Meet Herodium, King Herod's Fort

Herod was a subordinate king of Israel between 37 BC and 4 BC and was responsible for the construction of the Herodium, built between 23 BC and 15 BC, a hilltop fort in the Judean Desert, just 12 kilometers from Jerusalem.

For the time, the fortress was quite luxurious and safe: inside were royalty-worthy gardens, and the whole place was designed with aqueducts that brought water across the desert - not so easy to do for over 2, 000 years, not ? The palace, on the other hand, left nothing to be desired: it had halls, courtyards and several bathrooms. And as if the fortress were not enough to be on top of a hill, its walls were double and were about seven floors high, that is, that wall nobody would jump easily.

According to Jewish-Roman historian Flavius ​​Josephus, although Herodium's importance to Herod is evident - given that it is the only construction made by the king that bears his name - his position had no great strategic value. For this reason, the researchers believe that the fortress was probably built to be a kind of retirement haven for the king.

From dispute to oblivion

After Herod's death in 4 BC, Herodium became part of the kingdom of his son Aquelaus for the next 10 years. After that, he would go from Romans to rebels several times during the revolts until the 2nd century AD. Afterwards, the place was abandoned until the 5th century, when it was occupied by a group of monks who remained there until the 8th century.

The fortress would only receive attention again in 1970. Today, the ruins of Herodium are restored and open for visitation.

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