Joseph of Arimathea
E114731
Joseph of Arimathea is a biblical figure described in the Gospels as a wealthy and respected member of the council who, as a secret follower of Jesus, provided his own tomb for Jesus’ burial after the crucifixion.
All labels observed (2)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Joseph of Arimathea canonical | 10 |
| Nicodemus | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T968034 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Joseph of Arimathea Context triple: [Burial of Jesus, hasPrincipalAgent, Joseph of Arimathea]
-
A.
Barnabas the Apostle
Barnabas the Apostle was an early Christian disciple and missionary companion of Paul, traditionally regarded as a prominent leader in the first-century Church and a key figure in the spread of Christianity.
-
B.
Lazarus of Bethany
Lazarus of Bethany is a New Testament figure whom Jesus famously raised from the dead, symbolizing resurrection and eternal life in Christian tradition.
-
C.
Apostle Thomas
Apostle Thomas, also known as "Doubting Thomas," was one of the twelve apostles of Jesus Christ, best known for initially doubting Jesus’ resurrection until he personally saw and touched Christ’s wounds.
-
D.
Richard Clifford
Richard Clifford is a British actor and director known for his work in theatre and film, as well as his long-term partnership with Sir Derek Jacobi.
-
E.
Saint George of Lydda
Saint George of Lydda is a Christian martyr and legendary soldier-saint, best known as the dragon-slaying patron saint of England and various other regions.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Joseph of Arimathea Target entity description: Joseph of Arimathea is a biblical figure described in the Gospels as a wealthy and respected member of the council who, as a secret follower of Jesus, provided his own tomb for Jesus’ burial after the crucifixion.
-
A.
Barnabas the Apostle
Barnabas the Apostle was an early Christian disciple and missionary companion of Paul, traditionally regarded as a prominent leader in the first-century Church and a key figure in the spread of Christianity.
-
B.
Lazarus of Bethany
Lazarus of Bethany is a New Testament figure whom Jesus famously raised from the dead, symbolizing resurrection and eternal life in Christian tradition.
-
C.
Apostle Thomas
Apostle Thomas, also known as "Doubting Thomas," was one of the twelve apostles of Jesus Christ, best known for initially doubting Jesus’ resurrection until he personally saw and touched Christ’s wounds.
-
D.
Richard Clifford
Richard Clifford is a British actor and director known for his work in theatre and film, as well as his long-term partnership with Sir Derek Jacobi.
-
E.
Saint George of Lydda
Saint George of Lydda is a Christian martyr and legendary soldier-saint, best known as the dragon-slaying patron saint of England and various other regions.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (44)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
Biblical figure
ⓘ
New Testament person ⓘ |
| action |
asked Pilate for the body of Jesus
ⓘ
laid Jesus in his own new tomb ⓘ took down the body of Jesus from the cross ⓘ wrapped Jesus’ body in linen ⓘ |
| associatedEvent |
Burial of Jesus
ⓘ
surface form:
burial of Jesus
|
| associatedWith |
Jesus Christ
ⓘ
surface form:
Jesus of Nazareth
Nicodemus ⓘ Pontius Pilate ⓘ |
| awaited |
Kingdom of God
ⓘ
surface form:
the kingdom of God
|
| birthPlace | Arimathea (traditional identification) ⓘ |
| canonicalStatus | recognized in all four canonical Gospels ⓘ |
| category |
Burial of Jesus
ⓘ
Gospels ⓘ
surface form:
People in the Gospels
|
| deathPlace | unknown ⓘ |
| describedAs |
disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews
ⓘ
good and righteous man ⓘ |
| didNotConsentTo | the council’s decision and action against Jesus ⓘ |
| feastDay |
July 31 (Eastern Orthodox, with other saints in some calendars)
ⓘ
March 17 (Western traditions, some calendars) ⓘ |
| gender | male ⓘ |
| legendaryAssociation |
Glastonbury
ⓘ
Holy Grail ⓘ |
| mentionedIn |
Gospel of John
ⓘ
Gospel of Luke ⓘ Gospel of Mark ⓘ Gospel of Matthew ⓘ |
| provided |
burial place for Jesus
ⓘ
tomb for Jesus ⓘ |
| religion | Judaism ⓘ |
| role |
disciple of Jesus
ⓘ
member of the Sanhedrin ⓘ member of the council ⓘ secret follower of Jesus ⓘ |
| socialStatus |
prominent
ⓘ
respected ⓘ |
| sourceText |
Gospels
ⓘ
surface form:
New Testament Gospels
|
| timePeriod | 1st century ⓘ |
| tombLocation | near the place of Jesus’ crucifixion ⓘ |
| tombOwnership | his own tomb ⓘ |
| tombType | rock-hewn tomb ⓘ |
| veneratedIn | Christianity ⓘ |
| wealthStatus | wealthy ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Joseph of Arimathea Description of subject: Joseph of Arimathea is a biblical figure described in the Gospels as a wealthy and respected member of the council who, as a secret follower of Jesus, provided his own tomb for Jesus’ burial after the crucifixion.
Referenced by (11)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
this entity surface form:
Nicodemus