Browse Items (12 total)

This aerial photograph, looking straight down on King Herod's (37-4 BCE) palace at Herodium, clearly shows its double circular defense wall and four towers. Three of the semi-circular towers were defensive, while the completely round tower probably…

This photograph shows the remains of a Tobiad palace at Araq el-Amir in modern Jordan (east of the Jordan River). The Tobiads were a Jewish ruling family in the late 3rd and early 2nd centuries BCE who, according to the books of 2 Maccabees and…

This aerial photograph shows the archaeological remains of Herod's palace at Jericho, which is located in the Judaean Desert, on the bank of Wadi Qelt, near the northern tip of the dead Sea. He likely chose it because it is in the Judaean Desert, so…

This aerial photograph shows the Roman-style forum and adjoining basilica at Sebaste, which is located in the central part of the Central Hill. Herod built this town around 30 BCE in honor of Caesar Augustus (Sebastos is Greek for the Latin word…

There are a few monumental tombs outside and below the southeast corner of the Old City of Jerusalem, in the Jehoshaphat Valley. The one in this picture is known anachronistically as the Tomb of Absalom (Absalom was the biblical son of David who…

This aerial photograph, looking east, shows what Herodion now looks like after stones were piled up next to the walls and the towers were knocked down. According to the Jewish historian Josephus, King Herod (37-4 BCE) built this palace on the site…

This photograph shows one of the main streets of the 3rd century BCE city of Dor. This phase of the city was built under King Ptolemy II (285-246 BCE) on a Hippodamian plan (i.e., a checkerboard pattern of city blocks) and had an advanced sewage…

This stone-lined pit is 21 feet deep and 34 feet across and was a municipal grain storage silo between ca. 780-650 BCE. There were two winding staircases that went down into it (one of which is visible on the right side of the photograph). Though no…

The area with pillars in this photo shows the ancient ruins of a storehouse that dates to the 9th century BCE. The large rooms in the foreground date to the time of Jeroboam II (793-753 BCE). In the background is the snow-covered peak of Mt. Hermon.

This photograph shows a simple one-room 'round house' in the Negev Desert that was built around 2,000 BCE. The pillar in the middle of the room supported the roof. It seems that they were used only for sleeping quarters: all cooking ovens and other…

This photograph shows a reconstruction of how the roof was probably built on a Round House. Wooden beams from the trunk of a nearby tamarisk tree were laid like spokes radiating from the central pillar to the outer wall, and broad, flat stones were…

The ancient site of Yiftael, in Lower Galilee, has one of the best preserved Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age I (3150-2850) villages in Galilee. This photograph shows the foundations of the round or elliptical houses that comprised a room that was…