Jerusalem - An ambitious new exhibit at Jerusalem's Israel Museum sheds new light on the life and death of Herod the Great, the ancient king whose empire sought to straddle imperial Rome and a flourishing Jewish culture.
The Roman-appointed king, who ruled Judaea from 37 to 4BC, is known as much for his brutal tyranny as for his magnificent building projects, with the new exhibition focusing on his stunning archaeological legacy.
Known as the biblical king who ordered the slaughter of infants in Bethlehem on hearing of the birth of Jesus, Herod also killed three of his own sons and one of his wives, as well as many political foes.
He was, in the words of first century historian Flavius Josephus, “equally cruel to everyone, a slave to his temper who distorted justice.”
But this ego, combined with rare organisational and political talents, was what pushed him to demonstrate his grandeur to both his Jewish subjects in Jerusalem and fellow rulers across the Roman empire, by building monumental palaces and renovating the Jewish Second Temple.
The exhibition is described by Israel Museum's director James Snyder as the museum's “most ambitious” archaeological undertaking and the first ever to focus on Herod. It takes visitors on a journey that starts at the winter palace in Jericho and ends at Herodium, a hollowed-out hill near Bethlehem where he built a palace and fortress.
The meticulous reconstruction, which includes about 30 tons of stone artefacts, showcases the height of Roman fashion and craft work - from a stone bath and patterned floors to a set of jugs for holding the finest delicacies imported from Europe.
Among the 250 artefacts on display is a decorated cornice from Herod's most grandiose undertaking: the expansion of the Second Temple, located on what is today known as the Al-Aqsa mosque compound.
And three-dimensional video exhibits use aerial photography to show how Herod's massive structures would have appeared today.
In the comfort of Herodium, away from the religious centre of Jerusalem, Herod - who was born into a family from local tribes who had converted to Judaism - could feel free to enjoy exquisite wall paintings and frescos at his palace. These were replete with images of animals and people that would have been condemned as idolatrous under Second Temple-era Judaism.
Behind a row of giant columns stands the centrepiece of the exhibition: a reconstruction of the king's burial chamber at Herodium.
Hebrew University archaeologist Ehud Netzer spent four decades searching for Herod's burial site on the mount, announcing he found the first evidence of its location in 2007.
But three years later, he fell to his death during an initial tour of the site. The museum has dedicated the exhibition - entitled “Herod the Great - The King's Final Journey” - to Netzer's memory.
Herod's greatness came from him retaining the delicate balance between the western and eastern cultures he represented, Snyder said.
“At the same time that Herod managed to have strong diplomatic ties to the home base (Rome), he enabled the flourishing here of a local culture which was Second Temple period Judaism,” he said.
“That delicate balance is really a remarkable thing to see in history, and Herod accomplished that.”
Roi Porat, a Hebrew University archaeologist who worked on the excavation of Herodium, said Herod had tried to resolve the internal conflict of belonging to two opposing camps.
“On the one hand, he wanted to be a Jewish king, and on the other - he wanted to be the King of Judaea for the Romans,” he told AFP.
“He tried to win the sympathy of both sides - by building a holy site of worship for the Jews and by building the largest temple for the Romans,” he explained.
Everything about Herod was extreme, he said: his diplomatic skills, his financial abilities and his ambitious construction projects, which included six desert palaces, the Temple and the port of Caesaria.
But the exhibit has also stirred some controversy and come under fire from the Palestinians, as it uses artefacts from Jericho and Herodium - both in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Hamdan Taha, director of antiquities and cultural heritage at the Palestinian tourism ministry, accused Israel of displaying the antiquities “without the approval” of the Palestinian Authority in what he said was a “violation of international law.”
“Showing those relics at an Israeli museum aims to create historical facts to serve the goals of settlement activities in the state of Palestine,” he said.
The Palestinians said they would raise the issue with the UN cultural body, Unesco, where they recently gained full membership. - Sapa-AFP