The Rise and Rule of Herod the Great

Herod the Great, who reigned from 37 BCE to around 4 BCE, was an Idumean by birth and the son of the Roman-appointed procurator Antipater I. (John Hyrcanus had conquered the Idumeans and imposed the Jewish way of life on them; see “John Hyrcanus.”) Herod inherited Roman citizenship from his father and was recognized by the Roman Senate as client king of Judaea in 40 BCE, following his retreat to Rome in the wake of the Parthian invasion of Palestine and the subsequent civil war of the Roman Empire. Herod acquired Roman-backed kingship (according to Josephus no territory was specified), wresting the throne from the final Hasmonean royal high priest, Antigonus II. In 38 BCE, Herod returned to Judaea, amassed an army, and, over the course of the next few years, drove out the Parthians who supported Antigonus. In 37 BCE, Herod defeated Antigonus’ general, Pappus, laid siege to Jerusalem, took the city, and put Antigonus to death, solidifying his claim as king of Judaea, with Roman backing. (See the map Herod’s Kingdom and Division among His Sons, ca. 30 BCE.)

Ancient descriptions of Herod are far from one-dimensional, even if they are predominantly derived from Josephus. Josephus himself offers two contrasting depictions. In The Jewish War, he constructs a biography of the “great man” type, while in Jewish Antiquities, which devotes four volumes to Herod, he presents a more critical, nuanced portrait of the king.

Remarkable among Herod’s achievements was his ability to rule Judaea under the shadow of imperial Rome for almost forty years, a period of relative stability in Judaea after a prolonged period of Hasmonean political strife and violence. Such steady rule required him to ingratiate himself with a succession of Roman rulers and to maintain alliances during the empire’s own civil wars. Herod also needed to demonstrate that he was capable of preserving peace and political stability. While he was an autocrat who did not hesitate to put his own wives and sons to death, Herod is also remembered for his monumental building projects, notably the Antonine fortress and the massive reconstruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem. The architecture of Herod’s Temple in many ways reflected his political savvy, incorporating Solomonic elements that invoked cultic affiliations with the Israelite past with an unmistakably Hellenized, Corinthian exterior. The renovated structure was one of the great architectural feats of the late Second Temple period.