Herod's Lost Tomb

© Jodi Cobb/National Geographic
Herod's Lost Tomb

Synopsis

Herod the Great, king of the holy land in the time of Christ, is best known for the Massacre of the Innocents: the Gospel of Matthew's apocryphal slaughter of Bethlehem's male infants. But Herod's bloody reputation has always hidden another side of one of the Bible's greatest villains. He was an architectural mastermind of breathtaking proportions. Herod built more and larger monuments than virtually anyone in ancient times, perhaps in all time. Now, Israeli archeologist Ehud Netzer claims to have found Herod's most intimate creation of all - his burial tomb. At his self-named palace-fortress Herodium, Herod's Lost Tomb explores Netzer's decades-long search for the King of the Jews' fabulously carved mausoleum and coffin. With in-depth examination of classic Herodian sites such as Masada, Caesarea, and Jerusalem's Second Temple, we probe deep into the architectural brilliance of one of history's most despised men.