text: Although fortifications were built here by the Maccabees in the second century b.c. , King Herod the Great improved on these hugely , transforming them into a magnificent fortified palace , stocked with years ' store of food and fitted with enormous cisterns ( supplied by flash floods via an aqueduct ) to ensure a plentiful water supply .
  
  ###
  
  King Herod the Great stayed here for many years .