Located 5 KM south-east of Bethlehem, this hill served as a monument, a burial ground and the district capital of King Herod (under whose reign Jesus was born). It has 2 sections, the Upper Herodion is a palace guarded by a circular fort located at the top of the hill and the Lower Herodion at the base of the hill, contained the palace annexes for the use of King's friends. The double wall surrounding Herodion is 63 meters in diameter and as high as a seven-story building. Today, you can see open rooms, courtyards, luxurious bathhouses, complex network of tunnels dug by Jewish Zealots (AD 70) and a synagogue inside this fortress cum castle.
For some, it was to Herodion that the three wise men were summoned by Herod at the time of Jesus' birth and later he launched the vicious campaign to kill all the male children under two in Bethlehem (Matthew 2:16). The famous first century Jewish historian Josephus describes Herodium in detail and asserts that Herod was burried here. The quest for Herod's tomb remained elusive until May 2007, when Professor Ehud Netzer from Hebrew University publicly announced the discovery.
Here is an excellent article on Herodium with many beautiful pictures....
http://www.biblewalks.com/Sites/Herodion.html
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