KING HEROD AT JERICHO

There are ghosts in the palaces of Jericho, at least two of them:

• mad King Herod, who died a horrible death there
• his young brother-in-law Aristobulus, murdered one warm evening in the palace pools.

May their souls rest in peace.

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Jericho was warm in winter. It lay in a natural basin 390m below sea level, capturing the heat and holding it even on the coldest day - a perfect spot for a Winter Palace.

Water, Pools, Fishponds       Click for information

It had other advantages. It was only a day's horseback ride from Jerusalem, so a ruler could conduct his government from the comfort of Jericho without too much trouble to his officials.

The Hasmonean royal family built a Winter Palace there. King Herod added others.

Herod's palaces drew on the best of Graeco-Roman architecture. Even in this harsh desert they had a regular supply of sparkling water ,courtesy of a Roman-designed aqueduct. The lavish use of this water in fountains and pools impressed any visitor  -  as it was meant to.

But there is a sinister side to these pools when you remember what happened to the young prince Aristobulus. 

It went like this:

Herod was a parvenu, an upstart - talented and shrewd but always looking over his shoulder. He had no real claim to the throne, but the Romans had recognised his talents and appointed him king.

By rights the young Prince Aristobulus should have been king - he was in direct line of succession from the Hasmonean royal family.

King Herod in TV and film    Click for information

But the Romans had chosen Herod to govern, because he was a wily military commander and political strategist. He suited their purposes, and they could count on his gratitude.

He was all too aware of his precarious hold on the throne.

He fought his insecurity by giving the Jewish people what he thought they wanted - lavish public architecture that was the envy of other countries.  The palaces at Jericho were just one of his projects.

HEROD MURDERS THE YOUNG PRINCE

At first Herod tolerated Aristobulus because he was only a boy, and no real threat. He was, as well, the younger brother of Herod's beautiful wife Mariamme.

Herod Murders a Prince     Click for information

But as time passed and Aristobulus approached the age of eighteen, the situation changed.

The handsome young prince was extremely popular with the Jewish people, and Herod feared the kingdom could break apart. People would surely opt for the young Hasmonean prince instead of him.

Herod decided to act. 

In secret, he ordered his servants to drown the boy in the swimming pool of the palace. The Jewish historian Josephus describes how it happened:

'When the festival was over, and Herod was feasting at Jericho with Alexandra (the mother of Mariamme and Aristobulus), who entertained him there, he was very pleasant with the young man and drew him into a lonely place, and at the same time played with him in a juvenile and ludicrous manner. 

Now the nature of that place was hotter than ordinary; so they went out in a body and of a sudden, and in a vein of madness; and as they stood by the fish ponds, of which there were large ones about the house, they went to cool themselves (by bathing) because it was a hot day. 

At first they were only spectators of Herod's servants and acquaintances as   they were swimming; but after a while the young man, at the instigation of Herod, went into the water among them, while such of Herod's acquaintances as he had appointed to do it, dipped him as he was swimming, and plunged him under water, in the dark of the evening, as if it had been done in sport only; nor did they desist till he was entirely suffocated. 

And thus was Aristobulus murdered, having lived no more in all than eighteen years.'
(Antiquities of the Jews,15:3:3)

For a fuller version of the story, go to Portrait of a Woman

It was not the first murder that Herod ordered, nor the last. A few years later he killed the beautiful Mariamme, his two sons by her, her mother - and hundreds of others.

The Massacre of the Innocents, recorded by the evangelist Matthew (Matthew 2:16) is just the sort of thing the paranoid king might have done.

HEROD DIES AN AGONIZING DEATH

But death comes to everyone, and eventually it came to Herod. He died at Jericho in horrific circumstances in 4BC.

Josephus records the grisly details:

'a fire glowed in him slowly... his entrails were inflamed and ulcerated, and the chief violence of his pain lay in his colon...an aqueous and transparent liquor settled itself about his feet and afflicted him at the bottom of his belly...his genitals were putrefied and produced worms....he had difficulty breathing....he had convulsions in all parts of his body.....'  
(Antiquities 17:6:5)

As a parting gesture, Herod made arrangements for a nation-wide lamentation at his death.

He knew people would never mourn him, so he collected all the most admired Jewish leaders and locked them in a hippodrome (an arena for horse-racing). He ordered that when he died, all these men were to be shot with arrows.

The national lamentation at their deaths would serve as mourning at himself.

This monster also, says Josephus 'took care that the whole nation should be put into mourning, and made desolate', by ordering that one person in each family would be slaughtered.

 All this happened at THE PALACES AT JERICHO

Herod Murders his Beautiful Wife Mariamme                                                     Click for more information