Herodium is located 7 miles south of the Jerusalem in the West Bank. It is an ambitious project that was started by king Herod the Great in the 20 BC.
Location: 12 km (7.5 mi) South of Jerusalem Map
Herodium castle- palace is situated on a hill with complex of a lower palace and a pool at the feet of the hill. At the death of Herod it became its mausoleum. Despite descriptions of many historians including Josephus Flavius, the tomb was not discovered until May 8, 2007 then professor of Hebrew University Ehud Netzer located the gravesite halfway up the hill. The Herodium consists of two circular walls with three semicircular towers and one main circular observation circular tower. The interior also had baths, cruciform hall, synagogue and a courtyard with columns around its perimeter. Water from underground cisterns provided security in case of a siege. However it did not prevent the castle from falling in the hands Lucilius Bassus and his X Fretensis on their way to Masada in 71 AD. During Second Revolt that broke out in 132 AD under leadership of Simeon Bar Kokhba many underground passages were dug in the hill. Remains of the burned wood is still visible on the floor of these passages. During Byzantine period monastery was found here, but abandoned in the 7th century.
Herodium was built in 23-20 BC on the spot where Herod, then still a
contender for the throne, won the battle against the army of Mattatius
Antigonus, who forced him to flee from Jerusalem. The fortress was
located on an artificial mountain, similar to a volcano, and consisted
of two parts: the upper and lower Herodium. At the time of completion of
construction, the height of the structure was 7-8 floors of a modern
building.
At the top of the man-made mountain there was a palace
(upper Herodium), and at its foot there was a palace building for close
associates, a pool, a thermal bath.
Herod was very proud of his
creation, although he rarely visited it, preferring Caesarea.
After the overthrow of the son of Herod Archelaus (6 AD), the fortress
passed to the Roman governors, and in 66 to the Jews during the great
uprising against the Romans. The rebels erected a synagogue and pools
for ritual ablution in Herodium, but lived there for only 4 years, since
the fortress was captured by the Romans.
Until 132-135, Herodium
was abandoned until it was occupied by the participants in the Bar
Kokhba uprising. The uprising was suppressed, and the fortress was again
abandoned until the Byzantine period (V-VII centuries), when a large
community of Byzantine hermit monks settled on the ruins, who built
three churches here from the stones of ancient structures.
Later,
Arab houses were built from the same stones in a circle. After the Arab
conquest in the 7th century, the place was abandoned again until the
Bedouins settled in its vicinity, who married Arab refugees from the
camps several decades ago.
At the moment, Herodium is an
archaeological site, where tourist excursions are regularly organized.
For the first time, excavations in Upper Herodium were organized in
1962-1967 by Jerusalem Franciscan monks under the leadership of V.
Korbo. They did not report any important finds.
Later excavations
in lower Herodium were carried out by the archaeologist Ehud Netzer from
1972 to 1988 under the auspices of the Hebrew University. During this
time, a system of secret fortifications from the period of the Bar
Kokhba uprising was discovered, with tunnels and manholes for surprise
attacks. Archaeologists also unearthed the remains of the central
structure of Herodium - a round building with towers, a bathhouse.
Underground water tanks have been excavated.
Since February 1997,
excavations at Herodium resumed. They were again led by Ehud Netzer.
Excavations continued for 10 years, and in 2007 an archaeologist
reported the discovery of the tomb of King Herod the Great. In total,
Netzer searched for this grave for 35 years. Archaeologists, however,
did not find any inscriptions in the grave, nor the golden crown,
scepter and jewelry that were placed in the sarcophagus during burial,
so this statement is disputed by other scientists. Stone fragments of
three sarcophagi and scattered small human remains were found.
On
October 25, 2010, during a working visit to Herodium, Professor Ehud
Netzer was seriously injured as a result of a fall in the theater area,
and died three days later from his injuries.
The Herodium
expedition continues its work to this day, under the joint leadership of
R. Porat, J. Kalman and R. Chachis. As a result of the work, the
entrance to the palace was excavated, and the restoration of the theater
and frescoes continues.
According to the famous Jewish historian Josephus Flavius, it was in
this fortress that Herod bequeathed to bury himself. Apparently they did
so.
“After that, they took up the burial of the king. Archelaus
did everything to make the burial as magnificent as possible: he even
took all the royal decorations out of the palace so that they could be
carried behind the body. A funeral litter of pure gold was adorned with
precious stones and trimmed with expensive purple. Herod's body was
dressed in fine linen, a diadem rested on his head, and on top of it - a
golden crown, a scepter was put into his right hand. The sons of Herod
and all his numerous relatives followed the body, followed by
bodyguards, followed by a column of Thracians, Germans and Gauls, all in
full battle dress. Further, the army marched with full armament,
maintaining its combat formation and led by military leaders, behind the
army - 500 domestic slaves and freedmen, burning incense. The body was
carried a distance of 70 stadia to Herodion, where, in fulfillment of
the will of the late king, it was buried. Thus ends the story of Herod.
— Flavius Josephus
The location of Herod's tomb is one of the mysteries of modern
archeology. Herodium is just one of the alleged burial places of the
legendary ruler. Despite the statement of Ehud Netzer, a number of
skeptics still doubt that the mystery has been solved, because no
written evidence was found in the grave, and the gene analysis of the
remains was also not carried out.
In fact, archaeologists have
found only elements of a badly damaged mausoleum. “Most likely, this is
the work of the Jewish rebels who controlled Herodium during the two
rebellions against Rome,” says Professor Netzer. - The act of vandalism
took place approximately in 66-72 years of our era. The rebels were
famous for their special hatred of everything that was connected with
Herod.
One of the corners of the mausoleum base has been well
preserved under a layer of soil and stone scree. At its foot,
archaeologists discovered the remains of a sarcophagus smashed to
smithereens. Its length is two and a half meters, the cross section is
square. The upper part of the coffin is triangular in shape. It is made
of pink-red limestone and decorated with ornaments. “Stylistically, the
sarcophagus, fragments of the mausoleum and the ornament are fully
consistent with the Herodian period,” say the participants in the
excavations. In numerous interviews, Netzer insists that a combination
of factors such as the location of the tomb, the nature of the
decoration and fragments of the sarcophagus clearly indicates that Herod
the Great was once buried in this place. However, in addition to this,
not a single artifact was found that would have a direct bearing on
Herod.
In addition to the aforementioned sarcophagus, fragments
of two more white stone sarcophagi of a similar shape were found. On one
of them, an ornament in the form of laurel branches is carved, the
second sarcophagus is smooth, without any decorations.