Ehud Netzer (; 13 May 1934 – 28 October 2010
) was an Israeli architect,
archaeologist
Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...
and educator, known for his extensive excavations at
Herodium
Herodion (; ; ), Herodium (Latin), or Jabal al-Fureidis () is a fortified desert palace built by Herod the Great, king of Herodian kingdom, Judaea, in the first century BCE. The complex stands atop a hill in the Judaean Desert, approximately s ...
, where in 2007 he found the tomb of
Herod the Great
Herod I or Herod the Great () was a History of the Jews in the Roman Empire, Roman Jewish client king of the Herodian kingdom of Judea. He is known for his colossal building projects throughout Judea. Among these works are the rebuilding of the ...
;
and the discovery of a structure defined by Netzer as a synagogue, which if true would be the oldest one ever found (the "
Wadi Qelt Synagogue").
Netzer served as a professor at the Institute of Archaeology at the
Hebrew University
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; ) is an Israeli public research university based in Jerusalem. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Chaim Weizmann in July 1918, the public university officially opened on 1 April 1925. It is the second-ol ...
in
Jerusalem
Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...
. He was a world-renowned expert on
Herodian architecture. Netzer worked at
Masada
Masada ( ', 'fortress'; ) is a mountain-top fortress complex in the Judaean Desert, overlooking the western shore of the Dead Sea in southeastern Israel. The fort, built in the first century BCE, was constructed atop a natural plateau rising ov ...
with
Yigael Yadin, and later completed the official excavation report for the site. He later led teams of archaeologists like Rachel Chachy, who did important fieldwork at the Herodian palace at
Jericho
Jericho ( ; , ) is a city in the West Bank, Palestine, and the capital of the Jericho Governorate. Jericho is located in the Jordan Valley, with the Jordan River to the east and Jerusalem to the west. It had a population of 20,907 in 2017.
F ...
. At
Herodium
Herodion (; ; ), Herodium (Latin), or Jabal al-Fureidis () is a fortified desert palace built by Herod the Great, king of Herodian kingdom, Judaea, in the first century BCE. The complex stands atop a hill in the Judaean Desert, approximately s ...
, in the desert near Bethlehem and south of Jerusalem, for more than three decades, Netzer oversaw extensive excavations focusing on remains at the foot and on the sides of the artificial mountain.
Biography
Ehud Netzer was born in
Jerusalem
Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...
in 1934 to Israeli educators Joseph and Puah Menczel. Netzer was reported to have changed his surname from Menczel to Netzer because of the complexity and recurring mistakes in spelling his name in the Hebrew language.
He graduated with a degree in architecture from the
Technion in 1958. As an undergraduate, Netzer would spend his summer vacation in excavations of the noted archaeologist Yigael Yadin.
[
While working as a co-architect in excavations in Masada, Netzer met his future wife, Devorah Dove, an archeology student. He later obtained a Ph.D. in the field of archaeology from ]Hebrew University of Jerusalem
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; ) is an Israeli public university, public research university based in Jerusalem. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Chaim Weizmann in July 1918, the public university officially opened on 1 April 1925. ...
.
He became a professor at the Institute of Archaeology at Hebrew University. Netzer was eventually recognized as the world's foremost authority on Herodian architecture.[Shanks, Hershel (January/February 2011). "Milestones: Ehud Netzer (1934–2010)". ''Biblical Archaeology Review''. Washington, D.C.: The Biblical Archaeology Society, 37 (1): 22. ]
Archaeological and architectural career
Netzer initiated and directed excavations at several building projects of Herod the Great, the ancient king of Judea. In the mid-1960s, Netzer was co-architect, together with I. Dunayevsky, of the excavations at Masada
Masada ( ', 'fortress'; ) is a mountain-top fortress complex in the Judaean Desert, overlooking the western shore of the Dead Sea in southeastern Israel. The fort, built in the first century BCE, was constructed atop a natural plateau rising ov ...
, directed by Professor Yigael Yadin. After Yadin's death, Netzer completed the final excavation report ''The Buildings, Stratigraphy and Architecture of Masada''. Later, Netzer directed the restoration of the Masada site on behalf of Israel's National Parks Authority.[
Netzer was head architect for the restoration and excavation of the Jewish Quarter in Jerusalem (1967-1975); the planner of the restoration of the Jewish neighborhoods in Jerusalem, Mishkenot Sha'ananim, and Yemin Moshe; and planned public buildings in Egypt.][
In 1968, Netzer initiated and directed large-scale excavations at the site of Herod's winter palace at ]Jericho
Jericho ( ; , ) is a city in the West Bank, Palestine, and the capital of the Jericho Governorate. Jericho is located in the Jordan Valley, with the Jordan River to the east and Jerusalem to the west. It had a population of 20,907 in 2017.
F ...
.["King Herod's tomb unearthed, Israeli university claims"]
, CNN
Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable ne ...
, 7 May 2007[Matthew Kalman, "Herod's tomb reportedly found inside his desert palace"]
''The Boston Globe
''The Boston Globe,'' also known locally as ''the Globe'', is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes. ''The Boston Globe'' is the oldest and largest daily new ...
'' 8 May 2007.
In 1972, he began excavating at the huge palace complex of Herodium, located in the desert outside Bethlehem. His first phase of work continued to 1987, as he excavated palace structures. He returned to the dig from 1997–2000, and again from 2000–2010.[Netzer, Ehud (January/February 2011). "In Search of Herod's Tomb". ''Biblical Archaeology Review''. Washington, D.C.: The Biblical Archaeology Society, 37 (1): 36, 40, 42, 44–47. ] The ancient Jewish historian, Josephus Flavius
Flavius Josephus (; , ; ), born Yosef ben Mattityahu (), was a Roman–Jewish historian and military leader. Best known for writing '' The Jewish War'', he was born in Jerusalem—then part of the Roman province of Judea—to a father of pr ...
, had written that Herod's tomb was located at his fortified palace of Herodium.[
From 1972-78, Netzer completed his Ph.D. dissertation at the Hebrew University's Institute of Archaeology on the subject of Herod's palaces at Herodium and Jericho. He became a senior lecturer at the university in 1981 and a professor in 1990. The subjects he taught combined architecture and archaeology. From 1985-93, he directed the Hebrew University expedition to Zippori (Sepphoris) in the lower ]Galilee
Galilee (; ; ; ) is a region located in northern Israel and southern Lebanon consisting of two parts: the Upper Galilee (, ; , ) and the Lower Galilee (, ; , ).
''Galilee'' encompasses the area north of the Mount Carmel-Mount Gilboa ridge and ...
, which exposed a synagogue
A synagogue, also called a shul or a temple, is a place of worship for Jews and Samaritans. It is a place for prayer (the main sanctuary and sometimes smaller chapels) where Jews attend religious services or special ceremonies such as wed ...
. Its mosaic floor has been exhibited in the Jewish Museum
A Jewish museum is a museum which focuses upon Jews and may refer seek to explore and share the Jewish experience in a given area.
Notable Jewish museums include:
Albania
* Solomon Museum, Berat
Australia
* Jewish Museum of Australia, Melbourn ...
in New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
.
Herodium
Herodium
Herodion (; ; ), Herodium (Latin), or Jabal al-Fureidis () is a fortified desert palace built by Herod the Great, king of Herodian kingdom, Judaea, in the first century BCE. The complex stands atop a hill in the Judaean Desert, approximately s ...
is an enormous, cone-shaped, partially man-made mountain holding a fortress palace built by Herod just outside Bethlehem. According to the ancient Romano-Jewish historian Josephus
Flavius Josephus (; , ; ), born Yosef ben Mattityahu (), was a Roman–Jewish historian and military leader. Best known for writing '' The Jewish War'', he was born in Jerusalem—then part of the Roman province of Judea—to a father of pr ...
, Herodium was the site of Herod's burial.[ Enclosed within the artificial hill was a fortress palace, which had previously been the focus of excavations led in 1962-67 by Virgilio Canio Corbo and Stanislao Loffreda from the ]Studium Biblicum Franciscanum
Studium Biblicum Franciscanum (SBF), Latin for 'Franciscan Biblical Studies', is a Franciscan academic society based in Jerusalem. It is a center of biblical and archaeological research and studies, established by the Franciscan Custody of the H ...
of Jerusalem
Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...
. Netzer began work on the extensive palace complex at the foot of the hill, which he labeled as "Lower Herodium".
From 1972–87, Netzer worked at Herodium, excavating the palace structures. He resumed work on the dig from 1997–2000, and again from 2000–2010. Beginning in 2006, excavations revealed a ramp winding around the hill from the lower palace complex and stadium. Along its path were discovered a theater and a monumental staircase, which led past a platform and remains which, in May 2007, Netzer identified as the probable tomb of King Herod.[ Netzer found the sarcophagus "shattered into hundreds of pieces", as described by Josephus, who wrote that it was done "by Jewish dissidents during the first revolt against the Romans between AD 66 and 72."][
In October 2013, archaeologists Joseph Patrich and Benjamin Arubas challenged the identification of the tomb as that of Herod.] According to Patrich and Arubas, the tomb is too modest to be Herod's and has several unlikely features.[ Roi Porat, who replaced Netzer as excavation leader after the latter's death, stood by the identification.][
]
Jericho
Netzer excavated at Jericho from 1973, and continued working there over the next decade.[ At the oasis of Jericho, he uncovered new wings of Herod's winter palace, as well as a Hasmonean winter palace containing a number of swimming pools and gardens. This is the major archaeological site to have survived from that period in Jewish history. The complex includes a structure built 70-50 BCE and identified in 1998 by Netzer as a synagogue, which has been contested, but if proven true would be the oldest synagogue that has ever been found (the " Wadi Qelt synagogue").
]
Private life; death
He married Devora and they had four children, all of whom live in Israel: Chana, Ruti, Yael and Yossef.
On 25 October 2010, Netzer fell and was seriously injured when a railing gave way at the dig at Herodium. He died of his injuries three days later at Hadassah Ein Kerem hospital in West Jerusalem
West Jerusalem or Western Jerusalem (, ; , ) refers to the section of Jerusalem that was controlled by Israel at the end of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. As the city was divided by the Green Line (Israel's erstwhile border, established by ...
.
Between February 2013 and January 2014, the Israel Museum
The Israel Museum (, ''Muze'on Yisrael'', ) is an Art museum, art and archaeology museum in Jerusalem. It was established in 1965 as Israel's largest and foremost cultural institution, and one of the world's leading Encyclopedic museum, encyclopa ...
hosted the exhibition ''Herod the Great: The King’s Final Journey'' in memory of Netzer.
Published works
* ''The architecture of Herod, the great builder'', Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen 2006 (Texts and studies in ancient Judaism, Bd. 117)
* ''The Hebrew University excavations at Sepphoris during the years 1992-1996''. Qadmoniot. No. 113, pp 2–21, 1997
* "Architectural development of Sepphoris during the Roman and Byzantine Periods", in: ''Archaeology and the Galilee: Texts and Contexts''. pp. 117–130, 1997
* ''Promise and Redemption: A Synagogue Mosaic from Sepphoris'', Jerusalem: Israel Museum, 44 pp., 1996
* "New evidence for Late Roman and Byzantine Sepphoris", in: ''The Roman and Byzantine Near East: Recent Archaeological''. 1995, pp 162–176
* ''Zippori'', Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society, 71 pp., 1994
* "Byzantine mosaics at Sepphoris: New finds", ''Israel Museum Journal''. No. 10, pp 75–80, 1992
*
*
References
External links
Expert on architecture of Herod the Great gives lecture 28 September
''Cornell Chronicle'', New York, 23 September 1999.
Ehud Netzer Faculty page
at Hebrew University
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; ) is an Israeli public research university based in Jerusalem. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Chaim Weizmann in July 1918, the public university officially opened on 1 April 1925. It is the second-ol ...
of Jerusalem
{{DEFAULTSORT:Netzer, Ehud
1934 births
2010 deaths
Accidental deaths from falls
Accidental deaths in Israel
Academic staff of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Social scientists from Jerusalem
Israeli architects
Hebrew University of Jerusalem alumni
Technion – Israel Institute of Technology alumni
20th-century Israeli archaeologists
21st-century Israeli archaeologists