Sanhedrin Tombs (First Cent AD), Jerusalem

Sanhedrin was the supreme court of ancient Israel. The concept of Sanhedrin started from Moses, when God asked him to assemble seventy men of the elders of Israel (Numbers 11:16). Thus the seventy elders, headed by Moses, for a total of seventy-one members became the first Sanhedrin.

The most discussed and noticed Sanhedrin could be the one at the time of Jesus Christ. In New Testament, Sanhedrin played a crucial role in the crucifixion of Jesus, reported in all four Gospels (Mark 14:53–65, Matthew 26:57–68, Luke 22:63–71 and John 18:12-24). Although, Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea were two men from Sanhedrin, who followed Jesus secretly, the council's role as such in His death has been one of the major causes of Christian anti-Semitism. Indeed, it is still a very sensitive and controversial topic among Jewish-Christian dialogues. The last Sanhedrin was held in 358 AD and dissolved, never to be revived despite after several attempts.

These tombs from the second Temple period (First Cent AD) are called Sanhedrin Tombs, because one of the rock-carved three-storied catacomb discovered here has 71 burial chambers, corresponding to the number of the Sanhedrin members. Some researchers believe it to have been a family tomb before the Romans destroyed Jerusalem and banned Jews from the area. Today, the whole neighbourhood around the area in Jerusalem is called Sanhedria.