Overview

Bibliography

The Herodium is a palace-fortress built by Herod on a prominent hill approximately 12 kilometers south of Jerusalem. Although the artificial mountain is described by several pre-modern explorers of the region, E. Robinson was the first explorer to identify the site as the Herodium in 1863. In his detailed description of the site, he notes numerous similarities to Josephus' description of the Herodium.

Modern Excavations of the site were initiated by Virgilio Corbo on behalf of the Studium Biblicum Franciscanum in Jerusalem. Excavating for four seasons between 1962 and 1967, Corbo uncovered most of the buildings of the mountain palace-fortress on the summit of upper Herodium. He identified three periods of occupation: the primary Herodian period, the period of the two Judean revolts, and a later Byzantine period. Between 1967 and 1970, G. Foerster worked with the National Parks Authority to preserve and restore the site for tourism, but also uncovered an extensive tunnel system dating to the period of the Bar Kokhba revolt. Lower Herodium was excavated by Ehud Netzer for the Institute of Archaeology at Hebrew University from 1970 through 1987. The lower Herodium consisted of a large palace, a large pool complex surrounded by buildings, and a northern palace annex. It is integrated with the palace-fortress on the mountain by a single grid system design. Numerous Byzantine remains, including three churches, were also uncovered, but the character of the Byzantine settlement is uncertain. Recent excavations have begun to explore the Byzantine settlement at Herodium, but the results are not yet fully published.

Josephus writes that Herod was buried at the Herodium (as was his intention), but no tomb was found during the major excavations of the site. Then, in 2007 Netzer found the remains of the tomb cut into the moutain, not too far from the cisterns.

The site was originally photographed in 2004, with a few images from 2009. In 2023, the upper Herodium was rephotographed using a superior digital camera and lens, but unfortunately, the lower Herodium was off-limits. It has not been preserved by the national park service and is fenced off as a danger to visitors. Thus, we continue to include some of the earlier 2004 and 2009 images of the lower Herodium, but many of the original 2004 images have been deleted due to their poor quality.

The archaeological strata uncovered at the site, as illustrated in the site plan, date to the following periods:

	Byzantine Period
	Post-Herodian Additions
	Herodian Period