THE THIRD PALACE, JERICHO

An artist's impression of the lay-out of the Third Palace at Jericho

The palace was built on the south bank of the Wadi Qilt.

Along its south side, Herod build a terrace nearly 200 yards long to make a shady walk. Its wall surface was broken by a series of niches, alternately round- and square-topped. These were divided by clustered pilasters, with a tiered water garden in the middle.

All this is done in brick, in the finest opus reticulatum, a fashionable form of bricklaying that gave a net-shaped pattern to the wall.

At Jericho, Herod departed from tradition by having buildings that showed Hellenistic rather than Jewish influence. He combined a hippodrome 'race-course'  with a small theater or viewing platform at one end.

This was innovative. It meant the viewing area for spectators was not along the sides (as it would be in a Roman hippodrome) but from the starting and finishing lines. The implication was that there would be only a small number of privileged spectators. The lavish entertainment area would not be open to the Jewish hoi-polloi.

As well, there was a cluster of buildings whose use is unknown. They were perhaps a manufacturing or refining area, used by the enormous royal estates at Jericho.

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