Bryant G. Wood
During his time as king of Judea, Herod the Great (37–4 BC) constructed a magnificent palace on the west side of Jerusalem. The only remnant one can see today is the so-called Tower of David just inside the Jappa Gate in the Old City of Jerusalem. The lower portion, 20 m (66 ft) square, was constructed by Herod. The upper portion, made of smaller stones, is much later.
Josephus, the Jewish historian of the first century AD, described Herod’s palace in some detail.
Now as these towers were themselves on the north side of the wall, the king had a palace inwardly thereto adjoined; which exceeds my ability to describe it; for it was so very curious as to want no cost or skill in its construction, but was entirely walled about to the height of 30 cubits, and was adorned with towers at equal distances, and with large bed chambers, that would contain beds for 100 guests apiece, in which the variety of the stones is not to be expressed; for a large quantity of those that were rare of that kind was collected together. Their roofs were also wonderful, both for the length of the beams and the splendor of their ornaments. The number of the rooms was also very great, and the variety of the figures what were about them was prodigious; their furniture was complete, and the greatest part of the vessels that were put in them was of silver and gold. There were besides many porticoes, one beyond another, round about, and in each of those porticos curious pillars; yet were all the courts that were exposed to the air everywhere green. There were moreover several groves of trees, and long walks through them, with deep canals, and cisterns, that in several parts were filled with brazen statues, through which the water ran out (Wars of the Jews 5.4.4).
He built himself a palace in the upper city, raising the rooms to a very great height, and adorning them with the most costly furniture of gold, and marble seats, and beds; and these were so large that they could contain very many companies of men. These apartments were also of distinct magnitudes, and had particular names given them; for one apartment was called Caesar’s, another Agrippa’s (Antiquities of the Jews 15.9.3).
Deep under the floor of a Turkish soldiers’ barracks built in the late 19th century, archaeologists are laying bare foundation walls for the platform upon which Herod the Great’s palace was built.
BSpade 15:2 (Spring 2002) p. 52
Walls constructed by Roman engineers over 2000 years ago to support the platform on which Herod the Great’s palace was built. Scholars believe Pilate tried Jesus in this building complex.
When the wise men came seeking information on the birth of a king (Mt 2:1–12), they most likely had an audience with Herod in his official residence. After Herod’s death in 4 BC, his eldest son Archelaus became ruler of Judea (4 BC-AD 6) and moved into the royal palace. When Mary and Joseph returned from Egypt with young Jesus, God warned Joseph in a dream to avoid Archelaus. Thus he was afraid to go to Judea, and “withdrew to the district of Galilee, and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth” (Mt 2:22–23).
When Jesus appeared before Pilate, it was in the Praetorium, the official residence of the Roman ruler of Judea (Mt 27:27; Mk 15:16; Jn 18:28). Most scholars believe this was Herod’s palace (McRay 1991:114–19).
Plans to build a new educational center for the Tower of David Museum have prompted excavations in the area of Herod’s palace. As with the Temple Mount, Herod had his engineers create a massive platform upon which the palace archaeologists found parallel north-south walls that were pan of the foundation platform. They are 150 m (164 yd) long, about 2 m (6 ft) wide and founded on bedrock. Between the walls is an earth and stone fill. A drainage channel 7 m (23 ft) deep, partly hewn in the bedrock and partly constructed, runs beneath the walls. Wastewater from the palace was collected in the channel and directed to the Hinnom Valley to the west. It is recorded in the Gospel of John,
“He [Pilate] brought Jesus out and sat down on the judge’s seat at a place known as the Stone Pavement (which in Aramaic is Gabbatha)” (Jn 19:13: cf. Mt 27:19).
Based on excavations during the past 20 years, the palace extended over an area 500 m (550 yd) north and south by 150 m (164 yd) east and west. Foundations for a large stone pavement were found in the Armenian Quarter south of the Tower of David Museum in the early 1970s. It is believed, that this is the location of the pavement and judgment seat where Christ was tried by Pilate (McRay 1991:118–19).
A few decades after the crucifixion of Jesus, in AD 66, the First Jewish Rebellion broke out. Jewish rebels entered and burned the palace. This brought to an end the once magnificent palace erected by Herod the Great that stood for nearly a century.
Bibliography
Associated Press
2001 The Quest to Unearth Herod’s Palace Jerusalem, August 8. (http://stacks.msnbc.com/news/611342.asp)
Govier, G.
2001 Courtyard or Herod’s Palace. Artifax, Autumn: 5–6.
Israel Antiquities Authority
2001 Excavations South of Tower of David, Old City, Jerusalem. Press release, August 7. (http: www.bibleinterp.com/excavations/kisleeng.htm)
McRay, J.
1991 Archaeology and the New Testament. Grand Rapids MI: Baker.
Schaalje, J.
2001 Archaeology in Israel. Jewish Magazine 48 (October), (http://www.jewishmag.com/48mag/herod/herod.htm)
Shehori, D.
2001 More Magnificent Than the Temple. Ha’Aretz, English Edition, December 3. (http://www.haaretz.co.il/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=101418)
BSpade 15:2 (Spring 2002) p. 55