Herodium - the King Herod the Great's palace and burial place, Israel

The whole complex was surrounded by two rows of concentric walls that rise to the height of a seven-story building. The interior space, 63 meters in diameter, was dedicated to palace structures, embellished by beautiful arcades and surrounded by luxurious bathing complexes. The outside surface of the fortress walls was covered by a colossal mound, at the foot of which a new bathing complex with an artificial pool was built. Try to imagine the impressive artificial hill ascended in the middle of the desert-like a huge mount, decorated with fragrant gardens, diverse vegetation, and water splashing fountains. A long aqueduct was constructed to supply vast complexes with water from the Solomon Ponds in the Bethlehem area.

The complex was named after the king himself (Herod) - The Herodion, which indicates the particular importance of this structure for King Herod the Great. The picturesque view from the top of the mound to Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and the virgin Judean desert, probably was the last picture captured by the deading eyes of the king. He was buried in Herodion, but the exact place of his burial chamber was discovered almost only 2000 years after his death.

Herodion’s one-to-fifty scale model allows you to understand the in-depth engineering of this one-of-a-kind structure of the ancient world. Concentric walls rest on a round north tower. This design reduces the load on the walls and strengthens them using semicircular of the towers on each wall segment. The staircase portal rose along the hill to the north tower. The staircase was climbed in front of the odeon and an elegant tower with an unusual stone roof, which for many years was considered the burial of Herod the Great.

A view to the southeast captures the eyes on the tiled roofs, which are not typical for Arab villages. This is the new Jewish settlement of Tekoa (Hebrew: תקוע) According to the Bible, the descendants of Ephraim from Bethlehem and Hebron founded the ancient town of Tekoa. Tekoah was one of the most important cities in the mountains of Judea, conquered by Jewish tribes after their leaving Egypt. Its strategic location on the road running along the eastern slopes of the Judean mountains led to the rapid development of the city. In biblical times, local people were engaged in stone processing, construction, and agriculture. The people of Tekoa participated in the restoration of the Jerusalem Temple after Jews returned from the Babylonian exile. In Roman times and during the Judean War, according to Josephus Flavius, peasants of Tekoa were the country's largest suppliers of wheat. Shimon Bar-Giora and Bar-Kokhba acted here. At the beginning of the 4th century AD, Saint Khariton built one of his koinobion on the slopes of Wadi Tekoa (Fekuya Creek). Koinobion is a monastery housing a community of monks or nuns and emphasizing a communal and egalitarian way of life. The Persians destroyed the monastery in 614. On the slopes of the gorge is the Khariton Cave - the largest cave in Israel. A later legend claims that it was there that David was hiding from King Saul. The main trade route for transporting salt from the Ein Gedi to Jerusalem passed through Tekoa. The new settlement is a large and beautiful village, founded about 30 years ago. A mixed Arab-Bedouin population establishes the Arab communities around Tekoa, mostly members of the Bedouin tribe of Taamre.

A large rectangular courtyard was located near the northern round tower. Colonnades and covered arcades surrounded it. Around this courtyard, gardens were bloomed, and there were various rooms — for example, the king’s throne room and a bath for ritual bathing - a mikvah. During excavations, stones were discovered that were used by the Romans in the siege of fortresses. These findings tell of the fate of Herodion during the Bar Kochba rebellion.

The king’s sarcophagus discovered broken. Researchers believe that Bar Kochba rebels broke the sarcophagus because they hated Herod. However, it is not clear why the bones of the ruler disappeared. The rebels of Bar Kochba were extreme religious fanatics. Strict religious regulations do not allow touching the bones of the dead. Ehud Netzer professor of archeology spent 30 years to find Herod’s grave in Herodion. In 2010, during an excursion to Herodion, Professor Netzer fell, was seriously injured and died three days later in a hospital. He devoted his life to discovering the king’s burial place, and the ancient Herod's curse placed on those who disturb the grave probably came true.