The Herodium

King Herod the Great (the Herod who ordered the slaughter of the baby boys around Bethlehem -- see Matthew 2:13-20) built many great buildings including a fortress inside this artificial hill. His tomb has only very recently been found on the side of this hill.


The fortress was a fantastic complex with a big water reservoir (doubled as swimming pool???) and a palace at the bottom of the hill. Herod the Great was a very decadent man and even tried to surpass the buildings of Rome with his works in and around Jerusalem.

New Testament Jerusalem

Again, I'm too tired to write too much today as we were out until after 6pm, and then we have homework to do after dinner which is at 7pm.


Today we focused on Jerusalem in the New Testament times, as distinct from yesterday which was focused on Old Testament times. This first photo is of some very ancient olive trees in the Garden of Gethsemane (or else very close to where it was.)


This next photo shows some of the western wall of the Temple Mount built by Herod the Great (well, at least the bottom half of the wall is his original work). Unfortunately, however, photos cannot capture the grandeur and beauty of this place.