Herod The Great – King of Judea

Rare bust of Herod the Great, 1st C

Herod was born in 73 BCE to an Arab mother and an Edomite father, who some claim had converted to Judaism. He grew up in Hasmonean Judea, where he was raised as a Jew. At this time the Hasmonean kingdom, which had ruled since the Maccabean Revolt in 162 BCE, was being torn apart through a civil war between two princely brothers, Hyrcanus II and Aristobulus II. This at a time when Rome was the rising superpower of the ancient world.

Around the year 67 BCE Hyrcanus turns to Rome for help, and Rome enters under the conquest of General Pompei. Herod, as his father, had early on seen the benefits of siding with the Romans, and eventually it was the Romans who installed Herod as King of Judea.

This was not seen kindly by the Jewish population, and Herod had to fight for the throne against the people he was to rule over, a fight he finally won in 37 BCE. Despite having had to fight for the rule, throughout his rule till his death in 4 BCE he strove to keep a delicate balance between the Romans and his Jewish subjects, who fiercely strived to maintain their political and religious independence and uniqueness. Topped by this was the Jewish attitude to Herod. They always saw him as a “half-Jew”, an outsider imposed on them by the Romans.

This political astuteness is also displayed in his attitude to the Romans. In his early years he had aligned himself with Mark Antony, who ruled over the eastern part of the Roman Empire, while Octavian, later Augustus, ruled over the Western part. In 31 BCE Octavian defeats Mark Antony and Cleopatra at the Battle at Actium, to be followed by their suicide.

Herod is now in a precarious position. He travels to Cyprus to meet Octavian. Instead of denying his loyalty to Mark Antony, he underscores it, and promises the same loyalty to Octavian. Octavian, impressed, confirms him as ruler of Judea and later even adds land to the Herod’s realm.

Not only was Herod an astute politician, he was also a great economist and architect. Throughout his rule he rebuilds trade routes and industries, bringing the country to unprecedented prosperity and relative peace. Though raised a Jew, in heart he is Roman, and encourages Roman culture at all stages.

Herod is probably best known for two things: his cruelty and his architectural feats. To the Christian world he is known as the king, who ordered the killing of all male children to the age of two, as reported in Matthew 2: 16 (The only source to this story).

But in reality he was more cruel to his own family. When rumors reach him of a possible rebellion in favor of Miriamne, his beloved wife from the Hasmonean family, he orders her killed. At a later stage he also orders their sons to be killed, and later still he had three more sons killed.

As a builder he has gone unsurpassed throughout history. He built several fortresses throughout the country, the most famous – Masada and Herodion. Since the country lacked a deep-sea water port, he created one on the northern coast of the country, and surrounded it with a magnificent Roman town – Caesarea. He built himself palaces everywhere of a magnitude rarely seen elsewhere, in Jerusalem, in Jericho, on Masada and his pleasure palace and burial site, Herodion.

He donated money for many more building projects inside and outside of the country. But his greatest building project was Temple Mount in Jerusalem, a project he never saw completed.

Herod died in the year 4 BCE in his winter palace in Jericho, following long and painful illness, and short time later buried at Herodion.

Following his death, the Romans divided his kingdom among his three surviving sons: Archaelaus in Southern Judea with Jerusalem as his capital; Herod Antipas in the Galilee with Zippori as his capital; and Herod Phillip in the Gaulanitis with Banias, also known as Caesarea Philippi, as his capital.

For more detailed description of Herod, his career and his building projects, see National Geographic

© Copyright: Birte Edwards, Your Guide to Israel, January 2010