Herodion (, , ), Herodium (Latin), or Jabal al-Fureidis () is an ancient Jewish fortress and town, located in what is now the West Bank, south of Jerusalem and southeast of Bethlehem. It is located between the Palestinian villages of Za'atara and Jannatah, and adjacent to the Israeli settlement of Sdeh Bar and to a military base from the south. Prior to the publication of Biblical Researches in Palestine in 1841, the site was known variously as Frank Mountain, the Mountain of Little Paradise, or Bethulia; Edward Robinson's identification of the site as Herodium was based on the description found in Josephus. Josephus described a palace fortress and a small town, named after Herod the Great, built between 23 and 15 BCE. A sarcophagus discovered in 2007 was claimed to belong to Herod as it was more ornate than others found in the area. Herodium is 758 meters (2,487 ft) above sea level. The site is in Area C of the West Bank, formally under the jurisdiction of the Israeli Civil Administration, a body of military officers, and in practice it is administered jointly with the Israel Nature and Parks Authority. Israel asserts that it is entitled to work in the area under the Oslo Accords, but the Palestinian authorities say Israel has no right to undertake digs there or remove artifacts that Israel discovered in excavations there. Etymology Herodium is the only site that is named after King Herod the Great. It was known by the Crusaders as the "Mountain of Franks". Palestinian locals historically called it Jabal al-Firdous or Jabal al-Fureidis (, lit. "Mountain of the Little Paradise"); Edward Robinson in 1838 described it as "Frank Mountain", in reference to the Crusaders. The modern English name is a transliteration of the Greek spelling (). This is followed by the Modern Arabic () and the Modern Hebrew (Herodion ). The name Herodis () was found in the 1960s inscribed in one of the Bar Kokhba letters recovered from the Muraba’at Caves in the Judaean desert, and is thought to represent the original Hebrew name for the site. History Construction In 40 BCE, after the Parthian conquest of Syria, Herod fled to Masada. On the way, at the location of Herodion, Herod clashed with Jews loyal to his enemy Antigonus, and emerged victorious. According to the Roman Jewish historian Josephus, he "built a town on that spot in commemoration of