HOME WEB NEWS IMAGES CLASSIFIEDS YELLOW PAGESPOLLS - SURVEYS WIKI COUNTRIES PHOTOS US UK INDIA
Cities Stocks Weather Movies Coupons Travel Blogs Health Horoscope Maps ASIA EUROPE Classifieds Yellow Pages
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
 1
|
Herod (Hebrew: הוֹרְדוֹס Horodos, Greek: ἡρῴδης), also known as Herod I or Herod the Great (73 BC – 4 BC in Jericho), was a Roman client king of Judaea. Herod. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica (2007). Retrieved on 2007-07-27. “born 73 BC died March/April, 4 BC, Jericho, Judaea byname Herod the Great, Latin Herodes Magnus Roman-appointed king of Judaea ... his father, Antipater, was an Edomite (an Arab from the region between the Dead Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba)” Herod is known for his colossal building projects in Jerusalem and other parts of the ancient world, including the rebuilding of the Second Temple in Jerusalem, sometimes referred to as Herod\'s Temple. Some details of his biography can be gleaned from the works of the 1st century AD Roman-Jewish historian Josephus.
In Christian scripture, Herod is known for the Massacre of the Innocents, described in Chapter 2 of the Gospel According to Matthew.MATTHEW 2:16 "When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi." HOLY BIBLE New International Version (Eng. Bible-NIV095-00301 ABS-1986-20,000-Z-1)
Contents |
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 BC. He was the second son of Antipater the Idumaean, a high-ranked official under Ethnarch Hyrcanus II, and Cypros, a Nabatean."Herod I". Encyclopaedia Judaica. (CD-ROM Edition Version 1.0). Ed. Cecil Roth. Keter Publishing House. ISBN 965-07-0665-8 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, Flavius Josephus, The Jewish War, Book 2, Chapter 13, "There was also another disturbance at Caesarea, - those Jews who were mixed with the Syrians that lived there rising a tumult against them. The Jews pretended that the city was theirs, and said that he who built it was a Jew, meaning King Herod. The Syrians confessed also that its builder was a Jew; but they still said, however, that the city was a Grecian city; for that he who set up statues and temples in it could not design it for Jews." this religious identification notwithstanding was undermined by the Hellenistic cultural affinity of the Herodians, which would have earned them the antipathy of observant Jews.Jewish Encyclopedia: Herod I: Opposition of the Pious: "All the worldly pomp and splendor which made Herod popular among the pagans, however, rendered him abhorrent to the Jews, who could not forgive him for insulting their religious feelings by forcing upon them heathen games and combats with wild animals …"
In 40 BC Antigonus tried to take the throne again with the help of 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.Jewish War 1.14.4: Mark Antony " …then resolved to get him made king of the Jews… told them that it was for their advantage in the Parthian war that Herod should be king; so they all gave their votes for it. And when the senate was separated, Antony and Caesar went out, with Herod between them; while the consul and the rest of the magistrates went before them, in order to offer sacrifices [to the Roman gods], and to lay the decree in the Capitol. Antony also made a feast for Herod on the first day of his reign;" 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 (Gr. Βασιλευς) for himself, ushering in the Herodian Dynasty and ending the Hasmonean Dynasty. He ruled for 34 years.
Model of Herod\'s Temple
Herod\'s most famous and ambitious project was the expansion of the Second Temple in Jerusalem.
In the eighteenth year of his reign (20–19 BC), Herod rebuilt the Temple on "a more magnificent scale".Temple of Herod, Jewish Encyclopedia The new Temple was finished in a year and a half, although work on out-buildings and courts continued another eighty years. To comply with religious law, Herod employed 1,000 priests as masons and carpenters in the rebuilding. The finished temple, which was destroyed in 70 AD, is sometimes referred to as Herod\'s Temple. The Wailing Wall or Western Wall which now stands in Jerusalem is the wall which Herod built around the west side of the courtyard surrounding the 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.
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 date of the quarrying to be about 19 BC. Archaeologist Ehud Netzer confirmed that the large outlines of the stone cuts is evidence that it was a massive public project worked on by hundreds of slaves.Yahoo.com, Report: Herod\'s Temple quarry found
Herod the Great appears in The Gospel according to Matthew (Ch. 2), which describes an event known as the Massacre of the Innocents.
According to Matthew\'s gospel, 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 newborn 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, after they had found him, to "report to me, so that I too may go and worship him". However, after they had 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 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 although Herod was certainly guilty of many brutal acts, including the killing of his wife and two of his sons, no other source from the period makes any reference to such a massacre.E. P. Sanders, The Historical Figure of Jesus, pp. 87-88.
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 in 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.Flavius Josephus, Jewish Antiquities, Book 17, Chapter 8 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 II\'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.Flavius Josephus, Jewish Antiquities, Book 18, Chapter 4 In addition, Josephus wrote that Herod died after a lunar eclipse,(Flavius Josephus, Jewish Antiquities, 17.167) and a partial eclipseNASA catalog, only 37 % of the moon was in shadow took place in 4 BC. It has been suggested that 5 BC might be a more likely dateTimothy David Barnes, “The Date of Herod’s Death,” Journal of Theological Studies ns 19 (1968), 204-19 — there were two total eclipses in that year.http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/LEcat/LE-0099-0000.html NASA lunar eclipse catalogW. E. Filmer, “Chronology of the Reign of Herod the Great,” Journal of Theological Studies ns 17 (1966), 283-98 However, the 4 B.C. date is almost universally accepted.P. M. Bernegger, “Affirmation of Herod’s Death in 4 B.C.,” Journal of Theological Studies ns 34 (1983), 526-31.
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.CNN Archives, 2002 Modern scholars agree he suffered throughout his lifetime from depression and paranoia.http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/876330.htm
After Herod\'s death, his kingdom was divided among three of his sons, namely Herod Archelaus, Herod Antipas, and Herod Philip II, who ruled as tetrarchs rather than kings.
Aerial photo of Herodium from the southwest
The location of Herod\'s tomb is documented by Roman historian Flavius Josephus, who writes, "And the body was carried two hundred furlongs, to Herodium, where he had given order to be buried."Flavius Josephus. The Wars of the Jews or History of the Destruction of Jerusalem. Book V. Chapter 33.1
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.Flavius Josephus. The Wars of the Jews or History of the Destruction of Jerusalem. Book V. Chapter 3.2
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.Nitza Rosovsky. Discovering Herod\'s Israel. The New York Times. April 24, 1983
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.Hebrew University: Herod\'s tomb and grave found at Herodium http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/856784.html"Israeli Archaeologist Finds Tomb of King Herod", FOX News, 7 May 2007"King Herod\'s tomb unearthed, Israeli university claims", CNN, 7 May 2007Herod\'s Tomb Discovered IsraCast, May 8, 2007."Herod\'s tomb reportedly found inside his desert palace" The Boston Globe, May 8, 2007. 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 (7.5 mi) south of Jerusalem.Associated Press. Archaeologists Find Tomb of King Herod. The New York Times, May 9, 2007, http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Israel-Herods-Tomb.html
The taking of Jerusalem by Herod the Great, 36 BC, by Jean Fouquet, late 15th century.
| Wife | Children |
|---|---|
| Doris |
|
| Mariamne I, daughter of Hasmonean Alexandros |
|
| Mariamne II, daughter of High-Priest Simon |
|
| Malthace |
|
| Cleopatra of Jerusalem |
|
| Pallas |
|
| Phaidra |
|
| Elpis |
|
| A cousin (name unknown) |
|
| A niece (name unknown) |
|
It is very probable that Herod had more children, especially with the last wives, and also that he had more daughters, as female births at that time were often not recorded.[citation needed]
|
|
The factual accuracy of this article is disputed. |
Herod the Great + Doris | Antipater d. 4 BC?
Herod the Great + Mariamne I, d. 29 BC?, dt. of Alexandros. | ————————————————————————————————————————————— | | | | Aristobulus Alexander Salampsio + Phasael Cypros d. 7 BC? d. 7 BC? | m. Antipater(2) m. Berenice Cypros | ———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————— | | | | | Mariamne III Herod III Herodias Herod Agrippa Aristobulus V m. her uncle King of Chalcis + King of Judea Archelaus ? m. 1. Herod II Boethus her uncle 2. Herod Philip I her uncle 3. Herod Antipas her uncle
Herod the Great + Mariamne II, dt. of Simon the High-Priest. | ————————————————— | | Herod II Herod Philip I Boethus
Herod the Great + Malthace (a Samaritan) | ———————————————————————————————————————————————— | | | Herod Antipas Archelaus Olympias b. 20 BC? + Phasaelis, dt. of Aretas IV, king of Arabia "divorced" to marry: + Herodias, dt. of Aristobulus (son of Herod the Great)
Herod the Great + Cleopatra of Jerusalem | Philip the Tetrarch d. AD 34
Antipater the Idumaean + Cypros, Arab princess from Petra, Jordan in Nabatea. | ————————————————————————————————————————————— | | | | | Phasael Herod the Great Joseph Pheroras Salome I (74-4 BC)
| Sign & Meaning |
|---|
| + = married |
| | = descended from |
| ../——— = sibling |
| dt. = daughter |
| b. = born |
| d. = died |
| m. = was married to |
| ? = not included here or unknown |
Alexandros + Alexandra
|
———————————————————————————————————
| |
Aristobulus III of Judea Mariamne, dt.
(d. 35 BC) m. Herod the Great
(last Hasmonean scion;
appointed high priest; drowned)
| Herod the Great House of Herod Died: 4 BC | ||
| Preceded by Antigonus | King of the Jews 37 BC – 4 BC | Succeeded by Herod Archelaus |
| Ruler of Galilee 37 BC – 4 BC | Succeeded by Herod Antipas | |
| Ruler of Batanea 37 BC – 4 BC | Succeeded by Herod Philip I | |
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from Wikipedia