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Herod’s towers. Herod built many towers in Israel, both to guard his palaces and to stand as monuments to friends and relatives. In the photo, we see Hippicus, Phasael and Mariamne, three huge towers that protected Herod’s palace in Jerusalem. This scale model reconstruction by Professor Michael Avi-Yonah is in the garden of the Holyland Hotel in Jerusalem. Although no traces of Hippicus and Mariamne have yet been found, much of Phasael’s solid base still stands within the complex called the Citadel just south of the Jaffa Gate (see photograph). According to Josephus, Hippicus was “solid throughout” and Mariamne was “solid to a height of … 20 cubits.”