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Herod's Winter Palaces at Jericho

Three palace complexes by Wadi Qelt, where Herod died and near where Yeshua met Zacchaeus

Herod, Yeshua & Jerusalem's Fall · palace / house, city / site, water system · Accepted by scholars · found 1950

Ruined palace walls of diamond-pattern Roman concrete beside a dry riverbed
Photo: Bukvoed · CC BY 3.0 · via Wikimedia Commons

Found 1950 — James Kelso and Dimitri Baramki (1950), then James Pritchard (1951); Ehud Netzer (1973–1987) exposed the Hasmonean palace and Herod's three palaces

Where Tulul Abu el-Alayiq, west of modern Jericho, at the mouth of Wadi Qelt (West Bank (Palestinian Territories))

Dates from c. 90 BCE (Hasmonean) to 4 BCE (Herod's third palace); in use to 1st century CE · Late Hellenistic–Early Roman · Herod the Great; Yeshua at Jericho

Now at In place (partly restored); finds with the Israel Antiquities Authority and Rockefeller Museum

How Herod's Winter Palaces at Jericho was found

American excavations at Tulul Abu el-Alayiq on both banks of Wadi Qelt exposed Roman-style buildings; Netzer's long campaign sorted them into a Hasmonean palace with swimming pools and three successive palaces of Herod, with a Roman-style bathhouse, gardens, and a large pool.

What it is

A sprawling royal estate with a Hasmonean palace and pools, then Herod's first, second and third palaces, the last built in Roman opus reticulatum concrete with a 70-meter-long hall, a sunken garden and a bridge across the wadi. Josephus says Herod's young brother-in-law, the high priest Aristobulus III, was drowned in one of the pools.

Why it matters for the Bible

Jericho was Herod's winter capital and the place where he died in 4 BCE, just after the events of Matthew 2. A generation later Yeshua passed through this wealthy Roman-era Jericho — not the Old Testament tell — meeting Zacchaeus the tax collector and healing blind Bartimaeus. Netzer, who excavated here, later found Herod's tomb at Herodium.

The Hebrew word: ar-MON

אַרְמוֹן

אַרְמוֹן is pronounced ar-MON and means palace, citadel (Strong's H759).

People this discovery connects to

Places

Events

Death of Herod at Jericho (4 BCE) · Zacchaeus in the sycamore tree (Luke 19) · Healing of Bartimaeus (Mark 10)

Herod's Winter Palaces at Jericho in Scripture

Matthew 2:1 First mention of Herod in Scripture.

Matthew 2:19 Herod's death — which Josephus places at Jericho, in these palaces.

Luke 19:1-2 Yeshua passes through Jericho and meets Zacchaeus, a rich tax collector of this prosperous Herodian town.

Questions people ask

What is Herod's Winter Palaces at Jericho?
A sprawling royal estate with a Hasmonean palace and pools, then Herod's first, second and third palaces, the last built in Roman opus reticulatum concrete with a 70-meter-long hall, a sunken garden and a bridge across the wadi. Josephus says Herod's young brother-in-law, the high priest Aristobulus III, was drowned in one of the pools.

When was Herod's Winter Palaces at Jericho discovered?
It was found in 1950 by James Kelso and Dimitri Baramki (1950), then James Pritchard (1951); Ehud Netzer (1973–1987) exposed the Hasmonean palace and Herod's three palaces, at Tulul Abu el-Alayiq, west of modern Jericho, at the mouth of Wadi Qelt.

Where is Herod's Winter Palaces at Jericho today?
In place (partly restored); finds with the Israel Antiquities Authority and Rockefeller Museum.

Which Bible verses does Herod's Winter Palaces at Jericho relate to?
Matthew 2:1, Matthew 2:19, Luke 19:1-2.

Related discoveries

Sources

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