Archaeologist finds tomb of King Herod

Archaeologist finds tomb of King Herod

news.yahoo.com

JERUSALEM - An Israeli archaeologist has found the tomb of King Herod, the legendary builder of ancient Jerusalem and the Holy Land, Hebrew University said late Monday. The tomb is at a site called Herodium, a flattened hilltop in the Judean Desert, clearly visible from southern Jerusalem. Herod built a palace on the hill, and researchers discovered his burial site there, the university said. Herod became the ruler of the Holy Land under the Romans around 74 B.C.

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Wow, King Herod tomb discovered.

This is the man who ruled Jerusalem when Jesus born. Who tried and have Jesus killed for fear of his throne. What an interesting find.



news.yahoo.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

[edit on 7-5-2007 by Shar]

Herodium is located some 12 kilometers from Jerusalem.

The tomb was discovered by Hebrew University Professor Ehud Netzer, who is considered one of the leading experts on King Herod. Netzer has conducted archeological digs at Herodium since 1972 in an attempt to locate the grave and tomb. The discovery solves one of Israel's greatest archeological mysteries.

I just think this is truly amazing. What a spectacular find. I sure do wish I was there. I would love to go to Israel and Egypt. They both are so old and have so much to see and explore. So much history is there.

Very interesting find. I wonder if the Knights Templar have already looted the place?

No I don't think it's been looted.

At least they haven't said it has anyways. I just think this is so cool. I am excited about it. I wish I was there.

I don't know what riches kings were buried with at that time.
Some gold I am sure but nothing like it might have been a little later in history.

I am all for archeological findings. But when it comes to historical facts and the bible only the bible mention kind Herod as a bad kind afraid of the messiah coming still nowhere else can we find references to this horrible event of the "massacre of the inocent".

It will be interesting to see if anything in his tomb mention his life and what he did, Josephus' of " Antiquities of the Jews " claim that he died on 4 BC. perhaps now we many know more about his life and time of death.

[edit on 7-5-2007 by marg6043]

Cause of death too, possibly.

It certainly looks like an interesting find.

Here is a little history, outside the Bible, that seems to support the "massacre of the innocents".

In the fourth century, the Roman philosopher Ambrosius Theodosius Macrobius gave the following comment in his Saturnalia:

When Augustus heard that Herod king of the Jews had ordered all the boys in Syria under the age of two years to be put to death and that the king's son was among those killed, he said, "I'd rather be Herod's sow than Herod’s son." ― Macrobius, The Saturnalia, trans. Percival Davies (New York 1969), p. 171.

Palestine was considered a Syrian province but would have likely been under Herod's control during the Roman occupancy.

I, too, hope this find sheds some new light onto past history. It's seems to me that many achaeological finds tend to support Biblical history rather than detract from it.



[edit on 8-5-2007 by lonewolf37]

Forgive any lack of understanding of the bible here, but if this is the same King Herod that tried to kill Jeseus by having all the newborns killed when jeseus he heard the news of Jesus' birth, where did they get 4BC as Herods date of his death?

Surely thats a little early?

CX.

CX,
This might help exsplain it a little bit.

"Although scholars generally believe that Christ was born some years before A.D. 1, the historical evidence is too sketchy to allow a definitive dating" (Doggett 1992, 579). According to the Gospel of Matthew (2:1,16) Herod the Great was alive when Jesus was born, and ordered the Massacre of the Innocents in response to his birth. Blackburn & Holford-Strevens fix Herod's death shortly before Passover in 4 BC (2003, 770), and say that those who accept the story of the Massacre of the Innocents sometimes associate the star that led the Biblical Magi with the planetary conjunction of 15 September 7 BC or Halley's comet of 12 BC; even historians who do not accept the Massacre accept birth under Herod as a tradition older than the written gospels (p. 776).

The Gospel of Luke (1:5) states that John the Baptist was at least conceived, if not born, under Herod, and that Christ was conceived while John's mother was in the sixth month of her pregnancy (1:26). Luke's Gospel also states that Christ was born during the reign of Augustus and while Cyrenius (or Quirinius) was the governor of Syria (2:1-2), . Blackburn and Holford-Strevens (2003, 770) indicate Cyrenius/Quirinius' governorship of Syria began in AD 6, which is incompatible with conception in 4 BC, and say that "St. Luke raises greater difficulty....Most critics therefore discard Luke" (p. 776). Some scholars rely on John's Gospel to place Christ's birth in c.18 BC (Blackburn and Holford-Strevens 2003, 776).

sorce

The 4BC comes from the best archives collected by the only great writer of the Jewish history, known outside the bible, Josephus' of " Antiquities of the Jews " even when he lived during the times of supposedly Jesus of the bible you can not find anything to that matter of either Jesus works.

It is known that the only passage found in the translated version of his works later on after the bible was redacted did not match his style of writings and recollections making it dubious.

www.earlychristianwritings.com...

King Herod is real he as a king and a Jew occurs the bible is going to mention him, the time line off occurs as many other stories in the Bible but his history is more wider and extensive that the one given in the Bible.

Ambrosius Theodosius Macrobius wasn't around during the time of Herod but he came in 400 AD,

de.wikipedia.org...

It's seems to me that many achaeological finds tend to support Biblical history rather than detract from it.

It's an amazing find (as was the ashuary of Jesus IMO) but it does not confirm the bible as fact anymore than Jesus' alleged remains proves he walked on water.

History shows that some of the figures existed not that they did what the bible claims. A lot of those stories were popular myths at the time much older than Christianity.

For example if I told you a story about a man who:

1. Born of a virgin mother to God
   
2. wrapped in swaddling clothes and placed in a manger as a child
   
3. could turn water into wine
   
4. rode on an ass and fed a multitude in the wilderness
   
5. suffered and was mocked and sacrificed
   
6. was resurrected and ascended to heaven as son of God
   
7. His followers were initiated through bathing/baptism
   
8. His followers ate a sacred meal of his symbolic flesh and blood
   
9. His followers celebrate his birth during the Winter seasons.
   

You may think it would be a bout Jesus.

Actually thats from the story of Dionysus as well as Mithra. Popular God myths adapted by religious leaders that all follow the same archetype long before Christ's story.

I will look forward to seeing what they find in this tomb though, and if anything contradicts the Bible...I hope it isn't snow-jobbed.