Israeli archaeologists said they discovered the tomb of the biblical King Herod. The Hebrew University of Jerusalem announced Tuesday that researchers had located the last resting place of the first century BCE monarch at Herodium, a West Bank hill where one of Herod’s palaces once stood. Herod is best remembered by Jews for his ambitious construction work in Roman-ruled Judea, and to Christians for the New Testament account of how he ordered the slaughter of male children in Bethlehem to head off the arrival of a messiah who might challenge his reign. Jesus, according to the Book of Matthew, survived the slaughter because his parents took refuge in Egypt. His construction projects included the expansion of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem.
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