Cypros: A Hasmonean and Herodian Desert Fortress in Israel
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.5
- Popularity
- Very Low
- Country
- Israel
- Primary era
- Classical
- Eras represented
- Classical, Medieval
- Civilizations
- Byzantine, Roman
- Site type
- Military
- Remains
- Fort
On this page12 sections
History
Cypros is a desert fortress in Israel at Tell Aqaba, approximately 3 kilometres southwest of Jericho, above Wadi Qelt and northwest of the Dead Sea. The site developed from a Hasmonean fort and was rebuilt and enlarged by Herod the Great during the late first century BC as part of the Roman-period landscape of Judea. Herod, who ruled Judea as a Roman client king from 37 to 4 BC, named the fortress after his mother, Cypros.
Hasmonean Origins
The fortress stood on the remains of an earlier Hasmonean stronghold. The Hasmoneans were the Jewish ruling dynasty that established an independent Judean kingdom in the second and first centuries BC. The earlier fort has no certain name, although it may have been one of the places called Threx or Taurus by Strabo, a Greek geographer and historian of the late first century BC and early first century AD. These forts stood on routes leading towards Jericho.
The earlier stronghold is said to have been destroyed by Pompey during his campaign towards Jerusalem in 63 BC. Pompey was the Roman general whose eastern campaigns brought Judea under Roman control in that year. The Hasmonean phase at Cypros included rooms, water installations, part of an outer wall, and a circular tower on the lower platform, probably used for defence.
Herodian Reconstruction
Herod rebuilt Cypros on a much larger scale within a network of seven desert fortress-palaces linked by lines of sight. Its elevated position allowed it to overlook Jericho, where Herod kept a winter palace, as well as the main road leading to Jerusalem. The fortress helped protect the city and its surrounding agricultural districts.
Herod’s rebuilding turned Cypros into a fortified citadel with elaborate residential quarters and bathing facilities. The site was not needed for warfare during Herod’s reign, and its purpose remains debated. Its isolated, elevated position supports an interpretation as a military refuge and control centre, while its luxurious architecture and non-military finds also suit an administrative palace, storehouse, treasury, and centre for managing royal lands.
Destruction and Later Occupation
Cypros returned to a military role during the Jewish Revolt against Rome, the uprising that began in AD 66 and ended with the Roman destruction of Jerusalem and the Second Temple in AD 70. At the beginning of the revolt, around AD 66, Jewish Zealots captured the fortress, killed its garrison, and destroyed the complex. The Zealots were a militant Jewish faction active during the uprising. Fire traces in many rooms belong to this destruction, which probably occurred at the hands of the rebels.
During the Byzantine period, the later Christian phase of the Roman Empire in the eastern Mediterranean, monks occupied the site. They probably used a small monastic complex on the lower platform. Tell Aqaba was first identified as Cypros by A. Alt in 1925. Excavations followed in 1974 under Ehud Netzer and Emanuel Damati, with the results formally published in 1975. Investigations of the water-supply systems took place between 1970 and 1974.
Remains
Summit Fortress
The remains occupy a high hill with steep slopes. Excavations examined the summit and a lower platform about 30 metres below it to the southeast. Herod’s expansion of the summit required extensive retaining walls. Their collapse destroyed substantial parts of the upper complex, although its original height has been estimated at approximately 12 metres.
Citadel and Residential Quarters
The summit contained the Herodian fortified citadel and luxurious residential areas. The construction incorporated the earlier Hasmonean rooms, water installations, and outer wall. Many summit rooms preserve traces of burning from the destruction during the Jewish Revolt, while the retaining walls survive in a collapsed and fragmentary condition.
Summit Bathhouse
A large bathhouse stood on the summit as part of Herod’s residential complex. Its notable features included an alabaster bathtub carved from a single block of stone and weighing approximately 1.5 tonnes. The bathhouse formed part of the water-intensive facilities supplied by Herod’s expanded system.
Lower Platform Buildings
Palace Rooms and Bathhouse
Limited test excavations on the lower platform revealed palace rooms decorated with colourful frescoes, wall paintings applied to plaster, stone carvings, and painted plaster. The platform also held an elaborate bathhouse described as one of the largest known from the Herodian period. Its floor was covered with white mosaic stones arranged in geometric patterns.
Byzantine Monastery
The later Byzantine complex included a square building measuring 20 by 20 metres. A room at its centre faced east, and the building was probably a small monastery used by Christian monks. It occupied the lower platform after the Herodian fortress had been destroyed.
Water-Supply Systems
Two water systems served Cypros. The shorter Hasmonean installation collected surface runoff and carried it into four large cisterns cut into the eastern slope of the hill. These underground reservoirs formed part of the earlier fort’s water arrangements.
Herod incorporated the earlier cisterns into a more ambitious plan designed to supply the new bathhouses. A Herodian aqueduct, an engineered channel that carries water from a spring or other source, extended approximately 20 kilometres from the headwaters of Wadi Qelt to the fortress. It used tunnels and stone bridges built with techniques characteristic of Herodian engineering.
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