The Peristyle Courtyard and Garden of the Palace-Fortress

At the center of the Palace-Fortress is a courtyard, 41 X 18 meters , which was almost certainly used as a viridarium (ornamental garden); this conclusion is supported by the absence of paving and the presence a garden soil layer which formed the courtyard’s upper surface. It was surrounded on all sides by Corinthian columns. The two shorter sides have semi-circular porticos, around 7.5 meters in diameter; there is a third portico inside the triangle formed by the courtyard, the circular inner circumference wall, and the eastern tower to its south. The courtyard and porticoes were decorated with frescoes with stucco decoration above the lower painted panels, some in the form of human silhouettes and others as copies of hewn stones.

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Read more:

• Netzer E., 1981. Greater Herodium. Qedem 13, Jerusalem.
• Corbo, V. C., 1989. Herodion I: gli Edifici della-Fortezza, Jerusalem.