Encyclopedia Masonica

Margoliouth, in his History of the Jews, tells the legend that at Saguntum in Spain, a sepulcher was found four hundred years ago, with the following Hebrew inscription:

This is the grave of Adoniram, the servant of King Solomon, who came to collect the tribute and died on the day—" Margoliouth, who believes the mythical story, says that the Jesuit Villepandus, being desirous of ascertaining if the statements concerning the tomb were true, directed the Jesuit students who resided at Murviedro a small village erected upon the ruins of Saguntum, to make diligent search for the tomb and inscription. After thorough investigation, the Jesuit Students were shown a stone on which appeared a Hebrew inscription, much defaced and nearly obliterated. which the natives stated was the stone of Solomon's collector. Still unsatisfied, they made further search , and discovered a manuscript written in antique Spanish and carefully preserved in the citadel in which the following entry was made:"At Saguntum in the citadel, in the year of our Lord 1480, a little more or less, was discovered a sepulchre of surprising antiquity. It contained an embalmed corpse, not of the usual stature, but taller than is common. It had and still retains on the front two lines in the Hebrew language and characters, the sense of which is: 'The sepulchre of Adoniram, the servant of King Solomon, who came hither to collect tribute . " '

The story has far more the appearance of a Talmudic or a Rosicrucian legend than that of a historical narrative.

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