Herod the Great built the palace-fortress of Herodium, southeast of Bethlehem, as a monumental mausoleum for himself.
“Then Herod, when he saw that he was deceived by the wise men, was exceedingly angry; and he sent forth and put to death all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all its districts, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the wise men.”
Matthew 2:16
Since 1972, Jerusalemite archeologist Ehud Netzer diligently searched among the ruins of Herodium for Herod’s Tomb. In May of 2007 Netzer announced he finally found the royal resting place. It was marked by a marble podium and hundreds of pieces of a smashed sarcophagus, evidence of the widespread Judean hatred of Herod on account of his notorious cruelty.