Samuel Rocca, born in 1968, earned his PhD in 2006. Since 2000, he worked as a college and high school teacher at The Neri Bloomfield College of Design & Teacher Training, Haifa; at the Talpiot College, Tel Aviv since 2005, and at the Faculty of Architecture at the Judaea and Samaria College, Ariel since 2006.

The first two chapters discuss the religious practices of the Hasmoneans. Chapter 1 explores why the Maccabees regarded Hanukkah as a festival of renewal, specifically of those traditions related to the Temple cult. Chapter 2 examines the manner in which the Hasmoneans used the protection and maintenance of the Jewish Temple to legitimize their rule—and how they worked to place the Temple at the center of the Jewish religion. Chapters 3–5 deal with different perspectives in the Hellenistic world on the role of government and royal ideologies. Specifically, chapter 3 explores both the Hellenistic and Jewish contexts for Hasmonean government and kingship. Regev shows how the Hasmonean dynasty built up its religious (in contrast to political) authority, suggesting that the Hasmonean state was not a conventionally Hellenistic one, but rather a 'national' monarchy, closer to Macedonian in type. Chapter 4 attempts to decipher the meaning of the symbols and epigraphs on Hasmonean coins, and examines how both Hellenistic symbols and Jewish concepts were employed to reinforce the dynasty's authority and introduce Jewish 'national' ideas into the populace. Chapter 5 then undertakes a comparative social-archaeological analysis of the Hasmonean palaces in Jericho in an effort to gain insight into their royal ideology. The author compares the Hasmonean palaces to other Hellenistic palaces – especially the Herodian palaces. Finally, the concluding chapter integrates the previous findings into a new understanding of and appreciation for the Hasmoneans' creation of an innovative Jewish corporal identity, one whose echoes we can still hear today.

The oasis of Jericho provided the backdrop to the grand Royal Estate and agricultural plantation established by the Hasmoneans on the northern bank of Wadi Qelt. Herod the Great developed the estate into a luxurious winter resort with extensive palaces on both banks of the wadi, including reception halls, courtyards, pools, bathhouses and exotic gardens. The building complex was completed by a hippodrome and by the palatial fortress of Cypros built on the top of a hill overlooking the oasis. After the First Revolt, a Roman villa was built upon the site of Herod’s Third Palace between 70–112 CE.The excavations of the Hasmonean and Herodian Winter Palaces at Jericho were conducted under the auspices of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem by the late Prof. Ehud Netzer during the years 1973–1987. 0This is the fifth volume in the series of final reports summarizing the results of the excavations. The preceding volumes presented the stratigraphy and architecture (Volumes I and II),pottery (Volume III) and the decoration of the palaces (Volume IV). The current volume, with contributions by fifteen authors, presents additional pottery assemblages and other small finds such as glass, stone, metal, inscriptions, and architectural decoration. These finds reveal similarities with finds uncovered at many other sites in Judea, especially Jerusalem.

Qumran has been the subject of recent controversy, with a number of scholars challenging Roland de Vaux's interpretation of the site as a sectarian settlement. In these updated and annotated essays, Jodi Magness examines various aspects of the archaeology of Qumran, including the architecture, pottery, cementery, and coins. She beliefs that de Vaux's interpretation is correct, and that the community that inhabitated Qumran should be identified with the Essenes mentioned in our ancient sources.

This is the third volume of the projected four-volume history of the Second Temple period, collecting all that is known about the Jews from the period of the Maccabaean revolt to Hasmonean rule and Herod the Great. Based directly on primary sources, the study addresses aspects such as Jewish literary sources, economy, Qumran and the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Diaspora, causes of the Maccabaen revolt, and the beginning and end of the Hasmonean kingdom and the reign of Herod the Great. Discussed in the context of the wider Hellenistic world and its history, and with an extensive up-to-date secondary bibliography, this volume is an invaluable addition to Lester Grabbe's in-depth study of the history of Judaism.

An old, bloodthirsty tyrant hears from a group of Magi about the birth of the Messiah, king of the Jews. He vengefully sends his soldiers to Bethlehem with orders to kill all of the baby boys in the town in order to preserve his own throne. For most of the Western world, this is Herod the Great -- an icon of cruelty and evil, the epitome of a tyrant. Adam Kolman Marshak portrays Herod the Great quite differently, however, carefully drawing on historical, archaeological, and literary sources. Marshak shows how Herod successfully ruled over his turbulent kingdom by skillfully interacting with his various audiences -- Roman, Hellenistic, and Judaean -- in myriad ways. Herod was indeed a master in political self-presentation. Marshak's fascinating account chronicles how Herod moved from the bankrupt usurper he was at the beginning of his reign to a wealthy and powerful king who founded a dynasty and brought ancient Judaea to its greatest prominence and prosperity.

A leading Israeli archaeologist surveys the architecture and urban design of Herod the Great, one of the most famous builders of the biblical world.