Cave of Nicanor

The Cave of Nicanor ( ny-KAY-nər; Ancient Greek: Νῑκάνωρ, pronounced [niːˈkanɔːr]) is an ancient, elaborate burial complex located on Mount Scopus in Jerusalem. Among the ossuaries discovered in the cave is one with an inscription referring to "Nicanor the door maker". The cave is located in the National Botanic Garden of Israel on the grounds of the Mount Scopus campus of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Nicanor belonged to a wealthy Alexandrian Jewish family.

He is mentioned in the works of the Roman Jewish historian Josephus and the Talmud as the donor of the bronze doors of the Court of the Women in the Second Temple in Jerusalem. This claim is corroborated by an inscription on his ossuary. This represents a rare instance where archaeological evidence confirms historical accounts from written sources. The tomb consists of five burial halls with numerous loculi, accessed through a porch supported by two square pillars.

Excavations revealed seven ossuaries, fragments of a stone sarcophagus, pottery, and oil lamps.