Artist's Drawing

A 3-dimensional drawing of the Interior of the Herodium.  The Herodium was initially constructed to be a Palace/Fortress for Herod the Great (r. 37–4 B.C.).  It was a vertical cylindrical in shape with an outer and an inner wall.  Between the walls in the lower levels, there were storage rooms and in the upper levels there were apartments.

On the exterior, three semi-circular towers and one taller circular tower were situated at the four cardinal points on a compass.

In the lower interior of the cone, there was a bath, dining hall, garden, meeting spaces, and other structures.

The familiar "cone" shape of the Herodium was only added after the visit of Marcus Agrippa in A.D. 14 when Herod turned the site into his mausoleum.

Picture from a sign at the site.