Ossuary bearing an Aramaic inscription reading, "Simon, builder of the Temple"

Herod employed thousands of workers, among them a thousand priests, in the construction of the Temple. Simon was one of them. This ossuary (burial chest) is simple and unadorned, but its inscription is carefully written in a legible hand, once on the long side and once on the short side. It can be assumed that Simon was a skilled craftsman whose contribution to the construction of the Temple earned him the title – at least in the eyes of his family – "builder of the Temple."