Herodium 3.94

Herodium, Herodeion, best known in Israel as Herodion and in Arabic as Jabal al-Fureidis is a truncated cone-shaped hill, located 12km south of Jerusalem and 5km southeast of Bethlehem, in the Judaean Desert, West Bank. Herod the Great built a palace fortress and a small town at Herodium, between 23 and 15 BCE, and is believed to have been buried there. Herodium is 758 meters above sea level, the highest peak in the Judaean Desert. Today, the site is managed by the Israel National Parks Authority.EtymologyHerodion is the only site that is named after King Herod the Great. It was known by the Crusaders as the "Mountain of Franks". Arab locals call it Jabal al-Fourdis ("Mountain of Paradise"). The Modern Hebrew name, Herodion, is actually a transliteration of the Greek spelling. However, modern Israeli archaeologists have confirmed that the site’s original Hebrew name was Herodis, just as this name is inscribed in one of the Bar Kokhba letters recovered from the Muraba’at Caves in the Judaean desert.HistoryEmergenceIn 40 BCE, after the Parthian conquest of Syria, Herod fled to Masada. On the way, at the location of Herodion, Herod clashed with the Parthians and emerged victorious. According to the Roman Jewish historian Josephus, he "built a town on that spot in commemoration of his victory, and enhanced it with wonderful palaces... and he called it Herodion after himself" (The Wars of the Jews I, Chapter 13).