As I mentioned in a post last night, the tomb of Herod the Great has been found at the Herodium.  As is the case with many discoveries these days, the announcement was made to the press fairly quickly.  What this means, however, is that the excavators have done no more than an initial evaluation of find.  The real work of analysis will be done in the new few months and years.

This, of course, does not stop the press from making sensationalistic claims.  Haaretz, for instance, said “The discovery solves one of Israel’s greatest archaeological mysteries.”  Really?  We already knew Herod was buried at the Herodium.  The only mystery here was where the tomb was located.  I can think of any number of archaeological mysteries that overshadow this one.

For the non-specialists who read this blog, I wanted to take a second to comment on the importance of this find.

It needs to be pointed out that the mere fact of the discovery tells us . . . (drum-roll, please) . . . nothing.  There was no question that Herod was a historical person.  He is mentioned in far too many sources for this to be an issue.  And like most historical people, he died.  And like most dead people, he was buried.  The fact that we now know the exact location tells us nothing new about Herod as a person.

This is not to say that the discovery is without significance.  But as is usually the case in such finds, the real importance of the find will be of little interest to non-specialists.  It will give us additional information on elite burials from the Roman period.  It will give us additional information on artistic forms and the techniques used to build his sarcophagus.  It will give us additional information about funerary practices.  Most of this is exciting to weird people like me, but is really boring to most people.   The only thing that would make this exciting to non-specialists would be if the find suggested something new about Herod or contradicts something we thought we knew.  That is a possibility, but hardly likely.

Still, there is something exciting about the find.  As humans, we like to be able to touch the past.  Finds like these, even when they don’t provide any new information, give us something solid we can associate with people we know from texts.  I personally am not immune from the need to touch history.  I still remember the excitement of touching the word “Israel” on the Merneptah Victory Stele in the Cairo Museum.1

Even though the find of Herod’s tomb will tell us little that is exciting to the general population, it is still important on a psychological level.  But the real significance will come only come out a long time after the popular interest has waned.


  1. Yes, I touched it, which is an archaeological “no, no”.  But if you have ever seen the Merneptah Victory Stele in person, you will have noticed how shiny the word “Israel” is.  This is due to the fact that everyone touches it.  We all want to feel that connection with ancient Israel. [back]
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