Day 5c - Jerusalem Outskirts (Herodium - Tunnels from the Bar-Kochba Rebellion)

The Mountain Palace - Fortress
The mountain palace-fortress is unique in the Hellenistio-Roman world.

During the Bar-Kochba rebellion, (the third one against the Roman Empire) the Jews rallied under Simon bar Kochba, who was a self-proclaimed messiah (someone who claimed he could restore Israel to her former glory). This mountain palace-fortress was used as a secondary headquarters for the rebels.

We arrived at Herodium in the middle of the afternoon...

Catapult stones?

The light at the end of the tunnel! :)
Oxygen!

So they built a synagogue in the fortress...
This is from the "pulpit" area, looking backwards
This was a pretty big fortress...
In the Middle East, water is a necessity. It's so dry that you don't sweat We had bottled water from *so* many companies, it would have been great to have had a slideshow of all the different ones... Anyways, :-) thus ends our day in and around Jerusalem Tomorrow: Jericho and the Qumran Caves (where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found!)