Publications by Herodium Excavator Ehud Netzer Opened to the Public

PRLog (Press Release) - Feb. 27, 2013 - Ehud Netzer, a prominent Israeli archaeologist and the world’s leading authority on Herodian architecture, died on October 27, 2010 from a fall at Herodium, where he had been digging for 38 years in search of Herod’s tomb. Herod the Great was the ancient world’s builder par excellence. Netzer described Herod as “a king who lived and breathed the art of construction, deeply understood its ways and, quite simply, loved to build.” One might fairly say that Ehud Netzer himself lived and breathed the man and the works of Herod.

In his long career, Netzer worked at Herodium, Jericho, Masada and numerous other sites, including Hazor, Sepphoris, Caesarea and Jerusalem. A member of Biblical Archaeology Review’s editorial advisory board for 30 years, he frequently wrote for the magazine. In February 2013, the Israel Museum in Jerusalem opened a new exhibit on the journeys of two men separated by 2,000 years. One was the funeral procession of King Herod the Great; the other was the life work of Ehud Netzer.

In commemoration of the scholarship of Ehud Netzer, Biblical Archaeology Society has made a special collection of his groundbreaking scholarship from the BAS Library available for free. This collection includes the posthumously published “In Search of Herod’s Tomb,” a piece that sits at the heart of the Israel Museum exhibit Herod the Great—The King’s Final Journey.