The Search For King Herod's Tomb Brought Archaeologists To An Incredible Site

A couple of thousand years ago, there was a truly magnificent sight outside Jerusalem. Back then, the thriving settlement of Herodium stood tall, protected by imposing walls that were visible for miles around. And inside this highly fortified space – built for the Judean king Herod – folks could while away the hours at the theater or soaking themselves at the local bathhouse. Herod even had his burial site here – or so legend had it, anyway. But these rumors remained unproved for decades until researchers finally made a truly momentous discovery.

A regal abode

It certainly seemed likely that Herod was buried in the settlement. He had built a palace here, after all. Herodium housed practically everything a king of the time could want, in fact – including an ornate royal box at that theater if the most powerful man in the region wanted to take in a play. And as Herodium was Judea’s second city, government offices and residences were also there. But there’s one thing that may not make sense. Simply put: why would the king want to move everything from Jerusalem to the remote desert?

Momma's boy

Well, Herod apparently had his reasons. And if records are to be believed, it was all to do with his mother. On one day, it’s said, the king and his entourage were traveling over uneven ground on the way to the city of Petra in modern-day Jordan. Suddenly, though, Herod’s mom’s cart tipped over. And for a frightening moment, it looked as though she had been killed as a consequence.

A king's promise

But by some miracle, Herod’s mother made it out alive. And this led the ruler to make an oath. He promised that his grave would ultimately lie at the location of the accident. Herod set out to make his vision a reality, too – even though the particular site he had in mind was almost ten miles from Jerusalem.

Construction begins

So, at the behest of the king, workers in the region set about building Herodium – which, as you may imagine, was an enormous undertaking. An aqueduct was particularly crucial to the whole endeavor – not least for keeping the toiling men alive in the heat – and so an example stretching several miles long was created. Herod then had his palace built at the very summit of the mountain, making it a spectacle for miles around.

An influential figure

It’s no wonder, either, that folks have long been looking for Herod’s final resting place, as he was a truly important figure in the region. Born in 73 B.C., the future king saw his political rise kick-started through his father’s close relationship with the Roman Empire. After political rivals assassinated his dad, then, Herod had somewhere to hide.

Roman crony

Retreating to Rome, Herod found himself in favor with the imperial authorities. He was beloved enough, in fact, to be given the title King of Judea. And the ruler certainly wielded his power. From there, he stormed Jerusalem, taking the city in 37 B.C. for the Roman Empire. And thanks to the might of the empire, Herod was able to expand his kingdom – as well as his own wealth.

Culture clash

For a large proportion of Judea’s citizens, however, their new king was a traitor. Herod himself was Jewish and had seemingly subjugated his own people in return for power and money. And in perhaps the king’s most blatant flouting of his faith, he installed a golden eagle at the Temple in Jerusalem. The bird was a defining symbol of Rome, you see, which made its presence at such a sacred site very controversial. In fact, this act was simply too much for some of his people to bear.

Pure tyranny

And the rebellion that followed the installation of the eagle showed the sheer strength of feeling against the king. Herod wasn’t going to give in, though. As you probably already know, he had a fearsome reputation as a tyrant – and probably a well-deserved one, too. Mass executions of those seen as a threat to his power were common, while being related to the king was almost as dangerous as opposing him.

Family drama

In addition to his penchant for murdering family members, Herod also had a flair for getting married, which he did on at least ten occasions. Those unions produced an even greater number of children, giving him plenty of relations upon which to unleash his bloodthirst. And for a man who became increasingly paranoid over the course of his reign, all those wives and heirs were not to be trusted.

Murdering loved ones

In just one example of the king’s unhinged behavior, he once accused Mariamne – reportedly his favorite spouse – of cheating on him. In his mind, that meant she had to be executed. And Mariamne’s withdrawal of affection as a consequence only further convinced Herod of his queen’s infidelity. Nothing to do with her husband’s own actions, oh no... But by the time Herod discovered that Mariamne hadn’t been unfaithful, she had already been put to death. And even though his mother-in-law had backed him over her daughter, he then murdered her as well.

Lethal accusations

More distant relations of the king weren’t safe, either. Herod had not one, but two of his brothers-in-law murdered for perceived betrayals on their part. And, bizarrely, one of the men was drowned in the midst of a particularly spirited game of water polo. Yes, in this tyrannical ruler’s hands, sport was a deadly weapon.

Bloodbath

But Herod’s killing spree didn’t just extend to wives and their brothers. Distressingly, he also ordered his own children be slaughtered. Two of his sons were murdered on his say so, while a third was put to death for alleged betrayals. And tales of the king’s habit of dispatching his relatives eventually reached Rome. This gruesome news reputedly caused Emperor Augustus to joke, “It’s better to be Herod’s pig than his son.”

Child slaughter

The children of other families didn’t fare much better, as the king’s paranoia over keeping his throne ended up putting many youngsters in Judea at risk. Yes, after a visit by three wise men looking for the prophesied King of the Jews – also known as Jesus, of course – Herod committed his most violent act yet.

Fear of a prophecy

The Bible claims that upon hearing of the birth of Jesus, Herod decided to try to put a stop to the prophecy – and the threat the baby apparently posed to his power. So to make absolutely sure that the infant couldn’t usurp him, the ruler gave out a horrific order. All male children under the age of three in the town of Bethlehem were to be killed.

Possibly thousands dead

Some denominations of Christianity teach that more than 14,000 male children were slaughtered on Herod’s say-so. That number may not be accurate, as it’s thought to be many times larger than the total number of people in Bethlehem at the time. But even if the true figure is likely no more than a handful, it doesn’t make Herod’s decree any less nauseating.

Karmic justice

And whatever the truth, contemporary accounts paint a picture of Herod as finally getting his just desserts. Towards the end of his reign, you see, he was a very ill human being. Months before his death in 4 B.C., the ruler reportedly suffered from symptoms including abdominal pain, shortness of breath and palpitations.

Severe afflictions

This list of afflictions led doctors from the University of Maryland to choose Herod as a diagnosis subject for a 2006 conference. And using ancient texts as a guide, the medics were able to come up with a more accurate diagnosis than was possible at the time. The ruler’s own team actually bathed him in boiling oil as an attempted cure, but this only made things worse. Apparently, Herod went blind for a period as a result.

Ancient medicine

Medicine has, of course, come a long way since ancient times. Back then, it was thought that the body relied on the balance of four so-called humors: black bile, blood, phlegm and yellow bile. Any illness was thought, then, to be a manifestation of an imbalance of these elements and nothing more. These days, however, modern physicians believe that Herod’s symptoms point to one thing in particular.

Modern diagnosis

Herod was actually suffering, it seems, from kidney failure. According to the findings at the Maryland conference, all but one of his symptoms fit with this agonizing condition. Yet one of the king’s afflictions was more out of place. And please be warned: if you’re faint of stomach, you will not enjoy the following description.

Rotting while alive

You see, ancient texts claim that Herod had gangrene in his genitals. Even worse, the dying tissue was being fed upon by an infestation of maggots. This horrifying but thankfully rare condition is known these days as Fournier’s gangrene, and it meant that Herod was most probably in a great deal of pain before his death.

Height of his power

But while Herod’s later years were characterized by illness and mania, ambitious and complex construction projects marked the early part of his reign. He had an excellent military and architectural mind back then, you see, and the expansion of Judean territory saw several massive civil engineering successes. Some of those buildings even survive to this day.

Masada

For one, the ancient king was responsible for the fortress Masada, which stood at the very edge of the Judean desert. Built on a natural plateau and surrounded by nothing but sand, the complex boasted yet another Herodian castle as well as storerooms and a large perimeter wall. The king’s palace at Jericho, meanwhile, was said to have raised gardens so that the flowers and foliage were at eye level. And the grand projects certainly didn’t end there.

Early metropolis

There was also the building of the town and port at Caesarea, which took a whopping 12 years to complete. Once finished, it included an amphitheater, an aqueduct, a chariot-racing stadium and a deep dock – all of which have survived to the present day. And Herod’s legacy can be visited by 21st-century tourists, as the site has since become part of a national park.

That special site

But Herod’s most ambitious construction project was, of course, Herodium. So enormous was the compound, in fact, that when finished, it was the biggest of its kind in the entire Roman Empire. And as we mentioned earlier, the town was originally conceived to uphold the king’s earlier oath: that his grave must lie where his mother had survived the cart accident.

Up the slope

So, during the final decade of his life, Herod concentrated on building an elaborate tomb. And the last part of the project involved a monumental feat truly befitting a king: he made the mountain upon which the town sat even taller. Workers achieved this by moving tons of soil to the peak.

Funeral for a king

Then, following Herod’s painful – and frankly gross – death in 4 B.C., the leader was laid to rest in Herodium after an extravagant ceremony. And as far as anyone knew, that’s where he remained for the next couple of millennia. In the meantime, the town itself fell to ruin, eventually claimed by the desert.

Archaeological uncoverings

Herodium wouldn’t be rediscovered until the early 19th century, in fact. Successive archeologists then uncovered the impressive facilities we mentioned earlier, as well as cisterns, pipe systems and tunnels buried deep within the mountain. But try as they might, none of the teams could find the tomb of Herod. That’s despite various search expeditions over the better part of two centuries.

Harder than expected

And this may come as a surprise. Given the accounts of Herod’s burial left behind by historians such as Josephus, you’d think that finding the king’s tomb would have been fairly straightforward. In reality, though, the quest for this final resting place turned out to be anything but. Multiple digs at the base and summit of the mountain uncovered literally no trace of Herod.

Shifting strategies

Archeologist Ehud Netzer was just one of those looking for the ancient burial plot, which for decades he believed must lie at the foot of the mountain. But by 2005 – and 30 years after he had begun his search – he’d seen little success. It all called for a change of tack, and eventually Netzer began digging around at the mid-way point of the mountain instead.

Years of labor

Why the middle, though? Well, Netzer had noticed a section of wall there that, in his opinion, looked very unusual. So, his team began to excavate. And for nearly 12 months, they found... nothing. But while that must have been a disappointment to the group, it didn’t put them off entirely. And, ultimately, their perseverance paid off. In 2007, you see, the Hebrew University archeologists finally uncovered something that they hadn’t been expecting.

Something down there

Sifting through the sandy soil, Netzer and his team hit upon fragments of pink limestone. The slabs were also intricately decorated – suggesting, perhaps, that someone or something was nearby. In any case, the group continued to dig. And their efforts were rewarded when something truly incredible came out of the ground.

An ornate sarcophagus

What did the specialists find? Only a lavish sarcophagus. In fact, the item was so highly decorated that, to Netzer, it could only have been created to house a king. The archaeologist later talked about the discovery to National Geographic, saying, “It’s a sarcophagus we just don’t see anymore. It is something very special.”

Herod's return

So, after millennia buried in the desert – not to mention a decades-long search by Netzer – King Herod’s tomb had seemingly been found. And once the burial site had been identified, further discoveries came thick and fast. In addition to a couple of other sarcophagi, an enormous set of stairs and a huge reception zone also emerged from the soil.

Lack of details

You should know, though, that these digs didn’t turn up any grave goods that specifically name Herod. No remains were recovered in or around the burial site, either. And experts believe that the king’s bones will most probably never be unearthed – for good reason. It’s all to do with the relationship between Herod and Rome.

Striking back

You see, it appears that much of the grave area was destroyed around 60 years after Herod’s death by Jewish insurgents who opposed Rome. For these rebels, the former king symbolized their subjugation, while his relationship with the empire had been nothing but collaboration. Reducing Herod’s tomb to rubble and possibly scattering his bones would have been the ultimate act of revenge, then, in their eyes.

Lingering doubts

This all means that the tomb may never be definitively assigned to Herod. The dearth of identification or any sign marking the burial location means that, for many, Netzer has yet to prove beyond doubt that the site once held the king’s remains. And in the absence of an inscription, the sarcophagus could have theoretically belonged to any wealthy, high-status individual.

Substantial evidence

For Netzer, though, that apparent lack of a monument is easily explained. There is, in fact, proof that this is Herod’s tomb – and it’s the entire town of Herodium. The whole complex – from the palace to the theater and the swimming pool – stands as a testament to the king’s achievements. As Smithsonian magazine’s Barbara Kreiger put it in a 2009 article, “The entire edifice declares, ‘Behold me!’”

Ego monument

During his own conversation with Smithsonian, Netzer added, “Like a pyramid, the entire mountain was turned into a monument.” Added to this is the fact that, at the time of Herod’s death, Jewish people often didn’t add inscriptions to their burial caskets. All in all, for the archaeologist, the evidence points to one inevitable conclusion: Herodium is a very special place indeed.

Closer to the truth

Netzer added to Smithsonian, “In my field, ancient archeology… once circumstances give me the opportunity to be quite certain, it’s not in my character to have further doubts.” But no matter who the tomb once housed, the professor’s determination eventually unearthed precious evidence of an ancient way of life. And that, surely, is the mark of a true archeologist.