Image Details

A reconstruction of the Herodian Palace complex. In addition to the identifications given in the plan, note the colonnaded stoas on either side of the sunken gardens. In the northern wing, the two open courts can easily be identified (and compared with the plan). To the left of the courtyard with the apse is the large reception hall, here reconstructed with a raised roof and clerestory windows below the roof to let in light. To the left of the reception hall is the tributary wadi which divides the northern palace wing into two parts. (Little is left of that part below the tributary wadi). The only part of the reconstruction for which there is no archaeological evidence is the bridge across the Wadi Kelt connecting the northern palace wing with the sunken gardens south of the wadi. The excavator Ehud Netzer conjectures that such a connection must have existed when the buildings were in use.