Herodion, According to Ehud Netzer

One of the last things I did before the midnight hike was email a stranger from the Herodion website, asking how to visit on Sunday. He responded when I got back from Kedumim, giving me a bus number (it's in the West Bank) and hours. I found a partner, and we made plans for Sunday morning. On the bus rides over we read up on the site, which our Archaeology of Jerusalem teacher had told us about. I had even watched the National Geographic special showcasing the spot, because just two years ago, our teacher's teacher, named Ehud Netzer, who had been studying Herod and digging at his sites for 30+ years, found what he believed to be Herod's Tomb. You can watch some of it here, showing his press conference (on my campus). The Nat'l Geographic page is here.

Links About Herodion I read before visiting
Wikipedia
Jewish Magazine (comprehensive)
Geophysical Exploration in Israel
NYTimes 1983
Slate (political implications of location)

The bus dropped us off at a roundabout right outside the site of the mountain. Before proceeding, Elana and I looked around, and found red signs surrounding the roundabout, stating that Israeli's were not allowed in to these areas because they were Palestinian Territory. Herodion though was a national park, and right next door was an army base, since an Israeli was killed on the mountain in the 80's.

We found pretty early on that there was not going to be a tour for us, so we carefully climbed ascended the path, until we found signs for the Tomb of Herod. But when we followed the signs, we found the area gated off. Herod's mausoleum was visible, but we couldn't go anywhere near it. I was pretty disappointed, but couldn't find a way to climb over the fence because everything was really steep.

We returned to the main path, and when we made it to the top, we were amazed to find the site filled with digging projects. People all around were shoveling and painting. Moreover, there was no Hebrew. The diggers were Arabs, and those who weren't spoke English. I immediately asked a guy if Ehud Netzer was here, but he said no. We continued exploring the upper palace, where we found capitals and a site that was converted into a synagogue. We then ascended into a very intricate cistern system, originally created by Herod, but then expanded during each of the two Jewish revolts. On the way out we found a group of workers painting something on walls, and the same guy who told me Netzer wasn't in mentioned that he had in fact showed up, but couldn't tell me where.



We went running down and around the mountain looking for the world expert on Herod, until we found him giving a tour to a few elderly friends, in English. He was standing right in front of a "No Entrance" sign, and those were his first words to us. I was unshaken, and went right into the details of my studies, my teacher, etc. He didn't say anything, so for a while I just stood there with Elana while he showed his friends pictures from his booklet of the area around the mountain.

Then he opened the gate, and I turned to a woman nearby who spoke Hebrew, and asked if I could go in. She turned to Ehud, who responded simply "בבקשה" "please." We were in.

Over the next few minutes, Elana and I socialized a little so we weren't so obviously mooching. The woman I had talked to earlier turned out to be Ehud's wife, and also a graduate of my high school in Philadelphia (extremely small classes). It was an amazing coincidence. She and Netzer took us to and explained the discoveries of the Royal Theater (which he says he calls the "royal theater." God, he's the only one who can call it that, cuz he found it!) Herod's Tomb, and the cisterns nearby. Elana and I helped up the family friends through the steep inclines, and we also got to talking. One couple was from the Chicago area, and the wife was an art history teacher, so she had a little to say about the designs on the stones that were found. Devorah (Ehud's wife) even told me that they were meters away from finding the Tomb in the 70's, when they found a cistern, but they didn't continue digging there. the platform itself was amazing and still very sharp in detail, but just being there and being able to touch was something else.



The fortress is a lot like Masada, but a younger project. The archaeologist behind Masada has since passed, there's already a museum and there's tons of tourism, but Herodion gets less because it's in the West Bank and because it was no more of an architectural masterpiece than Masada (except that Herod turned a hill into a mountain). That has since changed with the discovery of the Tomb, following Josephus' directions, and it's only a matter of time until there's a museum here too.

The very last place we went to (Elana and I were rushed because we wanted to catch the bus back) was a small wooden shed at the top of the Theater. It was closed off because inside Ehud found paintings of a special style called dry plaster. These don't usually survive, and they're different from fresco, which I think are wet plaster. We walked in and Devorah asked me to climb to the top of the dirt mounds to lift the green felt curtains covering them. She asked me. It was a tremendous honor in my view to sneak into a tour with the expert and then help unveil these exclusive finds. The pictures themselves were of windows, if I remember correctly, and there were some other designs around as well. It was really steep and there was near nowhere to stand, but as you can see, all the while I was documenting. Devorah explained the difficulty in preserving the finds from the elements, and tourists, as well as funding problems. Then I got a family photo, wished Ehud a happy 75th, and hit the road, running down the mountain with Elana.



We arrived at the place where the bus dropped us off, but we saw no buses anywhere. I was still reeling from the last hour, and didn't see an Arab shepherd come up to us. He kept asking for a suuura, which we eventually understood as picture. Perhaps he wanted to take a picture of me. Some of his friends showed up, and they offered us taxi rides in Hebrew, but the taxis in the West Bank aren't allowed into Jerusalem, so we couldn't use them. Then a Humvee pulled up to us and some Israeli soldiers told us not to stay there, that the bus wouldn't be stopping there, and that we should go to the other side of the road. Long story short: we crossed Herodion, found a main road with vehicles with Israeli license plates, found the bus stop but didn't want to wait an hour for the next one, so we hitchhiked our way out of the West Bank to Jerusalem (following two other Israelis who got into the car of a security officer, who then offered us a ride. There's an etiquette to tramping in Israel).

Herodion can be seen from Jerusalem, and likewise.