Herod: Grandeur and genius, the cruel king with a knack for aesthetics
Il Giornale, March 28st, 2013
Although his name has become synonymous with cruelty, the King of Judea was a multi-faceted character. An exhibit is now shining light on all of his secrets, starting from his tomb
David Mevorach, distinguished archeologist, is still incredulous. While sitting on a bench at Israel Museum, even before we set off for the exibition he built, he adjusts his scarf, he takes his glasses off, and swallows: “He had just found Herod’s tomb next to Herodion, the great castle with a theater, fortress, warehouses, thermal baths, pools, and other edifices, on a hilltop southeast of Jerusalem, on the side of Bethlehem. He had worked 35 years, confident he would have eventually found the tomb of Herod, which among plenty of discovery of fortresses and theaters, would not surface. It finally appeared, unexpectedly. The crazy and magnificent monarch had destroyed all existing constructions on the side of the mountain in order to make out of it one only platform for his funeral monument, that could be accessed from the huge stairway that can still be seen topday.
With Professor Netzer we devoted ourselves to marking the stones that would have later been transferred to the Museum for the exhibition. He wanted to organize it as soon as possible, immediately. That’s the way Ehud Netzer was: infinitely patient first, hasty later. Silvia Rozemberg and I, both curators of the exhibition, told him : all right Professor, be patient, it will take a few of months. After having selected masonry and stuccos, he drew some beautiful reconstructions of the great, monumental mausoleum, which would have signed for good the Judean desert near Jerusalem. The Professor leaned on the highest theater wall, which gave way. He fell to his death under our eyes. After three days in an hospital, he died. The exhibition is dedicated to him”. The exhibition at Israel Museum, through October 5, is entitled “Herod the great: The King’s Final Journey”.
A whole world, i.e. the connection between the Roman Empire and the vitality of Judea, is to be discovered there. It is enshrined in one single man, mad and magnificent. A genial and dreadful monarch, who, in light of the dramatic death of Netzer, the father of all discoveries on this character of the Augustan era in the Middle East, comes on as surrounded by the gloomy light of nemesis.
The exhibition, whose preparation necessitated two years as well as the consolidation of the foundations of the side of the Museum where the weight of the reconstructions stands, is made up of 250 archeological finds – which tell the story of a character, carefully narrated by Josephus who mostly remembers him for his cunning and ferociousness, a tyrant who killed his beloved wife Mariamme and his first two sons, who would stab or strangle at the least inkling of someone trying to seize his power; who fought for his own power under Roman eagle. At first he was befriended to Mark Antony, later, after his defeat, he became best friends with Augustus and Agrippa, his best general.
Shortly before dying he asked his sister to kill all of his vip friends at his court in Jericho, so that his succession to the throne, that he had accurately planned, would not be overcrowded. So today, thanks to his terrible public relations, when Herod is mentioned, he is said to be cruel and mad, also because he gets confused with the one of the Massacre of the Innocent, i.e. his son. But history is totally different, Herod ruled over Judea from 37 to 4 BC, and his 33 prosperous years of rule are marked first of all by his determination in building magnificent, monumental, and sofisticated public edifices and dwellings that still constellate Israel in the most various locations. He selected the better materials and the most fashioned architects: his residences show an inclination towards beautiful painting and bathtubs, among which a magnificent marble one, donated to him by Augustus. His kitchens were equipped with the best wines from Campania and apples from Cumae (which were stored in jars labeled with a date, just like the perfumed balsam from Jericho, perhaps destined to Cleopatra at the time of Mark Antony) for his banquets for Agrippa, Augustus and their friends. THose delicatessen would send this signal: “I am one of your own, please take a seat”.
If you look at Herod’s constructions you will realize that the king had the beauty of his landscape, Judea in mind. He wanted to be loved by his Jewish compatriots: he built the Second Temple, whose uniqueness still lives in the Western Wall; it was him who erected Masada on the Dead Sea, to construct three castles in Jericho. Jerusalem during his rule was a thriving metropolis, decorated by tall towers, joyful in its theaters, thermal baths, and a hippodrome.
Caesarea Maritima was among his glorious inventions, he built a huge palace in the water, and he also built hippodromes, theaters, etc. a Mediterranean city with international ambitions. It was him to import both opus sectile and opus reticolatum , bathroom were built with the solid material of stalactites and stalagmites, he had no interest in marble, instead he used huge stone blocks, all of them were framed, his greatness signature. Then the Herodion. A few kilometers away from Jerusalem in the desert, an episode marked Herod’s already eventful life in 40 BC: his mother, his beloved Cyprus, while escaping from the Parthians who had occupied Jerusalem, almost got killed in an accident on a stagecoach. Herod was overwhelmed and almost killed himself, except he later recovered and he decided that as soon as he would have regained his power, he would have founded a dwelling with his name, he would have had the desert bloom in sight and in control of Jerusalem, and there he would have delighted his guests while showing them his immense power.
A masterpiece emerged, this one also equipped with all most fashionable public and private facilities. Close to his death, at the old age of 65, sick and lonely, he decided to make it a monumental mausoleum. The funeral procession he had organized for himself was 40 kilometer long, from Jericho castle to Herodion. He had all of his palaces destroyed on the side of the hill, and he laid so much earth on the ruins to the point that they turned into the nude mountain it looks today. And, in the middle were the stairway and the mausoleum that we can still see reconstructed in the models inside Israel Museum today.
When Netzer found the monument and the three sarcophagi, which have been now patiently reconstructed, among which the royal one in cinnabar, unnamed, its roses, its stuccos, all had been shattered by ferociously pick-axing. The Jews hated the Roman yoke, they hated Herod. A few years later though, in 70 AC, the lack of a leader able to have Judea head held high, and capable at the same time to deal with Rome, caused the destruction of the Second Temple, the end of Jerusalem. It is rather awkward that Obama in his recent visit decided not to take a peak.