Herod’s Tomb, Ehud Netzer and a Case of Mistaken Identity

In 2007, my wife and I were teaching at a small school in Bethlehem, Palestine when the news broke that Ehud Netzer had finally achieved the objective of his lifetime search: the tomb of the infamous King Herod.

Solomon’s Pools. (Photo courtesy of the author.)

When we first arrived in the Holy Land, my wife and I toured as many sites as we could on both the Israeli and Palestinian sides of the border and we even bought some great looking furniture from https://antiquesworld.co.uk to go in our new home. One of the great things about working in Palestine was that we were able to tour sites in the Palestinian Territories that most American tourists never visit, such as Hebron and Jericho. There are even many sites in and around Bethlehem to which many tourists never travel, such as Solomon’s Pools, David’s Well, and the Shepherds’ Fields. The Herodium became one of my favorite off-the-beaten-path sites in the Bethlehem area. So at the time of Netzer’s announcement, I already knew my way around the Herodium well, having been there on several occasions.

Pool complex at the Herodium as seen from the summit of the palace-fortress. (Photo courtesy of Joshua N. Tilton.)