Bible Archeology Discoveries

Herod's Sarcophagus
Discovered: Herodium, Israel
From: (c. 4 BC)

Josephus records that Herod died in 4 B.C., and he also notes that Herod was buried in Herodium, one of the several desert fortresses that he had built in fear of a Jewish insurrection against his rule. When he was alive Herod had no shortage of enemies and even he himself knew that he was despised by much of the populace of Judea and Israel.

It is no surprise then, that Herod had devised a plan to ensure that there would be mourning at his funeral by having prominent Jewish leaders rounded up and killed in the hippodrome in Jericho. Matthew’s account states that once Herod had died, Mary & Joseph were safe to return to the land of Israel from Egypt.

Herod’s final resting place is located just southeast of Bethlehem on the edge of the Judean desert. The place where he was buried is called Herodium – named in honor of himself. This was a place that held great significance in Herod’s personal history and rise to power. He built the citadel on a natural promontory and modified it as an enormous man-made hill-fortress. Archaeologists have excavated a large monumental entryway in which Herod and his royal entourage would enter the palace complex. In 4 B.C. when he died, his body surely traveled through that same passage, as he was buried in the site in a large red-colored, limestone sarcophagus.

"Arise and take the young child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel: for they are dead that sought the young child's life.
And he arose and took the young child and his mother, and came into the land of Israel.
But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judaea in the room of his father Herod, he was afraid to go thither; and being warned of God in a dream, he withdrew into the parts of Galilee,
and came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth; that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through the prophets, that he should be called a Nazarene."
Matthew 2: 20-23

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Notable Finds

Much of what is described in Bible text is lost to history, requiring readers to assume the historicity of the scriptures.

However, many of the places and events described in the Old and New Testaments are periodically corroborated by archeological finds.

Some finds simply help us to better understand things from the ancient world. However, others provide important evidence as to the truth of scripture regarding things about which there had previously been skepticism.

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