Viamigo

See the places where our history was made

Come and visit the sites where three key turning points in our history happened:

· Lachish, the second city in the kingdom of Judah after Jerusalem, was besieged and destroyed by the Assyrian king Sennacherib in 701 BCE. See the walls of Lachish and the actual siege ramp that brought them down, lavishly memorialized by Sennacherib in a relief on the wall of his palace at Nineveh (original in the British Museum; copy in the Israel Museum). Visit the “room of letters” where the local Judean commander corresponded with his superior officer during the last days of the Judean kingdom.

· Maresha (Bet Guvrin), capital of the Hellenistic province of Idumea, conquered in 112 BCE by the Hasmonean king John Hyrcanus who – in a fateful move - forced its inhabitants either to become Jews or leave. Visit the probable birth-place of Herod the Great who, following the forced conversion of his grandfather to Judaism, became king of Judea and Israel 50 years later. See the amazing underground city built 2,300 years ago, with its olive oil factories, columbaria, and lavishly decorated tombs.

· Herodium, the mountain palace built by Herod the Great on edge of the desert outside Jerusalem. Because of the deep significance of this location – where he battled and beat the last Hasmonean king, and where his mother nearly died – Herod built here a magnificent summer palace and leisure complex, designed also to house his tomb. Visit the recently excavated tomb and the site of Herod’s luxury gardens and private baths. Walk through the huge water cisterns under the palace, from where - 150 years later - the Bar Kochba rebels launched attacks during their guerilla war against Rome.