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Herodium - location profile

Location and Setting

• King Herod the Great located his cone-shaped palace about eight miles south of Jerusalem and about three miles southeast of Bethlehem, near the ancient road to the Dead Sea.
• The Herodium is the only one of Herod’s building projects that bears his name. It consists of upper and lower sections located at the place where two hills once stood. To construct the upper section, Herod used thousands of slaves to move the top of the eastern hill to the west to raise the height of the hill.
• This huge complex required four years to build (23-20 B.C.). Herod used the upper section as a palace-fortress. The lower section was built for guests. It included a swimming pool large enough to accommodate boats.
• From the Herodium, Herod could see Jerusalem and Bethlehem to the northwest, and the Judean Wilderness, Masada and the Dead Sea to the east. By the use of mirrors to reflect the sun, he could communicate messages from Jerusalem to the Herodium to Masada.

Historical and Biblical Significance

• Built to commemorate his victory over the Parthians (40 B.C.), Herod used the Herodium as his administrative center and chose it as his burial site.
• Bethlehem, the birthplace and home of Jesus as an infant, lay between Jerusalem and the Herodium. The magi from the east found Herod in Jerusalem, but the idea of a "King of the Jews" living just three miles from his palace at the Herodium would constitute an urgent challenge to his reign (Matt 2:1-12).
• The Herodium loomed ominously on the plain east of Bethlehem. For local Jews, it represented the presence of a cruel and capricious tyrant. One day he would give the order to massacre every male baby and toddler in their town. Mary and Joseph, along with all the other shepherds and craftsmen of Bethlehem, would wake each day to the ominous sight of the Herodium against the sunrise.

Bibliography

1. Barabas, S. "Herodium" The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible. Ed. Merrill C. Tenney. 5 vols. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1976.
2. "Herodion National Park." Ramat-Gan, Israel: Israel National Parks Authority.