Herodium

In 40 BCE, after the Parthian conquest of Syria, Herod fled to Masada. On the way, at the location of Herodion, Herod clashed with Jews loyal to his enemy Antigonus, and emerged victorious. According to the Roman Jewish historian Josephus, he "built a town on that spot in commemoration of his victory, and enhanced it with wonderful palaces... and he called it Herodion after himself".[14]

Josephus describes Herodium as follows:

This fortress, which is some sixty stadia[15] distant from Jerusalem, is naturally strong and very suitable for such a structure, for reasonably nearby is a hill, raised to a (greater) height by the hand of man and rounded off in the shape of a breast. At intervals it has round towers, and it has a steep ascent formed of two hundred steps of hewn stone. Within it are costly royal apartments made for security and for ornament at the same time. At the base of the hill there are pleasure grounds built in such a way as to be worth seeing, among other things because of the way in which water, which is lacking in that place, is brought in from a distance and at great expense. The surrounding plain was built up as a city second to none, with the hill serving as an acropolis for the other dwellings.[16]

Archaeologists believe that the palace was designed by architects and built by slaves and paid workers (contractors). Herod was considered one of the greatest builders of his time and was not daunted by geography—his palace was built on the edge of the desert and was situated atop an artificial hill.[17] The largest of the four towers was built on a stone base 18 meters in diameter. This was most likely where Herod lived; he decorated his rooms with mosaic floors and elaborate frescoes. The other three towers, which consisted of living spaces and storage, were 16 meters in diameter. Outside, several cisterns were built to collect water that was channeled into the palace.

Herodium was conquered and destroyed by the Romans in 71 CE.

At the beginning of the Bar Kokhba revolt sixty years later, Simon bar Kokhba declared Herodium as his secondary headquarters. The fortress was commanded by Yeshua ben Galgula, who was likely in Bar Kokhba's second or third line of command. Archaeological evidence for the revolt was found all over the site, from the outside buildings to the water system under the mountain. Inside the water system, supporting walls built by the rebels were discovered, and another system of caves was found. Inside one of the caves, burned wood was found which was dated to the time of the revolt.

The archaeological excavation of Herodium was begun in 1962 by Virgilio Canio Corbo and Stanislao Loffreda, from the Studium Biblicum Franciscanum of Jerusalem, and it continued until 1967: they discovered the upper citadel, at the top of the hill.[18]

In 1968–1969, during excavations directed by archaeologist Gideon Foerster, at a section of Herod's burial tomb and palace hundreds of artifacts were found, including a copper alloy ring. The ring was overlooked but in 2018 it was given a thorough laboratory cleaning and scholarly examination. At the center of the ring is an engraved krater, or amphora similar in style to the monumental urn (handleless amphorae or acroteria) of Herodium [19] which is encircled by "partly deformed" Greek letters spelling out "of Pilates" in Greek. Although scientists were not sure about who is the "Pilates" mentioned on the ring, media published that it could have possibly belonged to Pontius Pilate. Archaeologist Roi Porat said that all explanations are equally possible for the owner of the ring: "It was important to publish a careful scientific article, but in practice we have a ring inscribed with the name Pilate and the personal connection just cries out."[20][21][22] While much of the debate has focused on the Greek name inscribed on the ring, the image is of equal significance and may further support that this was the ring used by Pilate's administrative assistant for sealing documents for Pilate. The image on the ring is possibly associated with Roman religious ceremonies (i.e., suovetaurilia, bacchanalia) and the imperial cult that were characteristic of the images on the coins that Pilate had minted during his term as governor.[19]

From 1972, excavations were carried out by Ehud Netzer, working on behalf of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and they were intermittent until the archaeologist's death in 2010. Netzer excavated mostly the lower palace, at the base of the hill.

Herod the Great built a palace within the fortress of Herodium. Herod himself commissioned a lavish palace to be built between 23 and 15 BCE atop Herodium for all to see. The palace itself consisted of four towers of seven stories, a bathhouse, courtyards, a Roman theatre, banquet rooms, a large walkway ("the course"), as well as extravagant living quarters for himself and guests. Once Herod died and the Great Revolt started, Herodium was abandoned. The Jews eventually had a base at Herodium where they built a synagogue which can still be seen today, unlike much of Herod's Palace.[23]

Section of mosaic floor unearthed at Herodion

The Roman bathhouse consisted of three areas, the caldarium, the tepidarium, and the frigidarium. It also had a very impressive dome which is still in good condition today despite thousands of years of earthquakes and wars. The caldarium had vaulted ceilings, raised floors, and channels in the walls to conduct heat. The tepidarium had mosaic floors and frescoes just like the living quarters of the palace. The frigidarium, the last stop in the bathhouse, was where guests would cool off in a large pool.

A synagogue that predates AD 70 at Herodium is of the Galilean-type, featuring stone benches built along the walls and aisles formed by columns that supported the roof. It is one of the oldest synagogues in the Levant.[24]

Netzer discovered the Roman Theatre just before his death in late 2010. The royal theatre was uncovered near the base of Herod's tomb (see Tomb of Herod). The theatre contained an elaborately decorated loggia, or a theatre box, was discovered. This means that when Herod or other notable officials went to see a play, they would receive luxury treatment. The rest of the audience would be seated below on benches that could accommodate about 450–650 people. What is quite unique about this find is that frescoes of landscapes were discovered, of a kind suggesting that the painters were well travelled; they depict scenes of Italy and even the Nile River in Egypt. It is also assumed that the painters were on loan to Herod from Caesar in Rome.[25][26][27]

Herod's sarcophagus

Hebrew University professor Ehud Netzer reported on 8 May 2007 that he had discovered the tomb of Herod with his team of archeologists, above tunnels and water pools at a flattened site halfway up the hill to the hilltop palace-fortress of Herodium, 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) south of Jerusalem.[28] Later excavations strengthened the idea that this site is Herod's mausoleum.[29] The base of the tomb has now been uncovered and is visible to visitors to the site. His team consisted of Roi Porat, Yakov Kalman and Rachel Chachy-Laureys.[30]

The 2009–2010 excavations uncovered near the tomb base a small 450-seat capacity (see Theatre).

Netzer died in October 2010 from injuries sustained from a fall at the site,[4] and access to the mausoleum was subsequently blocked to the public pending review of the site's safety.

In October 2013, archaeologists Joseph Patrich and Benjamin Arubas challenged the identification of the tomb as that of Herod.[5] According to Patrich and Arubas, the tomb is too modest to be Herod's and has several unlikely features.[5][6] Roi Porat, who replaced Netzer as excavation leader after the latter's death, stood by the identification.[5]

Fragments of three stone sarcophagi were found near the mausoleum: one of them was reddish and the other two light-colored. The reddish sarcophagus, decorated in a sumptuous but restrained style, was identified by the excavators as Herod's sarcophagus. It was found smashed into hundreds of pieces. Scholars suggested that this sarcophagus held the king's body and was destroyed by Jewish rebels during the Jewish–Roman war. The sarcophagus is displayed today at the Israel Museum.[31]

Panoramic view of Herodium's hilltop palace-fortress, looking west (starting from left) moving towards north (to the right), ending with the large eastern tower.