--- title: Joseph's Tomb and the History of a Holy Site Under Attack description: The ancient spot has been a site of frequent conflict canonical: https://time.com/4076295/josephs-tomb-israel-history/ author: Lily Rothman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-10-16T15:58:14.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T11:51:39.915Z article:section: History og:title: The History Behind a Biblical Site Under Attack og:description: Joseph's Tomb has been a site of frequent conflict og:url: https://time.com/4076295/josephs-tomb-israel-history/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfea815fbefc4f34a/69886896cd1bba15cf6fdae1/tomb.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: The tomb of Joseph at Shechem. By David Roberts. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The History Behind a Biblical Site Under Attack twitter:description: Joseph's Tomb has been a site of frequent conflict twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfea815fbefc4f34a/69886896cd1bba15cf6fdae1/tomb.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The History Behind a Biblical Site Under Attack > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME Subscription: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition TIME is a general-interest news organization founded in 1923, reporting on the people, ideas and issues shaping the world. A TIME subscription provides full access to that journalism in print and digital, from $20 a year, and can be cancelled at any time. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription.  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Oct 16, 2015 3:58 PM UTC  Lithograph of the tomb of Joseph, by David Roberts. Lithograph of the tomb of Joseph, by David Roberts. Culture Club / Getty Images  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Oct 16, 2015 3:58 PM UTC A site in Israel that was the [target of attacks](http://time.com/4076403/palestine-israel-press-shirt-attack/?xid=homepage) by Palestinians on Thursday night has a name that sounds very clear: Joseph’s Tomb. But what actually makes that site so special? Though the Bible does contain [information](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Joshua%2024:32) about where the biblical patriarch Joseph, the son of Jacob and the famous interpreter the Pharaoh’s dreams, is meant to be buried—according to the story, he dies in Egypt but his body is brought to Israel—it’s not as if the ancient text contains GPS coordinates. For that reason, as Richard A. Freund explains in his book _Digging Through the Bible: Modern Archaeology and the Ancient Bible_, there are actually multiple locations that have, over the years, been seen as the patriarch’s final resting place. Because there is no archaeological proof of where Joseph was buried, the tomb, located in the city of Nablus, is more properly, according to Freund, a “relic” site rather than a historic site. Though the tomb may not have originally been built for the person after whom it’s named, that means—for non-believers at least—it still has significance because it has been seen as a holy place at least since medieval times. The confusion over where exactly a biblical Joseph would have been buried is even more understandable considering [what happened](https://books.google.com/books?id=vzsyAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA240&dq=joseph%27s+tomb+encyclopedia&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CCUQ6AEwAGoVChMI7vjW4YvHyAIVyII-Ch3Nswqf#v=onepage&q=joseph%27s%20tomb%20encyclopedia&f=false) in the years between biblical times and the later medieval period. The area, originally known as Shechem, had once been the religious capital for the Samaritans (an actual religious group, not just figures from the story of the Good Samaritan). But it fell under Roman rule around the dawn of the common era and the city itself was largely wiped out as part of the ongoing fighting during that period. In the first century, the emperor Vespasian supposedly built [a city](http://www.usc.edu/dept/LAS/arc/neapolis/theHistoryofNeapolis.htm) near Shechem that he called Neapolis. After having its name shortened to Nablus about 600 years later, when the Romans were replaced by Arab rulers, it saw a series of conquests by groups including Crusaders and the Ottoman Empire. All that turmoil has made determining the exact site of Joseph’s burial, if such a site exists, all the more difficult. As the present conflict shows, the complicated history of the city has continued into modern times. The site is particularly prone to disorder due to its politically controversial geography. The tomb is located in Nablus, which itself is situated in the West Bank. Despite its location in the larger of the two Palestinian territories, peace accords between Israel and the Palestinians left a small Israeli presence near the tomb. As TIME explained in [1996](http://time.com/vault/issue/1996-10-14/page/108/), the site “remained a tiny enclave peopled by devout Jews and, for protection, a few Israeli soldiers.” The tomb was also targeted by Palestinian attacks in [2000,](http://time.com/vault/issue/2000-10-23/page/37/) and levels of access to the site have fluctuated in the years since as its difficult history persists. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4076295/josephs-tomb-israel-history/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4076295/josephs-tomb-israel-history/"},"headline":"The History Behind a Biblical Site Under Attack","datePublished":"2015-10-16T15:58:14.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T11:51:39.915Z","description":"The ancient spot has been a site of frequent conflict","url":"https://time.com/4076295/josephs-tomb-israel-history/","keywords":["faith","Israel","Religion","Bible","Gaza and the West Bank"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfea815fbefc4f34a/69886896cd1bba15cf6fdae1/tomb.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lily Rothman","jobTitle":"Rothman is managing editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfea815fbefc4f34a/69886896cd1bba15cf6fdae1/tomb.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"The tomb of Joseph at Shechem. 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