Herodeion

West Bank

Altitude: 758m/2,487ft

Situation and characteristics

The hill known as the Herodeion, 11km/7mi southeast of Bethlehem on the Israeli-occupied west bank of the Jordan, is a conspicuous landmark, rising sharply to a height of 100m/330ft above the surrounding country. It was given its characteristic form, like a volcano with its summit levelled off, when Herod, after whom it is named, built a fortified palace here. The excavation site on the Herodeion, which was declared a National Park in 1968, is now constantly guarded by Israeli troops. On the kiosk where visitors get their admission tickets is a plaque commemorating a park warden who was killed by Palestinians in 1988. History

In 40 B.C., when in the course of the Roman-Parthian war the Hasmonean Antigonus became high priest and king, Herod took refuge here along with Mariamne and the rest of his family before withdrawing to Masada. After re-establishing his authority by his victory over Antigonus in 37 B.C. he built a fortress on the summit which he intended should be his mausoleum. After his death in 4 B.C. his son Archelaus brought his body from Jericho in a splendid cortege to be buried in the mausoleum.

Excavations carried out from 1962 onwards confirmed the vivid account by Flavius Josephus in his "Jewish War". Herod had the summit of the hill cut away and dug out, the spoil being tipped over the edge of the circular plateau thus created, which was surrounded by a double ring of massive walls and towers. In the area within the walls he "built splendid palaces which were not only magnificent within but were surrounded without by walls, battlements and roofs of extravagant splendor". The excavations brought to light a garden laid out in a peristyle court, residential apartments, baths and a synagogue. Water was brought from Solomon's Pools to the south of Bethlehem. The fortress's only gate was approached by a flight of 200 white marble steps.

Herod's tomb has not been found. It is thought to have been destroyed at an early stage, perhaps during the Jewish War (A.D. 66-70), when Jewish zealots took refuge here, or during the Bar Kochba rising (132-135), when Bar Kochba established his headquarters on the hill. Later the Herodeion was occupied by a few Byzantine monks, but in the seventh century, after the Persian and Arab invasions, the site was abandoned, and in subsequent centuries the palace fell into ruin. In 1967, when resisting Jordanian attack, Israel captured Judea and Samaria.