Herodium

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The Herodium. Aerial view from the southwest
Herodium seen from the south
Upper Herodium
Lower Herodium to the north

The Herodium ( Latin ), Herodeion ( ancient Greek Ἡρώδειον ), Herodion ( Hebrew הרודיון) and Jebel al-Furaidis Arabic جبل الفريديس(literally: Paradise Hill ) is one of Herod the Great (74-4 BC) in the time 24-12 BC. Built fortress and palace complex, twelve kilometers south of Jerusalem in what is now the West Bank .

The current Hebrew name Herodion is a transcription of the ancient Greek place name. Modern Israeli archaeologists assume that the ancient Hebrew place name Herodis ( Hebrew הרודיס) read.

Construction of the facility

The mountain has the characteristic shape of a truncated cone , the diameter of which is 63 m, the upper plateau is at a height of 758 m above sea level. d. M.

Herod increased an existing hill by about a third. After that it towered over the surrounding hills, was clearly visible from Jerusalem and offered views as far as Bethlehem . A strongly fortified citadel was built on the summit plateau , which in addition to common rooms also included a mausoleum . At the foot of the mountain, Herod had another palace built with numerous buildings, stables and storage rooms. To be emphasized is an artificial water basin with an island. The water for this was brought in from Jerusalem through a canal.

Background and destruction

The Jewish historian Flavius ​​Josephus reports that at this point Herod was caught up with the attacking Parthians while fleeing , but that he was able to defeat the Parthians despite their majority. Josephus is also the source for the detailed reports and records of Herod's burial on Herodium.

Herodium was captured and destroyed in AD 71 by a Roman legion , the legio X Fretensis, under the command of Lucilius Bassus , on their march against Masada .

archeology

Virgilio Corbo OFM carried out a large-scale excavation from 1962 to 1967 with the support of the Italian Foreign Ministry. The remains of the palace on the hill with four strong towers were uncovered during this first excavation campaign and illustrate the challenges and great achievements of Herod the Great as a builder.

Herodion Hill and the excavation sites below the slope were declared an Israeli nature reserve despite their location in the occupied Palestinian territories and are managed by the national park administration in cooperation with the Israeli military administration (Civil Administration). This u. a. the protection of the area from grave robbers and other illegitimate archaeological enterprises facilitated. In 1967 and 1970 the Israel National Park Authority undertook restoration work. From 1972 to 1986, Ehud Netzer carried out archaeological studies in the lower town on behalf of the Hebrew University . He returned in 1997 and carried out excavation campaigns until 2000, then from 2005 until his death in 2010.

Ehud Netzer announced in May 2007 that he had discovered Herod's tomb. Netzer, who was considered a Herodian expert, was able to locate the grave on Herodium after 35 years of research and excavation . He believed in the authenticity of the find, even if no inscriptions could yet be found that clearly identify the buried person as Herod. The Israeli archaeologist had been looking for Herod's resting place since 1972. The site is said to be between the fortress and two palaces at the foot of the hill. Netzer discovered fragments of a monumental limestone sarcophagus in the grave .

In November 2018 it became known that the inscription on a ring found in the late 1960s had been deciphered. This suggests that the ring belonged to the Prefect Pontius Pilate or was used by his environment. In addition to the depiction of a wine vessel, the name Pilatus was recognized in Greek letters. Since it is a rare name and no other Pilate from this period is known in the region, the researchers concluded that it must be the Roman prefect.

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literature

Web links

Commons : Herodium  - Collection of Images

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Victor Guérin: Description de la Palestine ( Description of Palestina ). L'imprimerie Impériale, Paris 1869, pp. 125-132.
  2. ^ Roland de Vaux : Discoveries in the Judean Desert , Vol. 2, Oxford 1961, pp. 126, 130-131
  3. ↑ Rachel Hachili: Ancient Jewish Art and Archeology in the land of Israel (= Handbuch der Orientalistik VII.1.2). Brill, Leiden 1988, p. 38.
  4. ↑ Jewish War 1,13,8; 21.10; 33.9; Jewish antiquities 14,13,9.
  5. ↑ a b Othmar Keel, Max Küchler: Places and landscapes of the Bible . tape 2 . Göttingen 1982, p. 658 .
  6. ↑ Barbara Burell: Ehud Netzer. In: Journal of Roman Archeology . Volume 24, 2011, pp. 922–927, here p. 926 ( PDF; 1.3 MB ); Ehud Netzer died as a result of a fall during the excavation.
  7. ↑ Ehud Netzer, Yaakov Kalman, Roi Porath, Rachel Chachy-Laureys: Herod's tomb - finally revealed. In: Judea and Samaria Research Studies 17 (2008), pp. 57-67 (Hebrew).
  8. ↑ a b Ulrich W. Sahm: 35 years of search: Herod's tomb found. n-tv, May 8, 2007.
  9. ↑ Barbara Burell: Ehud Netzer. In: Journal of Roman Archeology. Volume 24, 2011, pp. 922-927, here p. 926.
  10. ^ Ring of Roman governor who crucified Jesus found near Bethlehem . In: Haaretz.com . ( Haaretz.com [accessed November 29, 2018]).

Coordinates: 31 ° 39 ′ 57 ″  N , 35 ° 14 ′ 29 ″  E