monument featured a design recalling classical Greek architecture with Hellenistic influence, including a stepped pyramid.[1]
Travelers in the 19th century documented the Tomb of Hamrath as a sizable and fairly well-preserved funerary monument situated atop a hill with views overlooking a ravine.[1] By the 1860s, the structure was nearly complete in illustrations by De Vogüé.[2] Yet, by 1909, Brünnow & Domaszewski's photographs[3] showed it had deteriorated to roughly half its previous state.[2]
Hamrath
The mausoleum's connection to Hamrath is established through a bilingual inscription in Greek and Aramaic, which reads: "Tomb of Hamrath, which was erected for her by Odainath her husband." An epigraphic analysis of this inscription suggests that the monument dates back to the first century BC.[1]