King Herod's ancient tomb 'found'

Archaeologist have searched for the tomb at Herodium for 30 years
An Israeli archaeologist says he has found the tomb of King Herod, the ruler of Judea while it was under Roman administration in the first century BC.
After a search of more than 30 years, Ehud Netzer of the Hebrew University says he has located the tomb at Herodium, a site south of Jerusalem.

Herod was noted in the New Testament for his Massacre of the Innocents.

Told of Jesus' birth, Herod ordered all children under two in Bethlehem to be killed, the Gospel of Matthew said.

According to the New Testament, Jesus' father Joseph was warned of the threat in a dream and fled with his wife and child to Egypt.

Major find

"When I realised it was the tomb there was great happiness," Prof Netzer told the BBC news website.

"Everyone has an interest in the Holy Land and Herod's tomb is part of that story."

Herod is remembered for his expansion of the Second Jewish Temple and the construction of the walls of the old city of Jerusalem.

He also built the fortress of Masada which became the last stand of Jewish rebels in 73 AD.

If it is confirmed, this will rank as a major archaeological discovery, BBC Jerusalem correspondent Tim Franks says.



Rest of Article:herod's tomb

So, now is that going to be a great find? It makes me wonder how many people will be concerned if there are finds in the tomb that contradict other written records.

So, this is all over the news.

More info that I found on him for those who don't really know who he is:

What if there was some sort of a hint as to what had been under his temple? There have been speculations for years as to whether he had a treasure under there.



I thought it was previously stated in the Bible that Herod died of intestinal worms, is that not correct?

Without a body its difficult to say how he died... I was talking to a site archaeologist today and he said he had been studying Medieval Death Registers where people had died of Spinga... please don't ask me what it is because I have never heard of it!

You can probably make an educated guess from the records, which is what the doctors sound like they have done...

Not sure if that helps at all...

Themis

Couldn't find anything on 'Spinga', weird. Well, I thougth they would find a body there, once they had finished, isn't that what a tomb is for? I have to go back and read it again.

I think the Tomb robbers got there first...
Preservation conditions are generally quite good in that part of the world as it is dry and if the body is in a stone sarcophagus you would usually have some preservation... its amazing what they can tell from just the bones... diet, age, lifestyle, probable cause of death...

HMM...wll, you never know what else they will/have found. As long as it is let out. Sometimes things are hid so as not to 'stir the pot' in the previous belief system.

where are the Palestinians?

I think that depends on the team excavating. A lot of the time the money runs out before the excavation had finished - it takes years to record properly and publish on a big dig like this...

I don't think that they hide things anymore - I think that they just don't put them in the public eye - generally you can get hold of all modern excavation records, but it takes ages to wade through the huge amounts of data collected with modern archaeological techniques...

I think as archaeology moves into the digital world things will become a lot more transparent and easier to get hold of for everyone - after all, archaeology belongs to us all...

Yes, but if it would negate something in the Bible, you can bet your boots, it would be suppressed or an attempt of suppression would happen.

kicked out of their country?

didn't see them mentioned in your timeline

I got that from Wiki. I will try to find some more info.

Modern archaeologists are not usually concerned with religion... it is supposed to be the study of past material cultures

However some archaeology is still undertaken and financed by the church groups so it may still happen... I don't know about this as I have no interest in biblical archaeology. I can ask my tutors if you are interested?

I don't see what the big deal is. The ancient sources said he was buried at Herodium and he evidentally was. No one ever doubted the existence of Herod, unlike other Biblical characters, for he is a major part of secular history as well. If his grave was found intact, then yes, it would be a major discovery, but it seem that has been found is a broken up sarcophagus. There probably never was a treasure. These are not Egyptians we are talking about, who tried to "take it with them".