Herodium or Herodion – The Place of Herod’s Tomb
Tuesday, June 12th, 2012
Herodium or Herodion (Hebrew: הרודיון, Arabic: هيروديون, Jabal al-Fraidees) is a hill shaped like a truncated cone (758 m / 2,487 ft above sea level), 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) located in the West Bank, southeast of Bethlehem and under control of Israel, built as a fortress palace by King Herod the Great. It was known by the Crusaders as the “Mountain of Franks”, but local Arab inhabitants call it Jabal al-Fourdis or “Mountain of Paradise”. Herodium was conquered and destroyed by the Romans in A.D. 71, when Lucilius Bassus and his X Fretensis were on their way to Masada. Hebrew University Professor Ehud Netzer reported on May 8, 2007 that he discovered Herod’s gravesite atop of tunnels and water pools at a flattened desert site halfway up the hill to Herodium 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) south of Jerusalem, the precise location given by Josephus in his writings. Later excavations strengthened the idea that this site is Herod’s mausoleum. The base of the tomb has now been uncovered and is visible to visitors to the site.
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