Cite this garden Gleason, K. (2021). "Herodian First Palace." Gardens of the Roman Empire, accessed June 18, 2026. https://roman-gardens.github.io/id/1a7cf84cd7/

Herodian First Palace

Published: 2021-04-21
Last modified: 2026-06-08

Dates

31 BCE - 4 BCE

Garden Descriptions

Herod may have been a regular guest at the Hasmonean palace during his boyhood. Even after he effected his rule in 37 BCE, the Hasmoneans retained possession of their winter palace for a few years, according to Josephus. Artistobulus III was drowned there by Herod's men when the royal court stayed at the palace as guests of Princess Alexandra, the mother of Aristobulus III and Herod's wife, Mariamne.

His first palace, excavated in 1951 by J. Pritchard, was located to the south of Wadi Qelt, again, set amidst greenery. (Fig. 2) The building was rectangular in shape and was built around three sides of a large peristyle garden. The planning of the palace shows a clear relationship to the courtyard; both the large rectangular triclinium and another reception room on the opposite side of the court's axis, opened onto the peristyle offering the guests a good view of its gardens (Fig 3).

This first palace was "introverted" thus giving expression to Herod's inferior status in Jericho at that time. The existence of any swimming pools near the building remains an open question, but a huge pool (180 x 150m) was found to the south near the modern settlement of Birket Musa. This pool may have been used for boating and water sports, as well as irrigation.

Plans

Figure 2: Plan of Herod's first palace
Credit: (Gleason after Netzer 2001).

Images

Figure 3: Axonometric reconstruction of Herod's first palace (Yaniv Korman).

Bibliography

  • G. Garbrecht, and E. Netzer, "Die Wasserversorgung des geschichtlichen Jericho und seiner koniglichen Anlagen," in Mitteilungen (aus dem Leichtweiss-Institut fur Wasserbau) 115, Braunschweig/Jerusalem 1991 worldcat
  • K. Gleason, "Garden Excavations at the Herodian Winter Palace in Jericho, 1985-1987", Bulletin of the Anglo-Israel Archaeological Society, Vol. 7, 1987-8 Jstor
  • K. Gleason, "A Garden Excavation in the Oasis Palace of Herod the Great at Jericho," Landscape Journal 12.2 (1993):156-67wordcat
  • J. Kelso, James L. and Dimitri Baramki, "Excavations at New Testament Jericho and Kirbet en-Nitla," Annual of the American Schools of Oriental Research 29-30 (1949-51): 38-39
  • E. Netzer, The Palaces of the Hasmoneans and Herod the Great, Jerusalem: The Israel Exploration Society, 1999: 13-64 wordcat
  • Nielsen, Inge, Hellenistic Palaces,1994, 195-201 wordcat
  • E. Netzer, The Hasmonean and Herodian Palaces at Jericho: Final Reports of the 1973-1987 Excavations, Vol. 1, Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society, 2001 : 287-298 worldcat
  • E. Netzer, and Garbrecht G, "Water channels and a royal estate of the late Hellenistic period in Jericho's eastern plains," in D. Amit, J. Patrich and Y.; Hirschfeld, eds, The Aqueducts of Israel. 353-365. JRA Supplement 46, R.I. 2002 worldcat
  • J. Pritchard, "The Excavation at Herodian Jericho, 1951," The Annual of the American Schools of Oriental Research 32-3 (1952-4): 56-58. worldcat

Keywords