Herod the Great built the Herodion (or Herodium) c. 24 BCE as both a palace and a fortress. The Herodion sat on the flattened top of a hill that rises c. 400 feet above the surrounding terrain. The roof and upper stories of the Herodium no longer exist; the remains of four towers, however, are still visible. Josephus describes the Herodion as follows, "The fortress...is naturally strong and very suitable for such a structure, raised to a (greater) height by the hand of man and rounded off in the shape of a breast. At its intervals it has round towers....Within it are costly royal apartments made for security and ornament at the same time (Ant. 15.324).  Also, according to Josephus, after Herod died in Jericho, his body was taken to the Herodion and buried there "in a bier of solid gold studded with precious stones" (Ant. 17.191-99; War 1.656-73). Recently, archaeologists may have found Herod's sarcophagus in the Herodion.

Reconstruction of the Herodion