Matzevah

A masseba or matzeva (Biblical Hebrew: מַצֵּבָה, romanized: maṣṣēḇā, lit. 'pillar, stele, baetyl',, plural maṣṣēḇoṯ) is a term used in the Hebrew Bible for a baetyl, a type of sacred column or standing stone. In the Septuagint, it is translated as Koinē Greek: στήλη, romanized: stēlē.

Archaeologists have adopted the term for these stones in Canaan and the pre-Islamic Arab state of the Nabataean Kingdom. Massevot can also mark graves.

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