Masada Fortress
Herod the Great built palaces for himself on the mountain and fortified Masada between 37 and 31 BCE.
Archive for December, 2015
Palace on Herodium
The palace at Herodium consisted of four towers of seven stories, a bathhouse, courtyards, a Roman theatre, banquet rooms, a large walkway (“the course”), as well as extravagant living quarters for Herod and guests.
Bathhouse on Herodium
Photo courtesy of Bibleplaces.com. Another symbol of Herod’s extravagance in building, this full-size Roman bathhouse had the typical design of four rooms – apodyterium (changing room), tepidarium (stretching room), caldarium (steam room) and frigidarium (cold bath).
Model of Herodian Jerusalem, the Israel Museum
This 50:1 scale model, covering nearly one acre, evokes ancient Jerusalem at its peak, meticulously recreating its topography and architectural character in 66 CE, the year in which the Great Revolt against the Romans broke out, leading to the destruction of the Temple and the city in the year 70 CE.
Model of Herod the Great’s Temple Mount, the Israel Museum
Herod’s largest and most beautiful project was the rebuilding of the Jerusalem Temple. He began in 20/19 B.C.E., yet work on the details was still proceeding long after his death when the Temple was destroyed by the Romans in 70 C.E.
Josephus, War I, 386-673- Personal Life and Rule of Herod
Only a small part of the account of Herod’s long and complex reign by Josephus can be presented here. Like the previous excerpt, it was authored by the statesman and historian Nicolaus of Damascus and taken over virtually verbatim by Josephus. For this reason, it tends to be very favorable to Herod, even excusing some […]
Bust of the Emperor Gaius Caligula
Bust of the emperor Gaius Caligula, ruled 37- 41 CE. (Getty Villa Museum). There are few surviving sources about the reign of Emperor Caligula, although he is described as a noble and moderate ruler during the first six months of his reign. After this, the sources focus upon his cruelty, sadism, extravagance, and sexual perversity, presenting […]
Bust of the Emperor Tiberius
Bust of the emperor Tiberius, ruled 14-37 CE. Tiberius was one of Rome’s greatest generals; his conquest of Pannonia, Dalmatia, Raetia, and temporarily, parts of Germania, laid the foundations for the northern frontier.
Josephus, War II, 167-404- Jewish Law Clashes with Roman Rule
Pontius Pilate, the infamous procurator who crucified Jesus, seemed to have been oblivious to the religious sensibilities of the people he governed and defended his actions with arms. The emperor Gaius expected the Jews to worship him in their Temple, and even ordinary Romans were disrespectful of Judaism. There was a visible deterioration in the […]
Tacitus, Historiae V, 9-1-3- The Roman Conquest of Judaea
Tacitus, the first-century Roman historian, described Roman rule in Palestine briefly. His account highlights the disturbances after Herod’s death and the transition to procuratorial which paved the way for the eventual outbreak of the Great Revolt of 66-73 C.E. Cneius Pompeius was the first of our countrymen to subdue the Jews. Availing himself of the […]