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"WHEN HEROD DIED, AN ANGEL OF THE LORD SUDDENLY APPEARED
IN A DREAM TO JOSEPH IN EGYPT AND SAID, 'GET UP, TAKE THE
CHILD AND HIS MOTHER, AND GO TO THE LAND OF ISRAEL, FOR
THOSE WHO WERE SEEKING THE CHILD'S LIFE ARE DEAD' "
MATTHEW 2
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When Herod died in Jericho in 4 B.C., his
body was carried in a lavish funeral
procession 24 miles, all the way to
Herodion. There was a solid gold bier
adorned with precious stones and draped with
deep purple. On it lay the body of the
late king, wrapped in crimson with a crown
on his head and a scepter by his right hand.
The bier was escorted by Herod’s sons,
relatives, his officers in full uniform, the
mercenaries from Germany and Gaul, house
slaves and free men bearing exotic spices.
Once at Herodion, the body was apparently
lowered into a polished red limestone
sarcophagus decorated with stylish rosettes
and placed in the mausoleum so artfully
planned by Herod himself. |
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Adapted
from a USA CIA satellite map in public
domain |
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Herodion is located about
7 miles southeast of Jerusalem |
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I wonder, though, about the eulogy.
Herod’s surviving sons could have praised
his architectural accomplishments – the
enormous temple courtyard in Jerusalem, the
three-tiered refuge palace carved into a
Judean precipice at Masada, the
sophisticated harbor at Caesarea and the
upper palace right there at Herodion, whose
90-foot eastern tower could be seen as far
away as Jerusalem.
But I doubt there would have been any praise
for his pious character or good heart.
Herod, aware of his extremely low ratings,
ordered, just five days before he died, that
the heads of all Judean families be arrested
and imprisoned so that when he died, they
could all be slaughtered. Then every
last person in Judea would have cause to
weep when he was dead. (His sister
Salome freed them upon hearing of Herod’s
death, so every family in Judea had cause to
rejoice!)
Although the burial site was found two years
ago, after a search of 150 years, we
are no further along in our quest of
determining what really made Herod tick.
We know that in addition to the slaughter of
the innocent infants in Bethlehem, he killed
his beloved wife Mariamne in a fit of
jealousy and then their two sons, heirs to
the high priesthood and the Hasmonean
dynasty. A mere five days before he
died, Herod ordered that his eldest son,
Antipater, be killed so that he would not
inherit the kingdom. |
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Photo:
Gila Yudkin |
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Finely-crafted podium of
Herod's square-based mausoleum |
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Nonetheless, it’s hard not to be impressed
by all the finds at Herodion over the past
two years. Ehud Netzer, the
archeologist who dedicated 35 years to a
search for the tomb, has revealed a
square-based mausoleum that would have stood
seventy-five feet high, visible even from
Jerusalem. In addition to hundreds of
fragments from the royal red sarcophagus
which was apparently smashed deliberately by
Jewish zealots who hated Herod and his
affinity to Rome, two more sarcophagi were
found. One was relatively intact with
a lid, and was beautifully decorated with a
chain of woven leaves. |
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Photo:
Gila Yudkin |
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Archeologist Ehud Netzer
next to the lavishly decorated royal
sarcophagus |
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When the mausoleum was constructed, possibly
around 10 B.C., after Herod turned sixty, a
private, intimate theater built earlier by
Herod was covered over. It was only
discovered by Ehud Netzer this past year. As
far as I know, no one had even a clue that
there was a theater built into the slopes of
Herodion, facing Bethlehem. |
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Photo:
Gila Yudkin |
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Previously unknown theater
unearthed at Herodion in 2009 |
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In a private April tour with Professor
Netzer this year, I had the privilege of
viewing the colorful well-preserved wall
paintings being painstakingly uncovered in
the exclusive royal box. |
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Photo:
Gila Yudkin |
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Professor Netzer admiring
a wall painting in Herod's colorful VIP box |
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In 15 B.C., Herod hosted General Marcus
Agrippa, the Emperor Augustus’ right-hand
man, during his grand tour of Herod’s Judean
monuments. I wonder what sort of
entertainment Herod provided as he and
Marcus Agrippa sat comfortably in Herodion’s
richly decorated VIP box above the 300-seat
theater. The Roman general had
defeated Antony and Cleopatra at the Battle
of Actium two decades earlier. |
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Photo:
Gila Yudkin |
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The unexpected location of
Herod's Tomb at Herodion |
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Herodion tops my list of favorite sites in
Judea. It’s just so easy to look out
and eliminate the trees and houses that have
sprouted up over the past sixty years and
imagine Bethlehem at the fringe of the
Judean wilderness at the time of Jesus’
birth. Today, Herodion offers so much
insight into the cultural and physical
milieu in which Jesus was born; it may
become one of your favorite sites as well.
I invite you to revisit Herodion with me! |
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Postscript |
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EHUD
NETZER 1934 -- 2010 |
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On October 28, 2010 Ehud Netzer died from
injuries sustained from a fall at Herodion
when a wooden railing he was leaning against
collapsed. He tumbled down the steep
slope below Herod’s mausoleum, not far from
where he and his team had found hundreds of
pieces of Herod’s smashed sarcophagus.
What a very sudden and tragic end to a man
who had spent decades enriching
exponentially our knowledge of Herod’s
architecture and the entire second temple
period. Ehud Netzer excavated many key
places on our pilgrim route: Caesarea
Maritima (by the Mediterranean), Caesarea
Philippi (Banais), Masada, Sepphoris,
Jericho and Herodion.
I first met Ehud in November 1980 as a
rookie guide. I was renewing my license for
the first time which required a full-day
seminar on site. Professor Ehud Netzer
showed us New Testament Jericho which he had
been excavating for six seasons. |
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We sat on top of the hippodrome (which
hadn’t been excavated) while Ehud colorfully
related the Herod narrative which culminates
(almost) in the arrest of the elders of
every Judean household and their
imprisonment in the hippodrome at Jericho.
This was shortly before Herod’s death and
his subsequent burial at Herodion.
As we learned about building methods (opus
reticulatum), bath houses and aqueducts,
Ehud recreated for us a Jericho lush with
sunken gardens, verdant terraces and stately
date palms. We saw the swimming pool
where Herod’s gorgeous 18-year-old
brother-in-law (who happened to be high
priest) drowned “by accident” (in other
words by Herod’s order). He told us
about Cleopatra and her designs on Herod and
his lucrative properties. It was at
Jericho with Ehud Netzer that I could
concretely imagine, for the first time, all
those funky historical characters of two
thousand years ago. |
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The following year I enrolled in a seminar
at Herodion. Ehud gave us an extensive
tour of the Lower City and showed us where
he thought he would find Herod’s tomb the
very next season. I waited for the
announcement. But he was wrong.
It took him another 26 years. |
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After the discovery of the tomb in 2007, one
of my close friends was commissioned to
write an article on Herodion for a major
American magazine. I tagged along on
her two private tours with the by now
world-famous expert.
The second tour with Ehud, in April 2009,
was particularly memorable, but not for the
archeology. Before our private tour,
Ehud had agreed to show the site to a group
of German tourists led by a man with
connections to a prestigious German
archeological institute. My writer
friend and I were invited to join. |
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It happened to be Holocaust Memorial Day and
during the whole tour I was wondering how
Ehud was going to handle the ten o’clock
memorial siren with a German group. A
few minutes before ten, Ehud stopped at a
spot opposite Jerusalem and told the Germans
that he believed he was conceived in Berlin.
His parents. Palestinian Jews, were studying
for their doctorates in Berlin. But in
1933 they were forced to leave Germany and luckily
as citizens they were able to return to
Palestine. He spoke briefly, yet
frankly, about his attitude towards Germany.
Then we heard the blare of the siren and all
stood silently for two minutes overlooking
Herod’s mausoleum facing Jerusalem. |
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It’s with incredible sadness, yet intense
admiration for Ehud Netzer that I now visit
Herodion. |
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Photo:
Gila Yudkin |
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Ehud Netzer by Herod's
tomb monument in April 2009 |
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Gila Yudkin,
who calls herself a Connecticut-born Yankee
living now in King David's court, has been
enthusiastically sharing archeological
discoveries with pilgrims for nearly three
decades. You are invited to contact Gila while you
are planning your pilgrimage to ensure that
your itinerary is feasible, inspiring and
allows for biblical adventures. |
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More
Biblical Archeology: |
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Gezer & Solomon's wife |
Solomon in Jerusalem |
Solomon's Stables: Megiddo |
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Hazor & Joshua |
Herod's Tomb |
Dan & Abraham |
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Read an earlier article on
the
discovery of Herod's Tomb with
photos and updates to 2023. |
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Copyright 2009, 2010 Gila Yudkin. Permission
needed for any reuse. |
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GILA
YUDKIN
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TCHERNIKOVSKI
64A
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JERUSALEM
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ISRAEL
gila@itsgila.com
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