I was rather lucky to catch the last day of an extraordinary exhibition at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, devoted to King Herod the Great (r. 40-4bce), one of the most consequential rulers and builders of the holy city. (See http://www.english.imjnet.org.il/page_3184) Staged by the curators along the stations of Herod's funerary procession, as recorded by Josephus, the exhibit starts from the winterpalace in jericho, where Herod died, and ends at the Herodion where archaeologist Ehud Netzer fell to his death in 2007, shortly after he had discovered Herod's tomb that he had searched for over thirty years. The exhibit honors the memory of Netzer at the same time as it presents to the Israeli public the complex image of a hybrid king: Roman client, Idumean, and respectfully Jewish.
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