Dec 31 - Herod and Botticelli at Israel Museum

Beth was able to take off and go with us to Jerusalem for the day. Our first destination was the Israel Museum (my IGO navigation system was almost useless and even Beth's knowledge of Jerusalem and her WAZE navigation system on her smart phone were not enough to prevent some wrong turns). 


We saw, among other things two exhibits that were going to close in Jan 2014 within weeks of our visit. One was an exhibit of archeological finds in Herodium, the site of Herod's palace and mausoleum (Herod deconstructed the former to make way for the latter). 
 
The first image shows a monumentally large basin that is thought to have been a gift to Herod from Marcus Agrippa (approved by Augustus).

The second image shows the reconstructed mausoleum. Inside is the sarcophagus that is thought to have, at one time, contained the body of Herod. The plurality of scholarship believes that Herod was no longer buried in Herod's grave when it was discovered in 2007. This is because anti Herod/anti Roman elements had ransacked the mausoleum about 70 years after Herod's death (in the early days of the anti Roman war that led to the destruction of the Temple by Titus's legions).

The third image shows a portion of a monumental (about 5' by 5') painting by Botticelli. The painting is called the Annunciation. and shows, among other things, the angel Gabriel telling Mary that she will be visited by the Holy Spirit. The painting was on loan from its permanent home in Florence,  Italy.