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