While attention is focused on a blockbuster exhibition purporting to display the tomb of Herod the Great, two archaeologists claim there's no way the egomaniac king was interred there.
Now, two archaeologists, Prof. Joseph Patrich and Benjamin Arubas, both from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, are raising serious questions about the identification of the structure as the burial site of the king. They contend that there is no possibility that the mausoleum Netzer and his students uncovered could actually be the royal tomb in which Herod was interred after his death, in 4 B.C.E.There have always been doubts about the identification of the site as Herod's tomb, so it is not that much of a stunner. I have been putting caveats in my posts about the site for a long time, most recently here (leading to many links on the subject). But it is interesting to have archaeologists now actively offering a rebuttal.
The structure is not in keeping with Herod’s other construction projects or his personality, they say.
“I feel like the boy in ‘The Emperor’s New Clothes,’” says Patrich. “It's so obvious that it is surprising people can’t see it.”
The pair presented their main reservations yesterday at the seventh annual “Innovations in Archaeology in Jerusalem and the Surrounding Area” conference, organized by the Israel Antiquities Authority, the Hebrew University and Tel Aviv University.
UPDATE: Bad link now fixed. Sorry about that!