Herodium National Park

Herodium, or Herodion as it is known in Hebrew, had long been on my list of places I wished to visit but, due to it's location in the West Bank, Mister Handmade in Israel wasn't keen on driving there. I finally managed to persuade him to go with me during Hol Hamoed (the six days between the Jewish festivals of Sukkot and Simchat Torah are referred to as Hol Hamoed, or "weekdays [of] the festival"). We picked a fine old day to do it though. Whilst we were at the top of the hill, where a fortress and palace remains can be seen, Israel experienced its first storm of the winter season. Though I am wearing a sunhat in these photos, I was a bit wet by the end of our visit!

The Herodium fortress and palace was built by King Herod between 23 and 20 BCE, about 15 kilometres south of Jerusalem and five kilometres south-east of Bethlehem, on the highest hill in the Judaean desert. Herod, or Herod the Great, was the Roman-appointed king of Judaea who built many fortresses, aqueducts, theatres and other public buildings and generally raised the prosperity of his land, but he was also the centre of political and family intrigues in his later years. Of all the sites built by the "builder-king", Herodium is the only one that bears his name.

The immense site he built at Herodium is actually comprised of Lower and Upper Herodium. Lower Herodium, above, consists of a bathhouse, a huge swimming pool with an island in the middle used for swimming, boating and as a reservoir, and the remains of a Byzantine town with a church and some other interesting buildings. The water to the lower city was supplied to the pool by an aqueduct from the area of Bethlehem. Lower Herodium has only recently been added to the area of the national park.

Upper Herodium, built on a low cone-shaped hill which was raised by Herod's builders, contained Herod's summer palace set within a circular fortress. The height of the hill and the fortress' heavily fortified ramparts made it impenetrable during Herod's lifetime. The main building of the palace was round, as were its four seven storey watchtowers. Herod built a bath house which had hot, warm and cold bathing rooms, as well as large cisterns fed from rainfall, a theatre, banquet rooms and courtyards, along with extravagant living quarters for himself and guests.

Herod was buried in the site which bore his name and, upon his death, he bequeathed Herodium to his son, Archelaus, who ruled from 4 BCE to 6 CE. When Archelaus was deposed in his 10th year of reign, Herodium passed into the hands of Roman officials, until it was taken from them by Jewish rebels at the outbreak of the great revolt against Rome in 66 CE. These rebels, the Zealots, added a mikve (ritual bath) and converted a reception area into a synagogue. After the destruction of the second holy temple in Jerusalem Herodium was used as a place of refuge, along with Masada. Herodium fell to the Roman army, just as Masada did later on.

Herodium was abandoned until 132 CE when it was used for a third time during the Bar Kochba revolt  as a command centre and a starting point for attacks against the Romans. During this time the Jews added extensive tunnels, which were used for launching surprise attacks on the Romans. After the Bar Kochba revolt was repressed by the Romans, the fortress once again fell into disrepair, this time for several hundred years, until a large group of Byzantines - possibly a community of monks - took up residence among the ruins between the fifth and seventh centuries CE. They contributed four churches to the site. Herodium was abandoned yet again during the Arab conquest in the seventh century and remained deserted until recent decades when Bedouins settled in the area.

Whilst Herodium was known through the first century Romano-Jewish historian Josephus Flavius' descriptions, it was only in 1962 that Upper Herodium was first excavated, and not until 1972 that excavations began in Lower Herodium. The Upper Herodium excavations were carried out between 1962 and 1967 by Father Vigelio Corbo, under the auspices of the Franciscan Custodia di Terra Santa in Jerusalem. The excavations focusing first on Lower Herodium, conducted by Ehud Netzer for the Hebrew University, began in 1972 and continue today. Ehud Netzer died tragically in October 2010 from injuries sustained from a fall at the site.

According to Josephus Flavius, Herodium was the site of Herod's burial and the search for his tomb was one of archaeology's greatest quests. In 2007 Herod's tomb was found on the eastern slope of the Herodium. The tomb included a smashed sarcophagus, a base of large white stone, an impressively wide set of steps, and some decorated urns. It is assumed that the sarcophagus was destroyed by the Jews during the Jewish revolt against the Romans in 66 CE. 2009-2010 excavations near the tomb base uncovered a small amphitheatre, which we were able to see after exiting the Bar Kochba tunnels.

* This post has been shared on All Seasons, Wordless Wednesday (on Tuesday), Sharon's Souvenirs, Our World Tuesday, Tuesday's Treasures, Travel Tuesday and My Corner of the World.