King Herod the Great lived from ~73-4 BCE and became the Roman client-king of Judea. He lived through the first couple of years of Jesus’ life. His reputation was that of a cold, calculating, brutal leader who married into a royal family to curry favor among his subjects and later killed his wife and sons out of paranoid fear. 

Herod was known as a builder of huge projects in the ancient world. Among other things, he built/rebuilt the second Temple, the seaport at Cesarea Maritima, his palace-fortress at Masada, and another palace that would become his burial place — The Herodium. 

Less than eight miles south of Jerusalem this cone rises above the desert floor to a height of almost 2800 feet above sea level, the highest point in the Judean desert. (Herod wanted everything he did to be the greatest.)  Slave laborers carried dirt to the top and poured it out over the sides to make this monumental complex complete with swimming pool, Roman baths, and water collection/distribution system. An underground storage cistern is shown below.

According to the historian, Josephus, Herod was buried at the Herodium with great pomp and ceremony. Many of the attendees were soldiers required to be present. After the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE and subsequent revolts, Herod’s tomb was destroyed. In 2007 an Israeli archeologist discovered what could be the remains of that tomb. Herod’s building projects and his infamous reputation succeed him in death.