Temple Of Venus
Jesus is said to have been laid on a rock shelf carved from the cave’s side inside the crypt. This belief in the exact location of Jesus’ tomb dates back to the second century. Emperor Hadrian built a temple in honor of Venus, the Roman goddess of devotion, to obscure the location where the troublesome Jesus was allegedly entombed.
Temple Of Venus
Constantine the Great
Then, in either 325 or 326, another Roman emperor, Constantine the Great, intervened. He was the first emperor to convert to Christianity and, as a result, ordered the pagan temple to be destroyed. In its position, Constantine founded a Christian church, which we now know as the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Constantine’s mother, Helena, had discovered Christ’s tomb when the new church was being built.
Constantine The Great