Bathtub of Herod “the Great” were locally manufactured (and not imported)

[guy]

Herod’s calcite-alabaster bathtub found in Kypros fortress.

Herod “The Great” made the news with the closer chemical analysis of the two bathtubs attributed him.

 

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Herod “the Great”, king of Judea in the second half of the first century BC, was known for his building projects, wealth, and political power. Two of his personal calcite-alabaster bathtubs, found in the Kypros fortress and the palace of Herodium, are among the very limited archaeological evidence of his private life. It seemed plausible that they were imported from Egypt, the main source of calcite-alabaster in ancient periods.

A recent identification of a calcite quarry in the Te’omim cave, Israel, challenges this hypothesis.

 

 The quarry and royal bathtubs

Here is the Te’omim cave where the calcite-alabaster quarry was found. This was close to the two sites where the bathtubs were discovered: Kypros and Herodium.

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The present study identified the origin of two magnificent royal bathtubs of Herod: they were carved from material mined in Israel. These results attest to the fact that the calcite-alabaster industry in Judea in the second half of the first century BC was sufficiently developed and of high enough quality to serve the luxurious standards of Herod—one of the finest builders among the kings of that period.

 

Te’omim cave. The quarry is located in the right part of the photograph.

Signs of quarrying-scars and cessation of quarrying are visible on the quarry’s walls and floor

 

 

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-11651-5

 

A nice readable summary of the scientific article is found at “Ancient Origens”:

 

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Until just recently no source of calcite-alabaster had ever been found in Israel. Calcite-alabaster quarries were common in Egypt in the first millennium BC, however, and that had led scholars to conclude that any ancient calcite-alabaster structures or artifacts found during excavations in the southern Levant (Israel and Palestine) were likely made from stone imported from Northeast Africa. 

But this theory was suddenly thrown into doubt not long ago, when archaeologists discovered an ancient calcite-alabaster quarry near Te’omim cave, which is located in the hills of Jerusalem near the Israeli city of Beit Shemesh. This quarry was first of its kind ever found on Israeli soil, and researchers found evidence showing that rock had been excavated there as early as 1500 BC.

https://www.ancient-origins.net/news-history-archaeology/herods-bathtubs-0016804

Edited May 24, 2022 by guy