Herodium

Herodium, also known in Hebrew as Har Hordus and in Arabic as Jabal al-Fureidis  'Mountain of the Little Paradise' is a truncated-cone-shaped hill, 12 kilometers (7.5 mi) south of Jerusalem and 5 kilometers (3.1 mi) southeast of Bethlehem, in the West Bank. It is located between the Palestinian villages of Za'atara and Jannatah, and north of the Israeli settlement of Sdeh Bar.

Prior to the publication of Biblical Researches in Palestine in 1841, the site was known variously as Frank Mountain, the Mountain of Little Paradise, or Bethulia; Edward Robinson's identification of the site as Herodium was based on the description found in Josephus. Josephus described a palace fortress and a small town, named after Herod the Great, built between 23 and 15 BCE. A sarcophagus discovered in 2007 was claimed to belong to Herod as it was more ornate than others found in the area. Herodium is 758 meters (2,487 ft.) above sea level, the highest peak in the Judaean desert.