Herod's grave and tomb discovered at Herodium

The long search for Herod the Great’s tomb has ended with the exposure of the remains of his grave, sarcophagus and mausoleum on Mount Herodium’s northeastern slope, Prof. Ehud Netzer of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem Institute of Archaeology announced today. Herod was the Roman-appointed king of Judea from 37 to 4 BC, who was renowned for his many monumental building projects, including the reconstruction of the Temple in Jerusalem, the palace at Masada, as well as the complex at Herodium, 15 kilometers south of Jerusalem. Herodium is the most outstanding among King Herod’s building projects. This is the only site that carries his name and the site where he chose to be buried and to memorialize himself all of this with the integration of a huge, unique palace at the fringe of the desert, said Prof. Netzer. Therefore, he said, the exposure of his tomb becomes the climax of this site’s research. The approach to the burial site which has been described by the archaeologists involved as one of the most striking finds in Israel in recent years was via a monumental flight of stairs (6.5 meters wide) leading to the hillside that were especially constructed for the funeral procession...Full Story Here.