According to news reports over the last couple of days, archaeologist Ehud Netzer, professor emeritus at Hebrew University in Jerusalem has at last discovered the tomb of the Judean King Herod (ruled 37-4 BC). Herod was the Judean king who was known most for his building projects, including his great palace called Herodium, the Temple in Jerusalem and the palace at Masada. Although they have yet to find an inscription, there doesn't seem to be much scholarly argument that this is likely to have been Herod's tomb--Herod was a real person, Netzer has been working at Herodium for some 35 years, and ancient writers such as Josephus have commented on the location of the tomb.

King Herod's Tomb: the News

• King Herod's Tomb Unearthed Near Jerusalem, Expert Says, story in National Geographic
• Archaeologists Find Tomb of King Herod, AP story as it appeared in the NYT
• Tomb of King Herod discovered at Herodium, on EurekAlert
• Tomb of King Herod discovered at Herodium by Hebrew University archaeologist, at Hebrew University
• Photos from the news conference
• King Herod's tomb found, archaeologist says, with a brief video from CNN

Some Blog-o-Sphere Commentary

It's frankly almost impossible to find a blog about this without some additional political baggage about 'proving the bible', so I've omitted those. (mini lecture: yes, some of the people in the bible were real and some of the events did in fact happen but that doesn't necessarily mean the miracles described happened) Part of the problem is that the site appears to be within the West Bank, and thus at the moment in contested Israeli/Palestinean territory. What that means for the future is any body's guess.

• Bruce Fieler on Arianna Huffington's blog
• Herod Tomb may have been found at Herodium , from Roman Archaeology
• Doing a Technorati search for 'Herod's Tomb' will bring you some idea on the noise factor.

Some Additional Resources

• The Palace Fortress of Herod (Herodium), from the Israeli government, which site includes a great deal of detail about this building project of Herod's, and where it was expected he was buried.
• Masada
• Jerusalem
• How Herod the Great became king, from Flavius Josephus and N.S. Gill, Ancient History at About.com
• Herod the Great, from Austin Cline, Atheism at About.com
• More on the West Bank, from Matt Rosenberg, Archaeology at About.com
• Tomb of Herod the Great Found, blog on the subject at Ancient History