Hypogeum of Zebîdâ, Son of ʿOgeilû
Southeastern necropolis of Palmyra
Founded in April AD 113
Seventeen funerary sculptures recovered
Syrian Directorate-General of Antiquities and Museums;Obeid Taha and N. Kheir (1958)
Discovery, Location, and Architecture
The Hypogeum of Zebîdâ, designated Hypogeum no. 8, lies in the southeastern necropolis of Palmyra. It was excavated in 1958 by Obeid Taha and N. Kheir for the Syrian Directorate-General of Antiquities and Museums. The tomb was found collapsed, apparently since antiquity.
The hypogeum is oriented east–west and follows an inverted T-shaped plan. A central gallery leads from the entrance to the principal exedra, while two lateral exedrae open from the gallery. The surviving excavation report and architectural plan allowed the original arrangement of the tomb to be reconstructed.
Plan of the Hypogeum of Zebîdâ (Hypogeum no. 8), southeastern necropolis of Palmyra. Reproduced from Anna Sadurska and Adnan Bounni, Les sculptures funéraires de Palmyre (1994), Plan VII.
Foundation, Burials, and Chronology
The foundation inscription records that Zebîdâ, son of ʿOgeilû, son of Malkû ʾAšʿadad, constructed the tomb for himself and his sons in Nisan of the year 424 of the Seleucid era, corresponding to April AD 113.
Seventeen funerary sculptures were recovered: fifteen portrait busts and two stelae. Most belonged to burials in the principal exedra. Only one prepared bay in the southern lateral exedra was used, while many other burial spaces remained empty.
The inscriptions and family relationships represented in the tomb document three generations of the founder’s family. Nebûlâ’s portrait, dated to AD 177, is the only securely dated portrait from the hypogeum. The sculptures as a group are assigned approximately to the period between AD 112 and 210.
