Herod the Great
King of Judea installed by Rome, famed for his great building projects and also for his cruelty and suspicion.
Life
Installed by Rome
Herod came from an Idumean family; his father was a minister of Judea. In 40 BCE the Roman Senate named him King of Judea, and with the help of Roman troops he captured Jerusalem, ruling Judea in practice from 37 BCE.
Great builder
He was one of the greatest builders of antiquity: he enlarged the Temple in Jerusalem and built the port city of Caesarea, the hilltop fortress of Masada and the Herodium. In the Roman civil wars he sided first with Antony and then with Octavian, and kept his throne throughout.
Paranoid tyrant
Suspicious by nature, he had his wife and three of his sons executed. The New Testament records that he ordered the massacre of the infants of Bethlehem, but this is not found in any other source. He died of illness in 4 BCE.
Legacy
Herod's buildings are still found throughout Israel and Palestine, and the Western Wall in Jerusalem is part of the platform he built when expanding the Temple; he was equally notorious for his cruelty toward his family and opponents.
Did you know? Augustus reportedly joked: "It is safer to be Herod's pig than his son." (Jews do not eat pork.)
Key dates
- 40 BCEMade King of Judea by the Roman Senate
- 37 BCECaptured Jerusalem
- 22 BCEBuilt the port of Caesarea
- 20 BCEBegan expanding the Temple
- 4 BCEDied