East of Chebron, looking towards Mambre, one finds the field of the
double cave, which Abraham bought from Effrom the Hethite for the
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possession of a double sepulchre. (10) In the valley in this field the holy
Arculf visited Arbe, the site of the sepulchres, of the 4 patriarchs that is,
Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and Adam the first man. In burial their
feet are not turned towards the east as is customary in other regions of
the world, but towards the south, and their heads are turned northwards.
10]
The site of the sepulchres is surrounded by a low square wall. Adam, the
first man, to whom when he sinned God the creator spoke this word
immediately after the sin was committed: Earth thou art and to earth
shalt thou go, is at a small distance from the other three towards the
extreme northern end of the square stone enclosure. He does not rest,
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like the other honoured men of his seed, in a stone sepulchre hollowed
out in the rock above the earth's surface; but is buried in the earth,
covered by the turf, and dust that he is, to dust returned, he rests
awaiting the resurrection with all his seed. And thus is fulfilled the
divine sentence about him pronounced to himself concerning the character
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of his sepulchre. And according to the example of the sepulchre of
the first parent, the other three patriarchs, covered too in vile dust,
rest sleeping. Their four sepulchres have small memorials placed over
them, dressed and shaped from single stones, and constructed rather
after the fashion of a basilica according to the measure lengthwise and
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crosswise of each sepulchre. The three sepulchres of Abraham, Isaac
and Jacob, which adjoin one another, are protected, as was said above,
by three white stones placed over them, which are shaped according to
the pattern we described. The sepulchre of Adam is likewise protected
by a stone, but of darker colour, and the work is cruder. There too
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Arculf saw the smaller, and cruder, memorials of three women, Sarra
that is, and Rebecca and Lia, who are buried in the earth. One finds the
burial field of those patriarchs to be at a distance of one stade east of the
wall of the most ancient city of Chebron. Chebron indeed, it is said, was
founded not only before all the cities of Palestine: it preceded even all
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the Egyptian cities in its foundation the city that one now sees in
miserable ruin.
Let that amount of writing suffice about the sepulchres of the patriarchs.