Editing Herod the Great (section)

== Architectural achievements ==
{{Main|Herodian architecture}}
[[File:Jerusalem Western Wall stones.jpg|thumb|Distinctive Herodian masonry at the [[Western Wall]] in Jerusalem]]
Herod's most famous and ambitious project was the expansion of the [[Second Temple]] in Jerusalem which was undertaken so that he would "have a capital city worthy of his dignity and grandeur", and with this reconstruction, Herod hoped to gain more support from the Jews.{{sfn|Cohen|1999|p=270}} Recent findings suggest that the Temple Mount walls and [[Robinson's Arch]] may not have been completed until at least 20 years after his death, during the reign of [[Herod Agrippa II]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=December 2011 |title=Building the Western Wall: Herod Began it but Didn't Finish it |url=http://www.antiquities.org.il/Article_eng.aspx?sec_id=25&subj_id=240&id=1882&hist=1 |access-date=9 November 2014 |publisher=Israel Antiquities Authority}}</ref>

In the 18th year of his reign (20–19&nbsp;BCE), Herod rebuilt the Temple on "a more magnificent scale".{{sfn|Barton|1906}} Although work on out-buildings and courts continued for another 80 years, the new Temple was finished in a year and a half.<ref>Graetz, Heinrich (1893). ''History of the Jews: From the Reign of Hyrcanus (135 BCE) to the Completion of the Babylonian Talmud (500 CE)'', Cosimo, New York, Volume 2, 2009 ed, p. 109</ref> To comply with religious law, Herod employed 1,000 priests as masons and carpenters in the rebuilding.{{sfn|Barton|1906}} The finished temple, which was destroyed in 70&nbsp;CE, is sometimes referred to as Herod's Temple. Today, only the four retaining walls remain standing, including the [[Western Wall]]. These walls created a flat platform (the Temple Mount) upon which the Temple was then constructed.

Herod's other achievements include the development of water supplies for Jerusalem, building fortresses such as [[Masada]] and [[Herodium]], and founding new cities such as [[Caesarea Maritima]] and the enclosures of [[Cave of the Patriarchs]] and [[Mamre]] in [[Hebron]]. He and Cleopatra owned a monopoly over the extraction of [[Bitumen|asphalt]] from the Dead Sea, which was used in shipbuilding. He leased copper mines on [[Cyprus]] from the Roman emperor.