Herod's Fortress

Arja the taxi driver was in fine form as he drove us away from Beit Lechem (Bethlehem!). Zipping through sunny streets in his old Mercedes, honking at anyone who needed to get out of the way, or perhaps just to say hello, we bundled along at a clipping rate. We soon outpaced the traffic, left the narrow roads, and found ourselves in open countryside. Bumps gave way to black-top, when suddenly Arja swerved, yanking his seatbelt out from where it had been calmly resting in peace, unused. Both hands off the wheel, he broadly demonstrated clipping it into place. Paul, in the passenger seat, gazed at him. With a smile and a wave, Arja shrugged: "Israel" he said!

Desert country 15 minutes outside of Jerusalem

Of course! We were crossing the invisible line from Palestinian precincts to soldier-maintained Israeli territory, where the laws of the road had the potential to be strictly enforced. I hunted in vain for my seatbelt in the back, and decided, when I couldn't find it, not to bother Arja with that tiny little detail in case he chose to turn around from the front and whip it out from under my seat while still zipping merrily along! It was entirely possible. I hung on, and prayed!

Off in the distance, beyond the desert hills, was the Dead Sea. But we weren't going there. We had a royal destination in mind, closer to hand: Herodion, fortress of King Herod the Great, the one who sat in power just before BC became AD.  (Fact: Jesus was born in about 6 BC!  The western calendar-maker Dionysius was just a little off in his calculations!)

Herod wanted a high citadel overlooking Jerusalem and the areas beyond, but there was no mountain or hill near enough to use as a base. Did that technicality stop him? LOL NO! as my boys would say! - Though there wasn't much laughter in Herod's time. You remember, this is the Herod who whipped out his sword - or his army - and slaughtered every baby boy in Bethlehem when he heard that a potential infant king had been born there. (A wail rises from my heart when I visit Bethlehem and imagine that kind of destruction in the town I now know, among people I care for. The cry of "Rachel, weeping for her children", continues).

Herodion Mountain

So when Herod wanted a "mountain" base for his fortress in that particular spot (place of a great victory), he built it! Well, someone built it for him. In arduous, blistering heat, workers supplied the despot with what he designed and desired. And there on the horizon we could see it: Herodion. The hill is oddly flat, clearly not a natural occurrence. But if you're planning a fortress, what could be better? Great to build on, visible from miles around, it could strike terror into enemies - while at the same time providing a perfect 360^o lookout for watchmen whose duty it was to report oncoming attacks.

Herod's "Bullets"!

In his lofty repose, Herod feasted, plotted, enjoyed a summer palace life of ease, controlled his territory with political ruthlessness, and decimated anyone who attempted to approach unauthorised, with the simple tactic of giant "bullets" launched from catapults above.

Steps leading into a cistern

But what do you do when, having built a high desert fortress, you discover that of course you'll need water way up there? Well, you dig a well down below, where water can be found, and have servants lug it all the way up, daily. You also dig cisterns (large water tanks), deep under the palace, to collect  rainwater.

Heading down Herod's tunnels

(Let me tell you, cisterns and connected secret passages provide amazing adventures for two boys and their parents exploring on a warm January day!)  Herod had used these passages as hideaways and surprise attack tunnels when needed. We roamed widely, underground, right where the tyrannical king had lurked! Thank goodness he wasn't still there! It would have been unutterably terrifying to round a corner and find Herod glaring at you! Probably the last thing you'd ever see!

Intricate walls

Herod's fortress palace had been beautiful and unusual - a round building surrounded by round towers. It was set down into the mountain so that the lavish architecture wasn't visible from outside, and was protected there from wind and weather. Now all that remains are fragmented pillars, the outline of walls, and the cisterns.  I am so grateful to archaeologists who have done the long, painstaking work of unearthing and restoring this ancient place, making it available to us. Through their achievement we get a vivid sense of the king's opulence, cunning, imagination and total control.

Behind: Judean desert, Dead Sea

I am also grateful to Flavius Josephus, the prolific historian, on whose work my husband Paul is an expert.  Josephus lived in the 1st century AD and almost everything we know about that era comes from his writing.  He researched and wrote histories from far before that too....  So of course I'm equally grateful to Paul and others who preserve and present Josephus' writing to the world! Paul is one of a small team of international scholars translating and writing commentaries on all Josephus' many works. That's his sabbatical project while here. What a fitting place for it!

It was Josephus who described Herod's grandiose life, including the luxurious fortress Herodion, which prompted ongoing exploration here. Josephus also gives us the details of Herod's death, because yes, Herod died as surely as those infants he had slaughtered. His death, by illness, was truly unpleasant. The date will suffice! Josephus writes that just after an eclipse of the moon, and just before Passover (between March 29 and April 4 in 4 B.C), Herod, king of the Jews, expired.

"Lower Herodian"

Herod's tomb - partially excavated

We visited his tomb on the way out. It's on the pathway down the mountainside, and was only discovered recently.  Down at the bottom of the mountain, near the place where his large swimming/boating pool and gardens had flourished, is a 350 meter path: built for his funeral procession.

Leaving the Fortress

Herod the Great, a creative genius, had been known as the "builder king". In addition to constructing other fortresses (like the famous Masada), and wondrous aqueducts, he was the one who renovated the Temple in the heart of Jerusalem, where King Solomon's smaller, glorious temple had stood centuries earlier. Herod did such a brilliant job of renovating that it came to be known as "Herod's Temple".

And then Herod died and was buried. Almost all that is left are faded memories and ghastly stories. His magnificent Temple was destroyed within 74 years of his death (AD 70); hardly one stone was left upon another.  Two thousand years later, believers and mourners still stand at the Wailing Wall, beside the few Temple stones that remain, praying for restoration.

Herodion, his beautiful citadel - the only place he officially named after himself - passed to his son, Archelaus, who lost it to the Romans, who lost it to the Zealots, who lost it again.  And so the wind blows over the desert soil, across the flat top of the mountain and into the dry cisterns below. And we say, with Solomon, builder of the first temple, "Vanity of vanities; all is vanity ... under the sun."

Walking through remembered glory

Soft white limestone