King Herod, notorious from biblical texts, not only initiated numerous magnificent building projects in Israel, he also loved personal luxury – this is evidenced, among other things, by two bathtubs made of the finest alabaster. But only now have analyzes revealed where this alabaster came from: contrary to what was previously thought, the precious stone was not brought from Egypt, but was of local origin. It came from a cave west of Jerusalem.
King Herod, also known as Herod the Great, was made king of Judea by the Roman Emperor around 40 BC. As governor-king of the Roman Empire, he offensively represented the traditional values of Hellenistic-Roman culture, as historical records suggest. “His ‘greatness’ is reflected in his many construction projects, his wealth and political influence: he had fortresses, palaces and entire cities built,” explain Ayala Amir of Bar Ilan University in Israel and her colleagues.
Bathtubs fit for a king
While Herod’s public work is relatively well known thanks to archaeological finds and historical records, little is known about his personal life and everyday life. Hardly any objects belonging to him or used by him have been found so far. An exception are two calcite-alabaster bathtubs used privately by the king. One of these 1.5 ton stone tubs was found in the fortress of Cyprus a good 40 years ago, and a second was only recently discovered in Herod’s private suite in the palace of Herodium.
Unlike ordinary, slightly water-soluble gypsum alabaster, the fine and significantly harder calcite alabaster of these tubs is water-resistant and therefore well suited for a bathtub. Because this mineral variant was found and mined in Egypt in the Bronze Age and antiquity, it is also known as Egyptian alabaster. “It therefore seemed relatively certain that Herod’s alabaster tubs had also been imported from Egypt,” say Amir and her colleagues. However, transporting the 1.5 tonne trays would have been a real challenge.
Where did the calcite alabaster come from?
However, the discovery of a calcite-alabaster deposit almost directly in front of Herod’s former front door has raised doubts about the import of the stone from Egypt. Tool marks, rough blocks of alabaster and patches of broken rock have been found at Te’omim Cave west of Jerusalem, indicating local mining of calcite-alabaster. According to dating, this mining began around 1500 BC and lasted until Roman times, as archaeologists report. “This is remarkable because it was previously assumed that all calcite alabaster found in the Levant came from Egypt,” say the researchers.
Consequently, could Herod’s bathtubs also have been made locally? To clarify, Amir and her team compared samples of Herod’s alabaster to historical and modern calcite alabaster samples from Israel and Egypt. To do this, they subjected the samples to four different analyzes to compare their mineral structure, chemical composition and isotopic content.
Luxury object from local production
In fact, there were clear differences between Herod’s bathtubs and the alabaster from Israel on the one hand and the Egyptian alabaster on the other. There were deviations in the mineral structure of the calcite and in the levels of oxygen and carbon isotopes. In addition, the alabaster samples from Israel contained more phosphorus and titanium but less magnesium and strontium than the Egyptian ones, the team found. “The results clearly show that Herod’s bathtubs came from Israel and not from Egypt,” the researchers state. “This underscores that the local calcite-alabaster industry was sufficiently developed in Herod’s time and could supply high-quality material, even meeting Herod’s luxurious requirements.”
Source: Bar-Ilan University; Specialist articles: Scientific Reports, doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-11651-5