SEPULCHRE, a tomb or place destined for the interment of the dead. This term is chiefly used in speaking of the burying-places of the ancients, those of the moderns being usually called tombs.
Sepulchres were held sacred and inviolable, and the care taken of them has always been held a religious duty, grounded on the fear of God, and the belief of the soul's immortality. Those who have searched or violated them have been thought odious by all nations, and were always severely punished.
The Egyptians called sepulchres "eternal houses," in contradistinction to their ordinary houses or palaces, which they
called "inns," on account of the short stay in the one in comparison with their long abode in the other.