The empty tomb is the Christian tradition that women coming to the tomb of Jesus on the third day after his crucifixion found it empty. The story is found in all four gospels, but beyond this basic outline they agree on little. The gospel authors follow the standard literary conventions of their day by paraphrasing, substituting, adding to their narratives, and shining a literary spotlight on important characters in order to adapt their material to their readers. Mark is the earliest, and in its original ending the women who discover the tomb flee, telling no one, after meeting a young man who he tells them that Jesus will meet the disciples in Galilee; Matthew introduces guards and a curious doublet whereby the women are told twice, by angels and then by Jesus, that he will meet the disci