Herodium during the time of the Bar-Kokhba Revolt


ימי בר כוכבא

Herodium during the time of the Bar-Kokhba Revolt

For 60 years, most of the period following the First Revolt, Herodium was abandoned, apart from brief periods when a Roman garrison was stationed on the hill-top. During the Bar-Kokhba revolt (132-135 CE) the rebels took over the Fortress-Palace, which stood partly ruined.
Although we have no historical documents relating to the Second Revolt like that of Josephus in the case of the First Revolt, the Bar-Kokhba letters from the Wadi Muraba’at caves in the Judaean desert, and the excavations at the site show that Herodium was an administrative and military center of the Bar-Kokhba state. Letters to Shimon bar Cosba and the “Camp at Herodis” illustrate the activity of Bar Kokhba’s important command-post in the Fortress-Palace, commanded by Yehoshua ben Galgula, and that the site served Bar-Kokhba as an administrative center, governed by Hillel ben Geris.
Excavations in the Fortress-Palace have uncovered various remains from the Bar-Kokhba period, including a large coin hoard and a subterranean tunnel complex, carved out during the revolt (see the separate article below); the tunnel system differs from the typical Bar-Kokhba period systems (in the Judean coastal plain, for example) as it was designed for offensive purposes, and in any case was not used for hiding.

 
 

Read more:

  • Milik J. T., 1961. “Textes Hebreux et Arameens”, P. Benoit., J.T. Milik and R.De Vaux (eds.), DJD 2. Pp. 67-205. (see Mur 24: 43,44).