Palace Fortress
Dates
30 BCE - 60 CE
Garden Description
The Palace Fortress is a cylindrical structure originally seven stories high (two vaulted corridors in the substructure and five stories of corridors each having its floors supported on wooden beams). In the open interior of the cylinder, palace quarters were designed with luxuriously appointed rooms facing onto a 41x18m courtyard (Fig 1A). These included a triclinium/reception hall, baths, and living quarters. This peristyle featured colonnaded corridors on three of its sides, the two shorter of which were decorated by exedra. The interior focal point for these rooms was a garden, which has been excavated to approximately its original surface. The soil of the garden is clearly amended with fertilizer and suitable for cultivation using water from the cisterns beneath the palace.
Plans
Bibliography
- E. Netzer, "Greater Herodium" in Qedem, Monographs of the Institute of Archaeology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem 13, 1981 (worldcat)
- E. Netzer The Palaces of the Hasmoneans and Herod the Great, Jerusalem: The Israel Exploration Society, 1999, 98-107 (worldcat)
- I. Nielsen, Inge, Hellenistic Palaces, 1994, 201-203. (worldcat)
- R. Porat, R. Chachy, and Y. Kalman. "Herodium I: Herod's Tomb Precinct, Final Reports of the 1972-2010 Excavations Directed by Ehud Netzer." Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society (2015). worldcat
- D. Langgut, M. Cavanagh , R. Evyasaf, Y. Korman, R. Porat, G. Stiebel., K. Gleason. "The reconstruction of Herod the Great's palatial gardens in Herodium: a botanical perspective", In: Chachy R, Kalman Y, and Porat R (eds.), "Lower Herodium," in HERODIUM II; Final Reports of the 1972-2010 Excavations Directed by Ehud Netzer, Jerusalem. In press