Herod the Great
Tom lowe
1/24/2012
Herod (also known as Herod the Great) was a Roman *client king of Judea,
*A king who is dependent on a more powerful state for political, economic, or military support, and who in return is expected to serve the interests of that state; specifically a king dependent on ancient Rome; he is referred to as the Herodian kingdom. He is known for his colossal building projects throughout Judea, including his renovation of the Second Temple in Jerusalem and the expansion of the Temple Mount towards its north, the enclosure around the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron, the construction of the port at Caesarea Maritima, the fortress at Masada, and Herodium.
Herod also appears in the Christian Gospel of Matthew as the ruler of Judea who orders the Massacre of the Innocents at the time of the birth of Jesus. However, most Herod biographers do not believe that this event occurred. Despite his successes, including singlehandedly forging a new aristocracy from practically nothing, various historians have still criticized him. His reign polarizes opinion among historians, some viewing his legacy as evidence of success, and some viewing it as a reminder of his tyrannical rule.
Upon Herod's death, the Romans divided his kingdom among three of his sons and his sister: Archelaus became *ethnarch of Judea, Samaria, and Idumea; Herod Antipas became *tetrarch of Galilee and Peraea; Philip became *tetrarch of territories north and east of the Jordan; and Salome I was given a *toparchy including the cities of Jabneh, Ashdod, and Phasaelis.
*ethnarch: The ruler of a province or people. eth'nar'chy n.
*tetrarch: (in the Roman Empire) the governor of one of four divisions of a country or province.
*toparchy: [noun] a small state or district consisting of a few cities or towns.
Contents
• 1Biography
• 2Reign in Judea
• 3Herod and Augustus
• 4Wives and children
Biography
Herod was born in (or around) 72 BCE in Idumea, south of Judea. He was the second son of Antipater the Idumaean, a high-ranking official under ethnarch Hyrcanus II, and Cypros, a Nabatean Arab princess from the city of Petra in what is now Jordan. Herod's father was by descent an Edomite whose ancestors had converted to Judaism. Herod was raised as a Jew. [Strabo, a contemporary, held that the Idumaeans, whom he identified as of Nabataean origin, constituted the majority of the population of Western Judea, where they blended with the Judaeans and adopted their customs. This is a view shared by some modern scholarly works that consider Idumaeans Arab or Nabataean origins. Thus Herod was ethnically an Arab from both sides.
Herod's rise to power is mainly due to his father's good relations with Julius Caesar, who entrusted Antipater with the public affairs of Judea. Herod, Antipater's son, was appointed provincial governor of Galilee in *ca. 47 BCE when
*Ca ABBREVIATION (preceding a date or amount) circa. "he was born ca 1400."
Herod was about 25 or 28 years old (Greek original: "15 years of age"), and where he faithfully farmed the taxes of that region for the Roman Senate, and where he met with success in ridding that region of bandits. Antipater's elder son, Phasael, served in the same capacity as the governor of Jerusalem. During this time, the young Herod cultivated a good relationship with Sextus Caesar, the acting Roman governor of Syria, who appointed Herod as general of Coelesyria and Samaria, greatly expanding his realm of influence. He enjoyed the backing of Rome, but the Sanhedrin condemned his brutality. When yet a private man, Herod had determined to punish Hyrcanus the king, who had once summoned Herod to stand trial for murder but was restrained from doing so by the intervention of his father and his elder brother.
In 41 BCE, Herod and his brother Phasael were named tetrarchs by the Roman leader Mark Antony. They were placed in this role to support Hyrcanus II. Later, Antigonus, Hyrcanus' nephew, took the throne from his uncle with the help of the Parthians. Herod fled to Rome to plead with the Romans to restore Hyrcanus II to power. The Romans had a particular interest in Judea because their general Pompey the Great had conquered Jerusalem in 63 *BCE, thus placing the
*BCE - before the Common Era (used for dates before the Christian era, especially by non-Christians).
region in the Roman sphere of influence. Herod was unexpectedly appointed King of the Jews in Rome by the Roman Senate. Josephus puts this in the year of the consulship of Calvinus and Pollio (40 BCE), but Appian places it in 39 BCE. Herod went back to Judea to win his kingdom from Antigonus. Toward the end of the campaign against Antigonus, Herod married the granddaughter of Hyrcanus II, Mariamne (known as Mariamne I), who was also a niece of Antigonus. Herod did this to secure his claim to the throne and gain some Jewish favor. However, Herod already had Doris's wife and a young son, Antipater, who banished Doris and her child.
Herod and Sosius, the governor of Syria, at the behest of Mark Antony, set out with a large army in 37 BCE and captured Jerusalem. Herod then sent Antigonus for execution to Mark Antony. From this moment, Herod took the role as sole ruler of Judea and the title of basileus (?as??e??, "king") for himself, ushering in the Herodian dynasty and ending the Hasmonean Dynasty. Josephus reports this as being in the year of the consulship of Agrippa and Gallus (37 BCE), but also says that it was precisely 27 years after Jerusalem fell to Pompey, which would indicate 36 BCE. Cassius Dio also reports that in 37, "the Romans accomplished nothing worthy of note" in the area. Herod ruled for 37 years, 34 after capturing Jerusalem, according to Josephus.
As some belief, Herod's family were converted to Judaism, some elements of Jewish society questioned his religious commitment. When John Hyrcanus conquered the region of Idumaea (the Edom of the Hebrew Bible) in 140–130 BCE, he required all Idumaeans to obey Jewish law or to leave; most Idumaeans thus converted to Judaism, which meant that they had to be circumcised, and many had intermarried with the Jews and adopted their customs. While Herod publicly identified himself as a Jew and was considered as such by some, this religious identification was undermined by the decadent lifestyle of the Herodians, which would have earned them the opposition of observant Jews.
Herod later executed several members of his own family, including his wife Mariamne I.
Josephus also presents information that shows Herod as also being of Maccabean (Hasmonean) descent.
Reign in Judea
Herod's rule marked a new beginning in the history of Judea. Judea had been ruled autonomously by the Hasmonean kings from 140 until 63 BCE. The Hasmonean kings retained their titles but became clients of Rome after the conquest by Pompey in 63 BCE. Herod overthrew the Hasmonean Antigonus in a three-year-long war between 37 and 34 BCE, ruled under Roman overlordship until his death ca. 4 BCE, and officially passed on the throne to his sons thus establishing his own, so-called Herodian dynasty.
Herod was granted the title of "King of Judea" by the Roman Senate. As such, he was a vassal of the Roman Empire, expected to support the interests of his Roman patrons. Nonetheless, when Herod obtained leadership in Judea, his rule faced two threats. The first threat came from his mother-in-law Alexandra, who sought to regain power for her family, the Hasmoneans, whose dynasty Herod had overthrown in 37 BCE (see Siege of Jerusalem). In the same year, Cleopatra married the Roman leader Antony. Recognizing Cleopatra's influence over Antony, Alexandra asked Cleopatra for aid in making Aristobulus III the High Priest. As a member of the Hasmonean family, Aristobulus III might partially repair the fortunes of the Hasmoneans if made High Priest. Alexandra's request was made, but Cleopatra urged Alexandra to leave Judea with Aristobulus III and visit Antony. Herod received word of this plot and feared that if Antony met Aristobolus III in person, he might name Aristobulus III King of Judea. This concern induced Herod, in 35 BCE, to order the assassination of Aristobulus, ending this first threat to Herod's throne. The marriage of 37 BCE also sparked a power struggle between Roman leaders Octavian, who would later be called Augustus, and Antony. Herod, owing to his throne to Rome, had to pick a side, choosing Antony. In 31 at Actium, Antony lost to Octavian, posing a second threat to Herod's rule. Herod had to regain Octavian's support to keep his throne. At Rhodes in 31 BCE, Herod, through his ability to keep Judea open to Rome as a link to the wealth of Syria and Egypt and ability to defend the frontier, convinced Octavian that he would be loyal to him. Herod continued to rule his subjects as he saw fit. Despite the autonomy afforded to Herod in his internal reign over Judea, restrictions were placed upon him in his relations with other kingdoms.
Herod's support from the Roman Empire was a significant factor in maintaining his authority over Judea. There have been varied interpretations concerning Herod's popularity during his reign. In The Jewish War, Josephus characterizes Herod's rule in generally favorable terms and gives Herod the benefit of the doubt for the infamous events during his reign. However, in his later work, Jewish Antiquities, Josephus emphasizes the tyrannical authority that many scholars have come to associate with Herod's reign.
Herod's despotic rule has been demonstrated by many of his security measures to suppress his people's contempt towards him, especially Jews. For instance, it has been suggested that Herod used secret police to monitor and report the feelings of the general populace toward him. He sought to prohibit protests and had opponents removed by force. He had a bodyguard of 2,000 soldiers. Josephus describes various units of Herod's guard taking part in Herod's funeral, including the Doryphnoroi, and a Thracian, Celtic (probably Gallic), and Germanic contingent. While the term Doryphnoroi does not have an ethnic connotation, the unit was probably composed of distinguished veteran soldiers and young men from the most influential Jewish families. Thracians had served in the Jewish armies since the Hasmonean dynasty. At the same time, the Celtic contingent were former bodyguards of Cleopatra given Augustus's gift to Herod following the Battle of Actium. The Germanic contingent was modeled upon Augustus's bodyguard, the Germani Corporis Custodes, responsible for guarding the palace.
Herod undertook many colossal building projects. Around 19 BCE, he began a massive expansion project on the Temple Mount. In addition to fully rebuilding and enlarging the Second Jewish Temple, he artificially expanded the platform on which it stood, doubling it in size. Today's Western Wall formed part of the retaining perimeter wall of this platform. In addition, Herod also used the latest technology in hydraulic cement and underwater construction to build the harbor at Caesarea Maritima. While Herod's zeal for building transformed Judea, his motives were not selfless. Although he built fortresses (Masada, Herodium, Alexandrium, Hyrcania, and Machaerus) where he and his family could take refuge in case of insurrection, these vast projects were also intended to gain the support of the Jews and improve his reputation as a leader. Herod also built Sebaste and other pagan cities because he wanted to appeal to the country's substantial pagan population. In order to fund these projects, Herod utilized a Hasmonean taxation system that heavily burdened the Judean people. Nevertheless, these enterprises brought employment and opportunities for the people's provision. In some instances, Herod took it upon himself to provide for his people in times of need, such as during a severe famine in 25 BCE.
Although he made many attempts at conforming to traditional Jewish laws, there were more instances where Herod was insensitive, which constitutes one of the significant Jewish complaints of Herod as highlighted in Josephus' Antiquities of the Jews. In Jerusalem, Herod introduced foreign forms of entertainment and erected a golden eagle at the entrance of the Temple, which suggested a greater interest in the welfare of Rome than of Jews. Herod's taxes garnered a bad reputation: his constant concern for his reputation led him to make frequent, expensive gifts, increasingly emptying the kingdom's coffers, and such lavish spending upset his Jewish subjects. The two major Jewish sects of the day, the Pharisees and the Sadducees, both opposed Herod. The Pharisees were discontented because Herod disregarded many of their demands concerning the Temple's construction. The Sadducees, who were closely associated with priestly responsibilities in the Temple, opposed Herod because he replaced their high priests with outsiders from Babylonia and Alexandria to support the Jewish Diaspora. Herod's outreach efforts gained him little, and at the end of his reign, anger and dissatisfaction were common amongst Jews. Heavy outbreaks of violence and riots followed Herod's death in many cities, including Jerusalem, as pent-up resentments boiled over. The scope of the disturbances sparked hopes that the Jews of Judea might someday overthrow the Roman overlords, hopes reawakened decades later in the outbreak of the First Jewish-Roman War in 66 CE.
Herod and Augustus
The relationship between Herod and Augustus demonstrates the fragile politics of a deified Emperor and a King who rules over the Jewish people and their holy lands. As they interact, Herod's focus on satisfying the Jewish and non-Jewish people of his kingdom must be balanced with satisfying Augustus' intentions of spreading Rome's culture, architecture, and values throughout his empire. The sway of Augustus and the Roman Empire on the policy led to the development of Romanized construction throughout Herod's Kingdom. An example of Herod's Architectural expansion of Judea in devotion to Rome can be seen with the third Temple he commissioned, the Augusteum, dedicated to Augustus.
Wives and Children
Herod's wives and children
Wife Children
Doris • son Antipater II, executed 4 BCE
Mariamne I, daughter of Hasmonean Alexandros and Alexandra the Maccabee,
executed 29 BCE • son Alexander, executed 7 BCE
• son Aristobulus IV, executed 7 BCE
• daughter Salampsio
• daughter Cypros
Mariamne II, daughter of High-Priest Simon
• son Herod II
Malthace
• son Herod Archelaus - ethnarch
• son Herod Antipas - tetrarch
• daughter Olympias
Cleopatra of Jerusalem
• son Philip the Tetrarch - tetrarch
• son Herod
Pallas • son Phasael
Phaidra • daughter Roxanne
Elpis • daughter Salome
a cousin (name unknown) • no known children
a niece (name unknown) • no known children
Herod probably had more children, especially with the last wives, and had more daughters, as female births were often not recorded.
