King Herod’s mikvah found at royal palace in Jordan
Posted On: Sep 24th, 2017 at 13:00
Jordan
Archaeologists have discovered King Herod’s mikvah (or mikveh – a large ritual bathing pool) in his palace in Jordan.
The discovery is unique in that mikvahs of this style were only previous found in Qumran, on the other side of the Dead Sea.
Machaerus, the name of the palace, was actually built in 90 BC by King Alexander Jannaeus, but King Herod later renovated the palace. It was destroyed by the Romans in 71 AD during an attack. Machaerus, however, wasn’t just a palace, it was a fortified military outpost, and thus it took the Romans quite an effort to break through the defences.
