HERODION – A TUMBA PERDIDA DO REI HERODES

Shalom and welcome back to ‘Israel with Aline!’ Today we’re at Herodion, Herod’s most amazing building and we’re also going to talk about the search for the lost tomb of King Herod and how it ended up causing the death of the archaeologist who found it. So if you’re ready, let’s get started! Let’s start by understanding where we are, because the location of this place is very special, we are only 3 miles from Bethlehem, we are also 7 miles from Jerusalem, the capital of Israel and at the meeting of the mountains and the Judean Desert, but Herod decides to build this colossal building here for a reason, because here he almost loses his life when he was fighting to become the King of Judea, here he has a battle against the Maccabees, the most difficult battle he ever fought. And so later when he assumes power and begins to rule Judea he says, “I want to build on the place where I almost lost my life the greatest of monuments,” and so the story of Herodion begins. King Herod was the greatest builder in the land of Israel. He was not modest at all, he builds the Fortress of Masada in the middle of the desert, he enlarges the Second Temple in Jerusalem, he makes King David’s tower, which is actually Herod’s, he builds the port and city of Caesarea, palaces in Jericho and much more. But why is Herodion more colossal than all this? Because we are now on an artificial mountain. When he has his battle here, this here was a region of plains and small hills. But he wants to make a fortress and it makes no sense to make a fortress in a low place, so he brings tons of earth and stones here and builds this gigantic artificial mountain and inside he puts a palace and the fortress! So what we are going to do together now is to go inside this artificial mountain, so come with me! Herodion is the only place that Herod puts in his own name, Herodion. And it was built between 23 and 15 BC. Herod was not modest at all, and he liked the good life so in all his palaces he will build with the greatest luxury and comfort; you can see decorated columns, painted walls, imagine the best of the best that existed two thousand years ago! Folks, at this moment it is winter and it is hot here, this is an extremely hot region, but nevertheless Herod wanted the good life and so he will build here also a spa including a sauna, let’s now see King Herod’s spa! This spa was a traditional Roman bath house, this room we are entering was where the massages were done and it was found like this, whole up to the ceiling. This is all original! And in the spa they also had hot and cold pools, and also a sauna. Besides all this that we have already seen, Herod builds another giant spa at the foot of the artificial mountain, so in the lower Herodion we see the spa and also a huge pool with an island in the center. But let’s now get back to talking about the Palace on top of the mountain. Look how amazingly the colors have been preserved! Imagine all the walls of this palace painted and decorated with paint and also the mosaic floors. I remember that when I started to be a guide in Israel more than ten years ago, all this was still buried here, all this spa! And every time I come there are new and new archeological excavations and new finds! In the excavations that were done here in the year 1968 a ring was found, which in itself is super cool, it is not so common to find jewelry, even more good quality jewelry. And this ring was taken and put into storage at the ministry of antiquities in Israel, it stayed there for years and years and years until in 2018 someone decided to clean the ring and when they started cleaning the ring they saw that on top of it there was an inscription and a design. What was written on that ring? Pilatus. Folks, Pilatus as in Pontius Pilate; they found the ring here and there is a good chance that it belonged to Pontius Pilate himself, or one of his direct employees. The man who condemned Jesus to crucifixion, they found his ring here at this location. And folks, we only found two inscriptions of Pilate in Israel, the first one is this stone that you are seeing that was found in Caesarea, also one of Herod’s buildings and the second one is the ring here, from Herodion, isn’t it amazing? Such a colossal place also has a colossal maintenance bill, imagine keeping this place clean, all the time fixing what needs fixing, and so when King Herod will pass away, nobody wants to pay the bill and the place will be abandoned. But not for long, because in the year 66 after Christ, the Jews of Israel declare war against the Roman Empire, they don’t want to be subjugated anymore. And now if you are going to fight against the biggest army of the time, where do you want to hide or fight? How about a fortress like this, ready and empty! And here come the rebels, and they come and build some things here, one of their constructions is where we are entering now which is a Synagogue; one of the oldest synagogues ever found! And the construction as you see is quite simple, it’s seats on the sides so that people can sit here and also use this as a public meeting space. And how will the Jewish rebellion end? We’ll see in a little while, let’s go! Besides what we are seeing here, Herodion has a gigantic tunnel system! And when these Rebels arrive here they will take advantage of the fortress, but of course also the underground part. So now we are going to start the adventure part of our adventure, and we are going to go into the tunnels and see what else is here. And remember, we are still searching for the lost tomb of King Herod! Folks, we are now entering two thousand year old tunnels, come on! When King Herod builds the fortress he prepares it for war, and one very important thing that was needed for a conflict at that time was water, because if the fortress was besieged they couldn’t go out and get water elsewhere. And the tunnels that we are walking through now are just part of this water system of the fortress, they go all the way up to gigantic cisterns, tanks that could hold tons and tons of water in case nobody could get out of here. And these tunnels built by King Herod the Great as part of the water system were also used and enlarged by the rebels who arrive here in the year 66 in the Great Jewish Rebellion against the Romans. Unfortunately this rebellion will not end with a victory, but rather a devastating defeat for the people of Israel. The Romans will destroy all Israel from north to south for years to come. Even in the year 70 the Romans destroy the Temple in Jerusalem and the last free stronghold falls in the year 73 AD. Few people pass through here after that period. But now let’s get out of the underground part, because we still have a lot of cool things to see here. Before we talk about the lost tomb of King Herod, let’s talk about how he ends his days, in a terrible way. The historian Flavius Josephus tells us that he had a disease called “Herod’s disease,” and we don’t know exactly what it is, but we know the symptoms: that he had great pains, especially in the digestive system, that his breath was like the breath of a dead body, and that he had worms eating his body while he was still alive, I mean, really a horrifying description! And so Herod knew that the end of his days was coming, and he starts to prepare his burial in every single detail, from how he wanted the funeral procession to where he wanted to be buried. And digging in the land of Israel is a privilege for any archeologist, even more so in the monumental buildings of King Herod! But the dream of many archeologists was to find the tomb, the mausoleum of King Herod. In theory it should be easy, because Flavius Josephus tells us about the last days of King Herod and also where he was buried, in Herodion, where we are. And archaeologists came here and searched and searched and searched and did not find it. How can this be? The place is not that big! And one of the archaeologists who devoted a good part of his life to searching for King Herod’s tomb was called Ehud Netzer, who excavated here for 40 years, he started in 1972 to excavate the Herodion and to look for this tomb. The question was whether the tomb was at the top of the mountain with the palace or at the bottom where the spa and the swimming pool are. And one searches down there, and one searches up there for years and years and years, and nobody finds anything. Ehud Netzer then, only in 2006 he notices that on the side of the mountain there is a side which is different from the others and he decides to come here and start digging and what does he find? The theater, but he says, “if there’s a theater here maybe there’s more stuff”, and they go on and on and on digging, and finally in 2007, they find the tomb of King Herod where we’re going now! Flavius Josephus tells us in detail about Herod’s funeral procession, which begins in Jericho, 24 miles from here. The body is put on funeral carriage made of gold with precious stones and his body is brought with hundreds, if not thousands of soldiers behind, a gigantic event. And he is going to be buried here in Herodion as he had prepared and planned, he builds a mausoleum here, folks this here is simply the miniature. Obviously the original one was much bigger! And his body is placed inside a sarcophagus, and the sarcophagus inside the mausoleum that we can see his remains here, but since the mausoleum was not preserved, what happened to it? Also Flavius Josephus tells us, that Herod had many enemies and many people disliked him, and so after the procession the body is placed here and not long after, People come here and literally break and tear down the mausoleum, the sarcophagus, and roll it down the mountain. And in time all this stuff here will be covered with dirt and that’s why for so long nobody knew where Herod’s mausoleum and tomb was. And the pieces of the sarcophagus that were found were taken away and are today in the Israel Museum. And Ehud Netzer put as one of the biggest projects of his life to find Herod’s mausoleum and as we can see, he realized his dream, not many people can say this but a short time later, in the year 2010, Ehud Netzer was up there participating in the archaeological excavations when a tragedy happens, the wooden bar that was holding the upper part falls and along with it Ehud Netzer, he falls inside Herod’s sepulchre and passes away. So the great achievement of Ehud Netzer’s life will be to find Herod’s tomb, but unfortunately it will also be the end of him. In Herodion we learn many important things; the first is Herod’s great folly, Building an artificial mountain two thousand years ago is not for everyone, and we also see how much more there is to discover in Israel; only in 2007, Herod’s tomb was found, imagine how much more is to be found here in the entire land of Israel! We also learn here about pursuing our dreams, Ehud Netzer searched for 40 years until he finally managed to make this find come true, it’s not for everyone to tell that his dream and his life project came true, and that’s why here in this place we remember the grandeur and the madness of Herod, and we also pay homage to the archaeologist Ehud Netzer. And here I want to leave you our playlist with all the great places of King Herod that we have already shown here on the channel. I hope you enjoyed today’s video, don’t forget to subscribe on the channel and to press the like buttom, so bye to everyone and see you next time!