Biography:

Herod the Great

Herod the Great (ca. 73 B.C.-4 B.C.), King of Judea, was an example of a class of client princes who kept their thrones by balancing between being over thrown by their own peoples for too much sub servience to Rome and being dismissed by the Romans for too much independence.

Judea was one among the many petty states into which the Hellenistic East had fragmented, ruled by high priests of the Hasmonean dynasty, descendants of the leaders who had freed the country from Seleucid rule. These Hasmoneans, however, were eager to raise revolts and engage in civil wars against each other, and Palestine was a cockpit of contending factions and forces. Against this background Herod's family rose to prominence; a Hasmonean, King Alexander Jannaeus, had appointed Herod's grandfather, who was probably an Idumean, to some sort of governorship in Idumea. Herod's father, Antipater, took a prominent part in a civil war between two further Hasmoneans, Hyrcanus II and Aristobulus II and his descendants, and became one of Hyrcanus's chief ministers; he also established close relations with the Romans.

Herod's mother's family were perhaps Nabatean Arabs - Herod himself never lived down the charge that he was only a half Jew - and he seems to have spent part of his childhood among the Nabateans.

Political Career

In 47 B.C., when Caesar momentarily settled Palestinian affairs, he seems to have entrusted Antipater with the effective civil government. Antipater named his eldest son, Phasael, governor of Jerusalem and his second son, Herod, governor of Galilee. Herod won favor with the Romans by his success in dealing with local guerrilla bands, but he executed a guerrilla leader out of hand, and opponents of the upstart Idumean family got the matter brought before the Sanhedrin. Herod was accused of murder. He did not quite dare ignore the summons of the Sanhedrin, but he did appear in Jerusalem with a large armed bodyguard, and the matter was dropped. He seems, however, to have lost his position in Galilee.

In 46 B.C. Herod was appointed governor of Coele-Syria and Samaria by Caesar's representative, but with the death of Caesar and the arrival of Cassius in Syria, Herod was quick to line up with the republicans. He won Cassius's favor by raising the 700 talents' tribute which Cassius exacted. He also married Mariamne, a Hasmonean princess and granddaughter of the high priest Hyrcanus II.

A Parthian invasion in 40 B.C. brought another change: Antigonus, a rival Hasmonean, became king of Judea, and Herod had to flee. He left his family in the fortress of Masada and went via Egypt to Rome. There both Antony and Octavian, the future Augustus, accepted him as a useful counter against the Parthians, and the Senate named him king of Judea.

Herod as King

The Jews of course did not recognize Rome's right to choose their king for them, and Herod, with Roman help, had to conquer his kingdom. Not until July 37 B.C. did he get Jerusalem. Antigonus and his chief followers were put to death, but on the whole Jerusalem was spared. Herod turned to the problem of the high priesthood; he himself had not the blood to claim the office, and he needed a priest who could not rival him in dignity. But the Hasmoneans, even those connected with Herod by marriage, would not forego their claims. By the end of this struggle, which raged for most of the reign, the priesthood had become only a temporary office held at the King's pleasure.

Herod's other chief difficulty during the first part of his reign stemmed from Cleopatra's desire to restore the lost empire of the Ptolemies. She did gain some territories, including the Jericho district, from Herod, but the coolness between them ultimately helped Herod as it kept him from being too close to Antony's party. When Antony fell, Herod found it relatively easy to shift his loyalty to Octavian. He, on his part, saw no reason to prefer some different puppet to Herod, who was eager to please, not fanatically Jewish, and already in possession. Octavian not merely confirmed Herod but restored Jericho and gave him other, particularly non-Jewish, territories.

The reason first Antony and then Augustus supported Herod for so long was that he pursued a policy they thoroughly favored, that of bringing Judea out of its isolation and religious exclusiveness and of putting it into the mainstream of Greco-Roman civilization. Herod consciously undertook to Hellenize every aspect of life in his kingdom. Officials were given the titles and functions of royal ministers elsewhere, and non-Jews were given many of the highest posts; the army was reconstructed and made into a mainly mercenary and non-Jewish force; theaters and circuses were built; and several of Herod's sons were sent to Rome for their training.

Herod also brought his kingdom considerable prosperity. He stabilized the coinage and maintained taxation at a bearable level. He encouraged trade and built the splendid port city of Caesarea. Indeed, he was a tremendous builder generally, and this too provided jobs. Much of his building naturally had a military purpose - fortresses like Masada were built or enlarged, military colonies were planted on the frontiers, and even many of Herod's numerous palaces were partly fortresses. His building in the cities had the further purpose of increasing Hellenization, for many of his cities, like Caesarea and Samaria (rebuilt and renamed Sebaste), were intentionally Hellenistic rather than Jewish, even to having a predominantly non-Jewish population.

During nearly his whole reign Herod faced trouble within his own family, stemming partly from the Hasmoneans' regal scorn for the Idumaean upstart, partly from Herod's Hellenizing policies, and partly from his paranoid tendency, when his suspicions were aroused, to turn and rend those he loved best. As early as 29 B.C. he had killed his wife, Mariamne, from jealousy. As the years went by, the whole matter was further complicated by the question of the succession, for like many people with a strong will to power, Herod showed little ability at facing the idea of losing it, even to death.

In the years of intricate scheming and counterscheming between Herod and his heirs, three of Herod's sons were put to death, and his brother "escaped death only by dying." And when Herod finally did die in 4 B.C., he left a disputed succession with two further sons both having some claim to the throne. Augustus finally resolved the matter by splitting the inheritance between these two sons and still a third one, and not allowing the title of king to any of them.

Herod's Accomplishment

In an age when even the existence of the smaller states depended not on their own strength but on the will of Rome, Herod kept Judea safe, secure, and prosperous. And yet, throughout his career Herod suffered from being caught somewhere between Jew and Gentile. He loved Greek culture and showered money on the cities of the Greek East, but he began the rebuilding of the Temple and acted as protector and spokesman for various Jewish communities scattered about the world. He sought the favor of Rome and was ostentatious in his loyalty to it, yet he wished to strengthen the position of the Jewish state. In the final analysis, he failed to judge the temper of his people, and, though the great crisis did not come until the reign of Nero, his attempt to make the Jewish kingdom another civil state of the customary Mediterranean type was already a failure at his death.

Biography

Model of Herod's Temple (Israel Museum)

Copper coin of Herod, bearing the legend "Basileus Herodon" on the obverse and a Macedonian sun-symbol on the reverse.

Herod the Great was born around 73 B.C. He was the second son of Antipater the Idumaean, a high ranked official under Ethnarch Hyrcanus II, and Cypros, a Nabatean.^[3] A loyal supporter of Hyrcanus II, Antipater appointed Herod governor of Galilee at 25, and his older brother, Phasael, governor of Jerusalem. He enjoyed the backing of Rome but his excessive brutality was condemned by the Sanhedrin.

In 43 BC, following the chaos caused by Antipater offering financial support to Caesar's murderers, Antipater was poisoned. Herod, backed by the Roman Army, executed his father's murderer. Afterwards, Antigonus, Hyrcanus' nephew, tried to take the throne from his uncle. Herod defeated him and then married his teenage niece, Mariamne (known as Mariamne I), which helped to secure him a claim to the throne and gain some Jewish favor. However, Herod already had a wife, Doris, and a three year old son, Antipater and chose to banish Doris and her child.

In 42 BC, he convinced Mark Antony and Octavian that his father had been forced to help Caesar's murderers. Herod was then named tetrarch of Galilee by the Romans. However, many of the Jews were very upset by this since most Jews did not consider Herod to be a true Jew. The Idumaean family, successors to the Edomites of the Hebrew Bible, settled in Idumea, formerly known as Edom, in southern Judea. When the Maccabean John Hyrcanus conquered Idumea in 140–130 BC, he required all Idumaeans to obey Jewish law or to leave; most Idumaeans thus converted to Judaism. While King Herod publicly identified himself as a Jew and was considered as such by some, ^[4] this religious identification notwithstanding was undermined by the Herodians Hellenistic cultural affinity, which would have earned them the antipathy of observant Jews. ^[5]

In 40 BC Antigonus tried to take the throne again with the Parthians, this time succeeding. Herod fled to Rome to plead with the Romans to restore him to power. There he was elected "King of the Jews" by the Roman Senate^[6] In 37 BC the Romans fully secured Judea and executed Antigonus. Herod took the role as sole ruler of Judea and took the title of basileus for himself, ushering in the Herodian Dynasty and ending the Hasmonean Dynasty. He ruled for 34 years.

Achievements

Herod's most famous and ambitious project was the expansion of the Second Temple in Jerusalem.

In the eighteenth year (20-19 B.C.) of his reign, Herod rebuilt the Temple on "a more magnificent scale".^[7] The new Temple was finished in a year and a half, although work on out-buildings and courts continued another eighty years.^[7] To comply with religious law, Herod employed 1,000 priests as masons and carpenters in the rebuilding.^[7] The finished temple, which was destroyed in 70 AD, is sometimes referred to as Herod's Temple.

Some of 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. He and Cleopatra owned a monopoly over the extraction of asphalt from the Dead Sea, which was used in ship building. He leased copper mines on Cyprus from the Roman emperor.

Discovery of quarry

On September 25, 2007, Yuval Baruch, archaeologist with the Israeli Antiquities Authority announced their discovery of a quarry compound which provided King Herod with the stones to renovate the Second Temple. It houses the Temple Mount. Coins, pottery and iron stake found proved the age of the quarry stone about 19 B.C. . Archaeologist Ehud Nesher confirmed that the large outlines of the stone cuts is evidence that it was a massive public project worked by hundreds of slaves. ^[8]

Herod in the New Testament

Main article: Massacre of the Innocents

Herod the Great appears in The Gospel according to Matthew (ch. 2), which describes an event known as the Massacre of the Innocents.

Shortly after the birth of Jesus, Magi from the East visited Herod to inquire the whereabouts of "the one having been born king of the Jews", because they had seen his star in the east and therefore wanted to pay him homage. Herod, who was himself King of Judea, was alarmed at the prospect of the new-born king usurping his rule.

In the story, Herod was advised by the assembled chief priests and scribes of the people that the Prophet had written that the "Anointed One" (Greek: ho christos) was to be born in Bethlehem of Judea. Herod therefore sent the Magi to Bethlehem, instructing them to search for the child, and that, when they found him, to "report to me, so that I too may go and worship him". However, after they found Jesus, the Magi were warned in a dream not to report back to Herod. Similarly, Joseph was warned in a dream that Herod intended to kill Jesus, so he and his family fled to Egypt. When Herod realized he had been outwitted by the Magi, he gave orders to kill all boys of the age of two years and under in Bethlehem and its vicinity. Joseph and his family stayed in Egypt until Herod's death, then moved to Nazareth in Galilee in order to avoid living under Herod's son Archelaus.

The historical accuracy of this event has been questioned, since no other document from the period makes any reference to such a massacre.^[9]

Herod's son, Herod Antipas is even more prominently featured in the New Testament for his role in John the Baptist's arrest and execution.

Death

Coin of Herod the Great, bearing a Roman-style helmet

The scholarly consensus, based on Josephus' Antiquities of the Jews is that Herod died at the end of March, or early April, 4 BC. Josephus wrote that Herod died 37 years after being named as King by the Romans, and 34 years after the death of Antigonus.^[10] This would imply that he died in 4 BC. This is confirmed by the fact that his three sons, between whom his kingdom was divided, dated their rule from 4 BC. For instance, he states that Herod Philip I's death took place, after a 37-year reign, in the 20th year of Tiberius, which would imply that he took over on Herod's death in 4 BC.^[11] In addition, Josephus wrote that Herod died after a lunar eclipse,^[12] and a partial eclipse^[13] took place in 4 BC.

Because of apparent inconsistencies in the method Josephus counted years, it has sometimes been suggested that 5 BC might be a more likely date^[14] - there were two total eclipses in that year.^[15]^[16]. The next lunar eclipse did not take place until 1 BC, however, and Herod's sons had already been ruling for three years by then.

Josephus wrote that Herod's final illness was excruciating (Ant. 17.6.5). From Josephus' descriptions, some medical experts propose that Herod had chronic kidney disease complicated by Fournier's gangrene.^[17] Modern scholars believe he suffered throughout his lifetime from depression and paranoia. (http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/876330.html)

After Herod's death

After Herod's death, his kingdom was divided among three of his sons, namely Archelaus, Herod Antipas, and Herod Philip I, who ruled as tetrarchs rather than kings.

Reported tomb discovery

Aerial photo of Herodium from the south west

The location of Herod's tomb is documented by Roman historian Flavius Josephus, he writes:

"And the body was carried two hundred furlongs, to Herodium, where he had given order to be buried."^[18]

Flavius Josephus provides more clues about Herod's tomb which he calls Herod's monuments: "So they threw down all the hedges and walls which the inhabitants had made about their gardens and groves of trees, and cut down all the fruit trees that lay between them and the wall of the city, and filled up all the hollow places and the chasms, and demolished the rocky precipices with iron instruments; and thereby made all the place level from Scopus to Herod's monuments, which adjoined to the pool called the Serpent's Pool." ^[19]

Ehud Netzer, an archaeologist from Hebrew University, read the writings of Josephus and focused his search on the vicinity of the pool and its surroundings at the Winter Palace of Herod in the Judean desert. An article of the New York Times states:

"Lower Herodium consists of the remains of a large palace, a race track, service quarters, and a monumental building whose function is still a mystery. Perhaps, says Ehud Netzer, who excavated the site, it is Herod's mausoleum. Next to it is a pool, almost twice as large as modern Olympic-size pools."^[20]

It took 35 years for Netzer to identify the exact location but on May 7, 2007, an Israeli team of archaeologists of the Hebrew University led by Netzer, announced they had discovered the tomb.^[21]^[22]^[23]^[24]^[25] The site is located at the exact location given by Flavius Josephus, atop of tunnels and water pools, at a flattened desert site, halfway up the hill to Herodium, 12 kilometers south of Jerusalem.^[26]

Chronology

30s BC

The taking of Jerusalem by Herod the Great, 36 BC, by Jean Fouquet, late 15th century.

39 BC–37 BC — War against Antigonus. After the conquest of Jerusalem and victory over Antigonus, Mark Antony executes Antigonus.

36 BC — Herod makes his 17-year-old brother-in-law, Aristobulus III of Judea, high priest, fearing that the Jews would appoint Aristobulus III of Judea "king of the Jews" in his place.

35 BC — Aristobulus III of Judea is drowned at a party, on Herod's orders.

32 BC — The war against Nabatea begins, with victory one year later.

31 BC — Judea suffers a devastating earthquake. Octavian defeats Mark Antony, so Herod switches allegiance to Octavian, later known as Augustus.

30 BC — Herod is shown great favour by Octavian, who at Rhodes confirms him as King of Judaea.

20s BC

29 BC — Josephus writes that Herod had great passion and also great jealousy concerning his wife, Mariamne I. She learns of Herod's plans to murder her, and stops sleeping with him. Herod puts her on trial on a charge of adultery. His sister, Salome I, was chief witness against her. Mariamne I's mother Alexandra made an appearance and incriminated her own daughter. Historians say her mother was next on Herod's list to be executed and did this only to save her own life. Mariamne was executed, and Alexandra declared herself Queen, stating that Herod was mentally unfit to serve. Josephus wrote that this was Alexandra's strategic mistake; Herod executed her without trial.

28 BC — Herod executed his brother-in-law Kostobar^[27] (husband of Salome, father to Berenice) for conspiracy. Large festival in Jerusalem, as Herod had built a Theatre and an Amphitheatre.

27 BC — An assassination attempt on Herod was foiled. To honour Augustus, Herod rebuilt Samaria and renamed it Sebaste.

25 BC — Herod imported grain from Egypt and started an aid programme to combat the widespread hunger and disease that followed a massive drought. He also waives a third of the taxes.

23 BC — Herod built a palace in Jerusalem and the fortress Herodian in Judaea. He married his third wife, Mariamne II, the daughter of high priest Simon.^[28]

22 BC — Herods began construction on Caesarea Maritima and its harbour. From the Romans, he brought the regions Trachonitis, Batanaea and Auranitis under his rule.

Circa 20 BC — Expansion started on the Second Temple. (See Herod's Temple)

10s BC

Circa 18 BC — Herod traveled for the second time to Rome.

14 BC — Herod supported the Jews in Anatolia and Cyrene. Owing to the prosperity in Judaea he waived a quarter of the taxes.

13 BC — Herod made his first-born son Antipater (his son with Doris) first heir in his will.

12 BC — Herod suspected both his sons (from his marriage to Mariamne I) Alexandros and Aristobulos of threatening his life. He took them to Aquileia to be tried. Augustus reconciled the three. Herod supported the financially strapped Olympic Games and ensured their future. Herod amended his will so that Alexander and Aristobulos rose in the royal succession, but Antipater would be higher in the succession.

Circa 10 BC — The newly expanded temple in Jerusalem was inaugurated. War against the Nabateans began.

0s BC

9 BC — Caesarea Maritima was inaugurated. Owing to the course of the war against the Nabateans, Herod fell into disgrace with Augustus. Herod again suspected Alexander of plotting to kill him.

8 BC — Herod accused his sons from Mariamne I of high treason. Herod reconciled with Augustus, which also gave him the permission to proceed legally against his sons.

7 BC — The court hearing took place in Berytos (Beirut) before a Roman court. Mariamne I's sons were found guilty and executed. The succession changed so that Antipater was the exclusive successor to the throne. In second place the succession incorporated Herod Philip, the son from Mariamne II.

6 BC — Herod proceeded against the Pharisees, who had announced that the birth of the Messiah would mean the end of his rule. (Biblical conjecture)

5 BC — Antipater was brought before the court charged with the intended murder of Herod. Herod, by now seriously ill, named his son Herod Antipas (from his fourth marriage with Malthace) as his successor.

4 BC — Young Torah students smashed the golden eagle over the main entrance of the Temple of Jerusalem after the Pharisee teachers claimed it is a Roman symbol. Herod arrested them, brought them to court, and sentenced them. Augustus approved the death penalty for Antipater. Herod then executed his son, and again changed his will: Archelaus (from the marriage with Malthace) would rule as king over Herod's entire kingdom, while Antipas (from Malthace) and Philip (from the fifth marriage with Cleopatra of Jerusalem) as Tetrarchs over Galilee and Peraea, also over Gaulanitis (Golan), Trachonitis (Hebrew: Argob), Batanaea (now Ard-el-Bathanyeh) and Panias. As Augustus did not confirm his will, no one got the title of King; however, the three sons did get the stated territories.

Marriages and children

The factual accuracy of this article is disputed.

**Herod's marriages and children**
Wife	Children
Doris	Son Antipater III, executed 4 BC
Mariamne I, daughter of Hasmonean Alexandros	Son Alexandros, executed 7 BC Son Aristobulus IV, executed 7 BC Daughter Salampsio Daughter Cypros
Mariamne II, daughter of High-Priest Simon	Son Herod II Boethus, assassinated 6 AD Son Herod Philip I
Malthace	Son Herod Archelaus - Ethnarch Son Herod Antipas - Tetrarch Daughter Olympias
Cleopatra of Jerusalem	Son Herod Philip II - Tetrarch Son Herod
Pallas	Son Phasael
Phaidra	Daughter Roxane
Elpis	Daughter Salome bat Herod I
A cousin (name unknown)	no known children
A niece (name unknown)	no known children

It is very probable that Herod had more children, especially with the last wives, and also that he had more daughters, as female births among Romans at that time were often not recorded.^{[citation needed]}

Herod's family trees