HEROD I the Great, king of Judaea. — Son of the Idumaean Antipater (q.v.), steward of the palace of Hyrcanus II, and of the Arab Cypros, he was born ca. 73 B.C. and received an excellent education in Jerusalem. In 47 B.C., when Caesar granted Palestine to Hyrcanus II with the title of ethnarch, Antipater was appointed *ἐπίτροπος* of Judaea, Phasael his eldest son *στρατηγός* of Judaea, and Herod of Galilee. Upon entering office, Herod purged his domains of brigands (in reality partisans of the deceased king Aristobulus II) even killing their leader Elazar without the judgment of the Sanhedrin; for which he was condemned by that assembly, but saved by Hyrcanus II, he took refuge with Sextus Caesar, legate of Syria, and was also appointed *στρατηγός* of Coele-Syria.
In 45 B.C. he aided the Caesareans near Apamea; after Caesar’s death he went over to Cassius and finally, after the battle of Philippi, he was accused before Antony together with Phasael, but both ingratiated themselves with him through lavish gifts and in 40 B.C. were appointed tetrarchs of their respective territories, while Hyrcanus II retained the high priesthood. Herod then allied himself with the Hasmoneans by marrying Mariamne, granddaughter of Hyrcanus II.
In 40 B.C., following an invasion by the Parthians, Antigonus was proclaimed king by them. Herod, Phasael and Hyrcanus were besieged in Jerusalem. Herod managed to flee to Idumaea and, after a perilous journey, reached Rome by the end of 40 B.C.; there he was proclaimed king.
At the beginning of 39 B.C. he landed at Ptolemais, gathered an army of Idumaeans and mercenaries, and occupied most of Galilee, Samaria and Idumaea. By the end of the winter of 37 B.C. he besieged Jerusalem and, with the help of the Romans, took it five months later. Once master of the city, Herod put to death 45 leading partisans of Antigonus, confiscated their goods and appointed as high priest a certain Ananel, whom he soon replaced with his young brother-in-law, Aristobulus III. When, however, Aristobulus was enthusiastically acclaimed by the people during the Feast of Tabernacles, Herod had him strangled in the bath after a banquet at Jericho (33 B.C.). Summoned by Antony to Laodicea to justify himself, he returned absolved.
After the battle of Actium (2 Sept. 31 B.C.), Herod deserted Antony and, presenting himself to Octavian at Rhodes in the spring of 30 B.C., succeeded through great skill in having his kingdom confirmed. Octavian treated him royally at Ptolemais, provisioning his army in Egypt. When returning to Rhodes from Octavian, Herod had left his wife Mariamne and his mother-in-law Alexandra in the fortress of Alexandrium, under the guard of a certain Soemus.
Upon Herod’s return, the guard, suspected of adultery, was killed and Mariamne herself condemned to death. After the execution Herod nearly went mad with grief. During a severe illness he also had Alexandra put to death for attempting to seize the fortified places of Jerusalem. In 7 B.C. he had Alexander and Aristobulus, the two sons he had by Mariamne, strangled in Samaria where they were imprisoned; these two, already accused by Herod himself before Augustus at Aquileia in 12 B.C. and acquitted there, had later been condemned in a regular trial at Berytus, where they fell victim to the calumnies of Salome, Herod’s sister, and of their elder brother Antipater, born of another mother. Soon after, Antipater himself, guilty of an actual attempted parricide, was tried before Quintilius Varus and condemned. Immediately Herod sent envoys to Augustus to obtain approval of this sentence, but shortly afterwards, in the autumn of 5 B.C., he fell ill; he then went to the baths of Callirrhoe on the eastern shore of the Dead Sea, and then to Cypros. When the imperial confirmation of Antipater’s condemnation arrived, Herod had him executed. Five days later, shortly before the Passover of 4 B.C., Herod himself died. He was buried at Herodium, near Bethlehem.
Elected king by the Senate, Herod was not a *rex socius* in the juridical sense of the term; he was, however, considered “a friend and ally” (Antiq. Jud., XVII, 9, 6, § 246) though entirely subject to the will of Rome under Augustus. Although enjoying full autonomy within his kingdom, he could not strike coins of gold or silver (indeed only bronze coins remain of him), did not possess full judicial authority over members of his own family, could not designate his own successor without Rome’s approval; moreover, towards the end of his reign his subjects were required to swear loyalty to Caesar, as was done in all Roman provinces from 15 B.C. He was not even permitted to wage wars on his own account; since once Herod violated this prohibition by waging a brief war against the Arabs in 9 B.C. with the consent of the legate of Syria Sentius Saturninus, this provoked Augustus’ indignation, who threatened that if hitherto he had treated him as a friend, from then on he would treat him as a subject (Antiq. Jud., XVI, 9, 3, §§ 286-99). For the rest, Herod showed towards the emperor the most humble submission, adorning himself with flattering epithets (ἀλληλοκύκλοι, φιλοκύκλιοι), giving cities he built the names of Κωνσταντίνος, Σέβαστος, Ἀγρίππειος, and visiting Rome at least twice himself (18-17 B.C.). His devotion was rewarded by Augustus in 30 B.C. with the return of the territories occupied by Cleopatra and the donation of Gadara and Hippos, in 24 B.C. with the donation of parts of the territory of Zenodorus at the foot of Lebanon, of Batanea, Trachonitis and Auranitis. The legates of Syria were ordered always to act in consultation with him; Augustus himself undertook to defray the cost of a daily sacrifice to be offered in the Temple of Jerusalem for himself and for the Roman people (Philo, Legatio ad Gaium, 23, 156; 36, 291; 40, 312).
Herod was a lover of grandiose constructions. He built entire cities, including Caesarea, with an excellent harbour, a temple to Augustus and the royal palace; Antipatris, between Caesarea and Jerusalem, in honour of his father; and Phasaelis in the Jordan valley. He entirely rebuilt the Temple of Jerusalem, nearly doubling its area to the north and south with broad porticoes; he enlarged the fortress overlooking the Temple and called it Antonia; in the western part of the city he built the royal palace. In 27 B.C. he rebuilt Samaria, and in honour of Octavian, who had been proclaimed “Augustus,” he renamed it Sebaste, also building a temple to him on the overlooking hill. He adorned foreign cities with buildings as well: at Rhodes he built at his own expense the temple of Apollo and contributed to the construction of Nicopolis. It was estimated that his revenues amounted to some 1,000 talents a year, equivalent to about 17 million lire in gold.
He was practically a sceptic in religious matters, so much so that he began his reign at Rome with a sacrifice to Jupiter, built or restored pagan temples in various places and plundered the tomb of David in Jerusalem; yet he respected the religious sentiment of the people in matters not too burdensome for him. Although he rebuilt the Temple of Jerusalem, he never entered the priests’ court, the Holy Place or the Holy of Holies, since he was not of priestly rank; he forbade his sister Salome to marry the Arab Silleus because he refused to accept circumcision. But these formalities did not suffice to win him the affection of the people, who were repelled by his licentious life and his cruelties.
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**HERODAE** — Herod receives the list of St John the Baptist. Detail of the fresco by Masolino da Panicale (1435) — Castiglione d’Olona, Collegiata.