Herodium, Masada and the Herodian building programme
Herod the Great's reign is visible in stone across Judaea, on the scale the sources describe.
Fakapapau'i 'e he keliFeitu'u kuo keli37–4 BC
Fortress-palaces on desert crags with swimming pools, bathhouses and frescoed rooms, supplied by cisterns cut for the purpose — the works of the king the Gospels place at the beginning of the story. Masada's storerooms, palaces and the Roman siege ramp around it are all still visible.
Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king…
- Na'e 'ilo'i
- Herodium, Masada, Jericho, Jerusalem, 1963 — Yigael Yadin at Masada; Ehud Netzer at Herodium and elsewhere
- 'Oku tauhi 'i
- In place; Masada is a UNESCO World Heritage site
- Na'e a'u mai fēfē kiate kitautolu
- Na'e keli hake, pe 'oku kei tu'u 'i he potu na'e langa ai.
Ko e me'a 'oku ne fakahā
The building programme is beyond doubt. Nothing in it bears on the events of Matthew 2, and no independent record of those events exists.
Founga hono ngāue'aki 'e he kau hisitōlia
Herodian architecture is a field of its own; Masada and Herodium are among the most fully excavated sites in the country.
'I he Folofola
Fekau'aki mo
Ngaahi ma'u'anga fakamatala
- Netzer, The Architecture of Herod, the Great Builder (2006)
'Oku 'i he lea faka-Pilitānia 'a e ngaahi fakamatala ko 'eni he taimi ni. 'E muimui mai 'a e liliu.