Israel Museum |
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Written by Stephen Langfur |
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Herod the Great: A special exhibit Logistics: This extraordinary exhibit will continue until Oct. 5, 2013. There is no extra cost beyond the regular Museum admission fee (which includes the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Model). Groups should arrange their visits in advance. Those with fixed itineraries may take advantage of the museum's special Tuesday hours: 16:00 – 21:00. Figure an hour for the exhibit, but it is good to leave another hour at least for the main archaeological section, which is awe-inspiring. Audioguides are available, free of charge—with excellent coverage by the exhibit's curators, Silvia Rozenberg and David Mevorah. There are explanations in Hebrew and English, but, oddly, not in Arabic.
Herod (posthumously called the Great because of his construction projects) was surely one of the most splendid, wicked, and miserable creatures ever to walk the earth. The new exhibit at the Israel Museum conveys the splendor (we visitors may add in the wickedness and misery). It took three years to put together, and the stones of the reconstructed tomb are so heavy (for they are the actual stones, transported from Herodium) that the museum had to strengthen the building's foundations before receiving them. All this for a show lasting just eight months! It almost "out-Herods Herod." Below I review the exhibit. You can take a virtual tour of it with the curators, and see images of many of the items I mention, here.
The exhibit takes as its theme "The King's Last Journey" qua corpse from Jericho to Herodium. There is a series of halls, large and small. First comes the putative throne room from his final palace at Jericho. This is a good example of the difference it makes to have a reading of Josephus under one's belt. Standing here, we can recall the room at the Jericho palace, perhaps this one, where the 69-year-old Herod attempted suicide in order to escape the carnal torments described by Josephus, who took obvious delight in listing them (a full-body itch, genital-devouring worms—the symptoms go on for a drooling paragraph). A loyal servant cried out and grabbed Herod's arm, stopping him in the act. His oldest son Antipater, imprisoned nearby for plotting to poison him, interpreted the servant's screech to mean that his father was dead. He shouted with joy, "Let me out! I'm king now!" (or something to that effect). Hearing this, Herod had the young man executed. It was the third son he had treated in such a fashion. The first two were his by the beautiful Mariamne, the woman who gave his life meaning—and whom he'd also had executed. The present room, with frescoes of red pigment (cinnabar) quarried in Spain, takes on added value when we recall the family gore.
Except for some exquisite carvings in limestone, I did not find much in the exhibit's coverage of the Temple—but for this we have plenty at the Ophel excavations. There is a long case displaying vessels in which Herod's wine was imported from the best Italian vineyards—the name of the vineyard and the year are inscribed, as well as Herod as purchaser. There are also vessels for apples from Cumae and Spanish garum (a sauce made by fermenting fish and herbs in vinegar or salt). Curator David Mevorah points out that these imports had political importance: in order to negotiate on an equal footing with foreign emissaries, Herod had to be able to wine and dine them at the level they knew in Rome or wherever they hailed from.
For an internal view of the actual theater "box," see here. The museum personnel have been able to reconstruct the three walls of this stunning chamber on a somewhat smaller scale. At the base all around are frescoes alternating crimson with coral pink. There are delicate stucco pilasters of pink and cerulean, with a white acanthus pattern running up to the upper frieze, also patterned and colored. On opposing walls are paintings in the secco technique resembling windows, complete with shutters - but each is "hung" by a "string" from a "nail." Looking "through" one of these, we see a sacred landscape, through the other a sea battle (perhaps). A fragment of another wall painting shows a billowing sail, the lines of its rigging, and the spears and shields of soldiers on board, painted with such a light touch that it seems they might vanish in a moment. Surely these paintings and those that are lost were conversation pieces. If the topic was the sea battle at Actium, that would accord with the visit of Marcus Agrippa in 15 BC, for he, as said, had been the victorious general there. Perhaps the small theater and its hall were built especially for his visit. Note finally how, when the theater and hall were slated for destruction, the opposing walls were cut to fit the slope of the future hill.
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