Herod "the Great"

Herod "the Great" was a very complex man, a man of many contradictions. He was cruel to many and helpful to some. He seems to have been insecure and even paranoid that others close to him were after his power. Herod was a man with a passion for building. Drawing from primary sources, this paper seeks to give a fairly well rounded picture of Herod, the ruler and the man.

Herod was born in 72 B.C.E.¹ A later legend says Herod's father was a son of a slave of the Temple of Apollo at Ashkelon (Philistia). His mother may have been a Nabatean (probable); Josephus call her an Arabian named Cypros (Anti 14:7.3).² Perhaps this accounts for the Talmud Bavli referring to him as a half-Jew, perhaps not. His father appears to have been an Idumean, and thus, a Jew.³ Bava Batra relates that Herod was a slave to the Hasmoneans. Josephus, working with an account written by a friend of Herod's named Nicholas of Damascus, refers to Herod as the "servant of Hyrcanus" who was charged with murder.⁴ This could be a nice way of referring to Herod as a slave of Hyracanus, the Hasmonean High Priest and Ethnarch, as Bava Batra does. Certainly Herod's friend would be inclined to believe Herod's story of his early life. Additionally, the Hebrew word for servant and slave are the same, making it unclear whether Herod was a servant or slave of Hyracanus, and perhaps Josephus simply translated incorrectly.

Herod bought a post from the Romans as general of the army of Celesyria. This made Hyrcanus afraid that Herod would attack him, which was exactly what he intended to do. Only the intervention of Herod's father and brother kept him from attacking Jerusalem.⁵ When Herod became governor of the Galilee in 47 B.C.E., at age 25⁶, the elders were afraid of him, because he was very violent, bold, and "desirous of acting tyrannically...for Herod, Antipiter's son, hath slain Hezekiah and those that were with him...".⁷ The mothers of those he had slain were indignant, and were at the Temple daily trying to get the king and the Sanhedrin to bring Herod to justice (according to 14:9.5, Herod's trial was never completed, since he fled to Damascus). Later, when Herod became king, he slew all the members of the Sanhedrin and eventually Hyrcanus the High Priest as well. He also seems to have spared someone named Sameas, who may have been someone named Simeon son of Shtach (according to the translator's footnote).⁸ This may have been what the Talmud Bavli: Bava Batra was referring to when it said that he had all the rabbis murdered--all the rabbis of the Sanhedrin. Perhaps the person Josephus refers to as Sameas was Bava ben Butra himself, as the Talmud relates. Interestingly enough, the Hebrew word Samea means blind.

Antony made Herod a tetrarch and was going to execute 15 of Herod's adversaries whom he (Antony) had bound, but Herod pardoned them.⁹ Herod had given Antony a great deal of money to gain the position of tetrarch, so Antony did not listen to the complaints of the Judeans about Herod. Antony was going to slay the 1000 protesters, but Herod and Hyrcannus (the father of his espoused and High Priest), tried to get the protestors to go on their way. They would not leave and the Romans "...ran upon them with their dagger, and slew some, and wounded more or them..." The people raised their voices against this action and Herod, and in response, Antony had his prisoners executed.¹⁰

While Herod was still a governor of Galilee, Antigonus, a Hasmonean and nephew of Hyrcanus and cousin of Mariamne (Herod's espoused), came with the Parthian army he had hired to Mount Carmel. Antigonus was the son of Aristobulus. Many of the Jews of the area flocked to his banner, showing that the majority of the nation still supported that family line. Hyrcanus, the High Priest and uncle of Antigonus, had gone to negotiate with the Parthians, along with one of Herod's brothers. Hyrcanus was made a prisoner, as was Herod's brother. Antigonus had Hyrcanus' ears "cropped to make him ritually unfit for the High Priesthood."¹¹ Herod, when he heard this, left with his family to get help. He dropped his family off at Masada and continued on to the king of Nabetea for help first. He receives no help from them, but went on to Rome.¹² Perhaps he did this because his mother was a Nabetean, or maybe there were other reasons behind him seeking help from the Nabetean king before going to Rome for help.

Meanwhile, in the camp of the Parthians, Herod's brother was to be put to death. He did not want to die at the hands of the enemy, so he banged his head against a large rock. He died happily when he heard that his brother had escaped the country.¹³ For a time, while Herod was in Rome, Antigonus became king of Judea, and the Hasmonean Kingdom, which had been abolished by Pompey 23 years earlier, was restored.¹⁴

When Herod arrived in Rome, he advised them of the situation and asked for help. He also offered Antony money to make him king, just as he had given him money to make him Tetrarch. On Antony's advice, the senate decreed that Herod be king. Herod was originally planing to ask Anthony to make his wife Miriamne's brother the king, since he was a grandson of Aristobulus I and son of Hyrcanus II. This is not what he did, however. When he returned, Herod had him killed. When the senate dissolved, Herod went with Antony and Caesar, as well as other officials to offer sacrifices (in doing so, Herod was engaging in avodah zerah, idolatry).¹⁵ Herod became king in 37 B.C.E at age 35¹⁶ and was confirmed by Octavian on the Isle of Rhodes in 30 B.C.E.¹⁷ While Herod was in Rome, his family was under siege by the Parthians as Masada.¹⁸ The Romans were already starting to push back Antigonus' Parthian allies, making Antigonus' position precarious. When Herod returned to Eretz Yisrael, he succeeded, with Roman assistance, to gain control of Idumea and Samaria first, and the Galilee.¹⁹ Herod and his Roman army broke the siege of the Parthians at Masada where his family was.²⁰ They were unable to take Jerusalem until the Parthians were finally defeated by an overwhelming Roman force. Those who had defended the city were "put to the sword" and Antigonus was executed. This ended the Hasmonean dynasty, though not yet the Hasmonean line.²¹ Before his execution, Antigonus, who had hired the Parthians, said that the Romans would not be doing justly to make Herod the king, since he was only a "private man, and an Idumean...half Jew."²² Nonetheless, Herod was confirmed as king of his kingdom, against the wishes of the majority of the Jews of the country.

Herod was now fully in control of his kingdom, encompassing Idumea, Judea, Samaria, Batanea, Auranitis, Trachonitis, and Peraea, as well as Galilee.²³ Herod was "unflinchingly loyal to and dependent on Rome". The Romans saw the appointment of Herod, a Jewish king, as a good will gesture to the Jews of the Galut as well as a reward for Herod's loyalty and cooperation. Apparently, though he was hated by Jews living in the land, distance made him seem less cruel.²⁴

From the very start of Herod's reign as king, he showed the many sides of his personality. In order to reduce the power of the High Priesthood, he appointed and dismissed many High Priests, ignoring the hereditary nature of the post. From then on, the High Priest was nothing more than a Roman underling, owing allegiance to Herod and the Roman government.²⁵

Hyrcanus, the former High Priest, was taken to Babylonia by the Parthians, and given his liberty there. Though he had been maimed, the Jewish people there greatly honored him, treating him like a king, and wanted him to stay. He wanted to return to Judea. Herod was in debt to Hyrcanus for saving his life when Herod was on trial and for bringing him up. Herod sent gifts to Hyrcanus with ambassadors, saying that they would be co-rulers. Herod's actual motivation was to secure Hyrcanus under his power or out of the way, since he feared Hyrcanus' power. Hyrcanus returned to Judea with the permission of the king of Parthia. The Jews there paid his traveling expenses. When he arrived in Judea, Herod "received him with all possible respect, and gave him the upper place at public meetings, and set him above all the rest at feasts, and thereby deceived him. He called him [Hyrcanus] his father, and endeavored, by all the ways possible, that he might have no suspicion of any treacherous design against him."²⁶

Ananelus, a Jew who came from the Euphrates, had been appointed High Priest by Herod. He now took that post and gave it to his very young brother-in-law Aristobulus (the grandson of Aristobulus I) to appease his wife, Miriamne, and his mother-in-law (see family tree on the page before the bibliography). The new High Priest was only 17, though tall for his age (which was not permitted to be held until age 20). The people were very warm towards him, professing their happiness too openly for the young man's own good. When Herod heard this, he "resolved to complete what he had intended against the young man." He had a feast at Jericho, drew the young man "into a lonely place, and at the same time played with him in a juvenile and ludicrous manner." Since it was hotter than ordinary, they went to a fish pond to bath. "At first, they were only spectators of Herod's servants and acquaintances as they were swimming" but Herod convinced the young High Priest to go for a swim. Those Herod had "appointed to do it, dipped him as he was swimming, and plunged him under the water, in the dark of the evening, as if it had been done in sport only; nor did they desist till he was entirely suffocated [see diagram of palace at Jericho on the second to last page of this report]." He was not more than 18 at the time he was murdered. Ananelus again became High Priest.²⁷

At this point, Herod saw that Hyrcanus was the only man of "royal dignity" left, so, wanting to insure that there would be no future obstacles, he had him killed. This, even though Hyrcanus was a mild tempered man who did not desire to "meddle with public affairs".²⁸ There were no more Herodians outside Herod's own household.

Herod had, before becoming king, been espoused and married to a Hasmonean Princes named Miriamne, daughter of Hyrcanus II. She was said to have been very beautiful.²⁹ Bava Batra said that she committed suicide and was preserved in honey. Josephus tells a different story, but it must be remembered that Josephus uses as a source an historian named Nicholas of Damascus who was a friend of Herod's. Perhaps there is some truth in each of the versions of Miriamne's death.

Herod suspected Miriamne of having an affair with his uncle Joseph and so had Joseph killed. Herod killed both his sister's husbands (she married one after he killed the first one).³⁰ Herod eventually, according to Josephus' account, had Miriamne executed. He seems to have gone a bit mad after this since, Josepus says, Herod had loved her.³¹ This, of course, is based on Nicholas of Damascus' account. The Talmud confirms that Herod was mad, preserving Miriamne in honey and possibly having relations with her corpse (Bava Batra). Where the Bava Batra account differs, is the method of Miriamne's death, as mentioned in the previous paragraph. Did Miriamne have any children or not? This is a question that Josephus and the Talmud disagree on as well. Josephus says she had two sons, whom Herod executed for suspected treason (one after he had had a child of his own), while the Talmud says that she had no children, and was thus, the last of the Hasmonean. I would suggest that the Talmud account is the correct one, since the other account is from a friend of Herod and, therefore, not totally reliable. Additionally, since Hyrcanus was executed before Miriamne, and was said to have been the last of royal dignity, either Herod killed Miriamne's 2 sons before Hyrcanus, or they were not really her sons. This is possible, since there was another wife of Herod whom he named Miriamne II, who was unrelated to Miriamne or the Hasmoneans.

This paper now turns to Herod the builder (it will talk about the last years of Herod's life and the manner of his death later). Herod build a great many palace/forts, or modified existing Hasmonean ones. These palace/forts were Alexandrion/Sartaba, Herodium, Herodian-Jericho, Cypros (a fort that overlooked the palace at Jericho), Doq Dagon, Hyrcania (named after Hyrcanus II), Machairos, and Masada (see map on page before bibliography). The palace at Jericho was built on remains of Hasmonean palaces.³² He also built Tiberius on the site of graves.³³ Herod also built a house in Tiberius. It has "figures of living creatures in it" so a delegation was to be sent by the Jewish leadership to Rome to ask for it to be torn down. Someone named Jesus son of Sapphias burnt it down before the delegation could be sent.³⁴ Herod also rebuilt the destroyed Migdal Sharshon into a pagan city of the Greek style including temples of the various gods and statues of Augustus. He renamed the place Caesarea in honor of Caesar. The population of the city was largely pagan, with a Jewish minority reaching 20,000 by the time of the War of Destruction. During that war, the Jewish population was killed by their non-Jewish neighbors with the help of the Romans.³⁵ In addition to building Caesarea, Herod also built Sebaste (built on the ruins of the city Samaria), Phasaelis, and Antipatris. He built a royal palace and towers in Jerusalem, in Ashkelon (an independent city-state), at Beth- haramata in what is now called Jordan.³⁶

Herod, in addition to building palaces and cities, also built pagan buildings. Herodbuilt, in violation of Jewish law, theaters, amphitheaters, hippodromes and he had quinquennial games in honor of Caesar.³⁷ He built Temples outside the Jewish areas of Israel in his honor. This caused the people to feel that Herod was impoverishing his Jewish subjects to place himself in good standing with foreigners.³⁸

Herod's most famous building project, however, was the rebuilding of the Second Temple in Jerusalem. As a way for Herod to repent for having the rabbis killed, Bava ben Butra (according to the Talmud, Bava Batra) told Herod to rebuild the Temple. Some of the stones of Herod's Temple may have been recycled from Solomon's, since Herodian stones have been found with Phonecian lettering. In contrast, columns made for Herod's Temple were engraved with Hebrew lettering of the Aramaic variety to tell the workers how to assemble the pieces of the columns.³⁹ Herod did not move the eastern retaining wall of the Temple Mount because it would have to be too tall had he moved it. He therefore extended it, but stones believed to be from Solomon's Temple are still present and a seam can be seen to this day where Herod's extension and the old wall meet.⁴⁰ To support the platform of the Temple Mount that Herod extended to the base of Mount Moria, Herod had a series of arches built. These arches formed cavities so that there was no risk of the platform having contact with any hidden burial places, thus keeping the platform ritually pure.⁴¹ When Herod rebuilt the Temple, he also rebuilt the fortress on the northern side calling it the Antonia after Mark Antony. It has a secret passage that allowed Herod to enter the sacred precincts of the Temple.⁴² Herod probably also built the outer walls of the building that encloses the Cave of Machpelah in Hebron, since they were built in Herodian style.⁴³

The Rabbis, in Talmud Bavli: Tractate Sukkah 43b said that "He who has not seen the Temple in its full construction has never seem a glorious building in his life" in reference to Herod's Temple. They further say that the Temple was made of yellow and white marble or, as some say, with yellow, blue, and white marble. Herod was going to overlay it with gold, but the Rabbis asked him to leave it as is, since it was so beautiful, having the appearance of waves of the sea. Talmud Bavli: Tractate Ta'anith 23a says that it is said that when the Temple was being built by Herod, it only rained at night, so that they would be able to work uninterrupted during the day. This made them know that they were involved in sacred work. The Temple must have been very beautiful.

Unfortunately, Herod even tried to mar the holiness of the Temple he built. Judus, son of Saripheus and Matthias, son of Margolothus, who were well loved by the Jewish people, took the Roman golden eagle Herod had put above the door off of the Temple and hacked it to bits when Herod was ill with some kind of disease (a disease which would eventually take his life as this paper will later relate).⁴⁴ These zealots were executed on Herod's orders.⁴⁵

Herod financed his many building projects, not only through taxes, but also through the spice trade. Herod controlled the international trade routes for the spice trade. This trade was one of the reason Herod warred with the Nabateans and for his ties with them, as well as his penetration into Moab. He also developed specialized agriculture, growing spices, medicinal plants, and dates in the Jordan Valley. Dates provided the main sweetener of the day. "When Mark Antony wanted to give Cleopatra a special gift and told her to choose any place in the East (within the Roman Empire), she asked for Herod's farm in Jericho. Since she lacked the manpower to run it, however, she leased it back to Herod, who calculated that even with the added expense of rent, it would still be a lucrative operation for him." Augustus later returned the farm to Herod. It is speculated, that the wealth from these endeavors helped Herod to finance all of his building projects.⁴⁶ He may have also acquired some of his money by robbing a grave. Herod opened a room in David's tomb at night and took a out the gold furniture that was there, as well as precious goods. He did not enter the area where the bodies of David and Solomon were, reportedly because of fear.⁴⁷

Herod related to the Jews of Israel under his rule far differently than he related to Jews in the Galut. Herod strengthened the Gentile communities in Eretz Yisrael in order to have a "counter-weight against his Jewish subjects" whom he knew hated him. This non-Jewish population later sided with the Romans during the War of Destruction.⁴⁸ Herod reduced the power of the Great Sanhedrin to the point where they were virtually powerless. It is even possible that he may have "abolished the Great Sanhedrin altogether".⁴⁹ Another source says the Great Sanhedrin was stripped of all political power. Herod set up a sanhedrin of his own to discuss matters of state. He made sure that the men he appointed as High Priests had no connection to the Hasmonean past. The appointees owed Herod "a debt of gratitude" for their post.⁵⁰

Herod surrounded himself with things Greek, including principle ministers who where of Greek decent. One of the members of his court was Nicholas of Damascus, a great Greek historian who eventually wrote a detailed account of Herod's reign. He had actors, musicians, and athletes in his court.⁵¹ He deprived the Jews in Eretz Israel of almost all rights and dealt with them according to whim. He was only limited by his fear that he would go to far and the people would loose patience and revolt. This would lessen him in the eyes of his Roman overlords. He managed to somehow tread a fine balance and the people never revolted openly. He used an iron hand, but made concessions when it was in his interest.⁵² Herod eventually appointed the High Priests from two Hellenistic families of the galut, the families of Boethas and Phiabi, though his first appointment was a Babylonian Jew. He tried to attract Hellenistic and Babylonian diaspora families to his kingdom, because the Hellenistic Jews shared many of his pro-Greek and pro-Roman views.⁵³

Herod also ordered that thieves be sold into slavery abroad, in violation of Torah. He prohibited assemblies and associations, and his rule was based on military power. "Only by virtue of an efficient civil service and by timely concessions and acts of appeasement when necessary did Herod succeed in preventing the outbreak of serious disorders in Judea during his lifetime." Those who refused to swear loyalty to him, and thousands of Pharisees did, were heavily fined.⁵⁴ According to a footnote to the Soncino edition of Talmud Bavli: Tractate Kiddushin 75a Herod destroyed the book of Genealogies.

In contrast to Herod's treatment of the Jews in Eretz Israel, Herod sometime assisted the Jews of the Galut. Herod had friends in Rome with whom he kept in contact, giving him information on what was going on in the capital of the empire. One of these friends was Aggripa. Herod actually used this influence to assist Jewish communities in the Diaspora on occasion. This made the diaspora Jews feel that Herod was on their side with Rome.⁵⁵

Having dealt with the major events of Herod's life, we now turn to his death. The disease Herod had caused him to have a great appetite, his "entrails were exulcerated, and the chief violence of his pain lay on his colon; an aqueous and transparent liquor also settled itself about his feet, and a like matter afflicted him at the bottom of his belly. Nay, farther, his privy member was putrified, and produced worms, and when he sat upright, he had a difficulty of breathing, which was very loathsome, on account of the stench of his breath, and the quickness of its returns; he had also convulsions in all parts of his body, which increased his strength to an insufferable degree...." He had tried to be cured, even going over the Jordan to bath at some place called Calirroe, drinking the waters there.⁵⁶ It is possible that this was some kind of sexually transmitted disease, seeing that Herod had many wives and followed many Hellenistic ways. The NIV version of the "New Testament" says, in Acts 12:23, "And immediately, because he had not given the glory to G-d, an angel of the L-rd struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died" This is said of the Herod that ruled in the days after Jesus, when Peter was put on trial. This likely Herod, also named Agrippa I, one Herod the Great's grandsons who ruled Judea from 37-44 CE. Did the grandson die of the same disease his grandfather? Or is this a mix-up of the two Herods on the part of the writer of Acts? I do not know.

Knowing he was going to die, he ordered all prominent Jews of the nation to Jerusalem to be executed when he died so the nation would mourn.⁵⁷ When Herod died of this disease, Salome (Herod's sister) and Alexas, freed the people Herod had put in the hippodrome to be murdered upon his death, telling them to return to their homes and take care of their own business. They did this before the kings death had been made known.⁵⁸ Herod died in 4 B.C.E.⁵⁹

This picture of Herod, the man and the king, is based on the information available. While it cannot be know for certain where the histories are biased in one way or another, it seems clear that Herod was great in name alone. Even though he rebuilt the Temple and built a building around the tomb of the patriarches, his cruelty overshadows his life.

1 Based on Herod becoming king in 37 B.C.E. at age 35.

2 "Herod the Great," The Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible, 1990 ed. George Arthur Buttrick: 586.

3 The Idumeans were given the choice of conversion to Judaism or leaving the country by one of the Hasmoneans named Hyrcanus, since they had settled in the area assigned to the tribe of Simeon

4 Flavius Josephus, "Antiquities of the Jews," The Works of Josephus, trans. William Whiston (Hendrickson Publishers, 1987) 14:9.4.

5 Flavius Josephus, "Antiquities of the Jews," The Works of Josephus, trans. William Whiston (Hendrickson Publishers, 1987) 14:9.5.

6 "Herod the Great," The Revell Bible Dictionary, 1990 ed.: 482.

7 Flavius Josephus, "Antiquites of the Jews," The Works of Josephus, trans. William Whiston (Hendrickson Publishers, 1987) 14:9.2.

8 Flavius Josephus, "Antiquities of the Jews," The Works of Josephus, trans. William Whiston (Hendrickson, 1987) 14:9.2.

9 Flavius Josephus, "Antiquities of the Jews," The Works of Josephus, trans. William Whiston (Hendrickson Publishers, 1987) 14:13.1.

10 Flavius Josephus, "Antiquites of the Jews," The Works of Josephus, trans. William Whiston (Hendrickson Publishers, 1987) 14:13.2.

11 A History of the Jewish People, ed. H. H. Ben-Sasson (Harvard: Harvard University Press, 1976) 225.

12 "Herod the Great," The Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible, 1990 ed. George Arthur Buttrick: 586.

13 Flavius Josephus, "Antiquities of the Jews," The Works of Josephus, trans. William Whiston (Hendrickson Publishers, 1987) 14:13.10.

14 A History of the Jewish People, ed. H. H. Ben-Sasson (Harvard: Harvard University Press, 1976) 225.

15 Flavius Josephus, "Antiquities of the Jews," The Works of Josephus, trans. William Whiston (Hendrickson Publishers, 1987) 14:14.4-5.

16 "Herod the Great," The Revell Bible Dictionary, 1990 ed.: 482

17 Fergus Millar, The Roman Near East: 31 BC - AD 337 (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1993) 30

18 Flavius Josephus, "Antiquities of the Jews," The Works of Josephus, trans. William Whiston (Hendrickson Publishers, 1987) 14:14.5.

19 A History of the Jewish People, ed. H. H. Ben-Sasson (Harvard: Harvard University Press, 1976) 225.

20 Flavius Josephus, "Antiquities of the Jews," The Works of Josephus, trans. William Whiston (Hendrickson Publishers, 1987) 14:15.2.

21 A History of the Jewish People, ed. H. H. Ben-Sasson (Harvard: Harvard University Press, 1976) 226

22 Flavius Josephus, "Antiquities of the Jews," The Works of Josephus, trans. William Whiston (Hendrickson Publishers, 1987) 14:15.2.

23 Fergus Millar, The Roman Near East: 31 BC - AD 337 (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1993) 38.

24 A History of the Jewish People, ed. H. H. Ben-Sasson (Harvard: Harvard University Press, 1976) 225.

25 Gedaliah Alon, The Jews in their Land in the Talmudic Age, trans. Gershon Levi (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1980) 45-46.

26 Flavius Josephus, "Antiquities of the Jews," The Works of Josephus, trans. William Whiston (Hendrickson Publishers, 1987) 15:2.3-4.

27 Flavius Josephus, "Antiquities of the Jews," The Works of Josephus, trans. William Whiston (Hendrickson Publishers, 1987) 15:3.1-3.

28 Flavius Josephus, "Antiquities of the Jews," The Works of Josephus, trans. William Whiston (Hendrickson Publishers, 1987) 15:6.1.

29 A History of the Jewish People, ed. H. H. Ben-Sasson (Harvard: Harvard University Press, 1976) 588.

30 "Herod the Great," The Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible, 1990 ed. George Arthur Buttrick: 589.

31 Flavius Josephus, "Antiquities of the Jews," The Works of Josephus, trans. William Whiston (Hendrickson Publishers, 1987) 15:7.7.

32 Judi Magness, "Qumran: Not a Country Villa," Biblical Archaeology Review November/December 1996: 41-43.

33 Flavius Josephus, "Antiquities of the Jews," The Works of Josephus, trans. William Whiston (Hendrickson Publishers, 1987) 18:2.

34 Flavius Josephus, "The Life of Flavius Josephus," The Works of Josephus, trans. William Whiston (Hendrickson Publishers, 1987) 65-66

35 Gedaliah Alon, The Jews in their Land in the Talmudic Age, trans. Gershon Levi (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1980) 139.

36 A History of the Jewish People, ed. H. H. Ben-Sasson (Harvard: Harvard University Press, 1976) 243.

37 The Oxford Companion to the Bible, eds. Bruce M. Metzger and Michael D. Coogan (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993) 282

38 A History of the Jewish People,ed. H. H. Ben-Sasson (Harvard: Harvard University Press, 1976) 245.

39 Rabbi Leibel Reznick, The Holy Temple Revisited (Northvale, NJ: Jason Aaronson, Inc., 1990) 62.

40 Rabbi Leibel Reznick, The Holy Temple Revisited (Northvale, NJ: Jason Aaronson, Inc., 1990) 60-61

41 Rabbi Leibel Reznick, The Holy Temple Revisited (Northvale, NJ: Jason Aaronson, Inc., 1990) 19-21.

42 Rabbi Leibel Reznick, The Holy Temple Revisited (Northvale, NJ: Jason Aaronson, Inc., 1990) 67.

43 Rabbi Leibel Reznick, The Holy Temple Revisited (Northvale, NJ: Jason Aaronson, Inc., 1990) 25.

44 Flavius Josephus, "Antiquities of the Jews," The Works of Josephus, trans. William Whiston (Hendrickson Publishers, 1987) 17:6.2.

45 A History of the Jewish People, ed. H. H. Ben-Sasson (Harvard: Harvard University Press, 1976) 245.

46 Itzhaq Beit-Arieh, "Fifteen Years in Sinai: Israeli Archaeologists Discover a New World," Archaeology and the Bible: The Best of BAR, eds. Hershel Shanks and Dan P. cole, vol. 1 (Washington, DC: Biblical Archaeology Society, 1990) 25.

47 Flavius Josephus, "Antiquities of the Jews," The Works of Josephus, trans. William Whiston (Hendrickson Publishers, 1987) 16:7.1.

48 Gedaliah Alon, The Jews in their Land in the Talmudic Age, trans. Gershon Levi (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1980) 136-7.

49 Gedaliah Alon, The Jews in their Land in the Talmudic Age, trans. Gershon Levi (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1980) 186.

50 A History of the Jewish People,ed. H. H. Ben-Sasson (Harvard: Harvard University Press, 1976) 242.

51 A History of the Jewish People, ed. H. H. Ben-Sasson (Harvard: Harvard University Press, 1976) 242.

52 A History of the Jewish People, ed. H. H. Ben-Sasson (Harvard: Harvard University Press, 1976) 241.

53 A History of the Jewish People, ed. H. H. Ben-Sasson (Harvard: Harvard University Press, 1976) 243-4.

54 A History of the Jewish People, ed. H. H. Ben-Sasson (Harvard: Harvard University Press, 1976) 244-5.

55 A History of the Jewish People, ed. H. H. Ben-Sasson (Harvard: Harvard University Press, 1976) 241.

56 Flavius Josephus, "Antiquities of the Jews," The Works of Josephus, trans. William Whiston (Hendrickson Publishers, 1987) 17:6.5.

57 "Herod the Great," The Revell Bible Dictionary, 1990 ed.: 482-3.

58 Flavius Josephus, "Antiquities of the Jews," The Works of Josephus, trans. William Whiston (Hendrickson Publishers, 1987) 17:9.1.

59 Fergus Millar, The Roman Near East: 31 BC - AD 337 (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1993) 41.

Gedaliah Alon, The Jews in their Land in the Talmudic Age, trans. Gershon Levi (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1980) 45-46, 136-139, 186-188.

Itzhaq Beit-Arieh, "Fifteen Years in Sinai: Israeli Archaeologists Discover a New World," Archaeology and the Bible: The Best of BAR, eds. Hershel Shanks and Dan P. cole, vol. 1 (Washington, DC: Biblical Archaeology Society, 1990) 25.

"Herod the Great," The Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible, 1990 ed. George Arthur Buttrick: 586-590.

"Herod the Great," The Revell Bible Dictionary, 1990 ed.: 482-3.

A History of the Jewish People, ed. H. H. Ben-Sasson (Harvard: Harvard University Press, 1976) 225-245.

Flavius Josephus, "Antiquities of the Jews," The Works of Josephus, trans. William Whiston (Hendrickson Publishers, 1987) Books 14-18.

Flavius Josephus, "The Life of Flavius Josephus," The Works of Josephus, trans. William Whiston (Hendrickson Publishers, 1987) 65-66.

Judi Magness, "Qumran: Not a Country Villa," Biblical Archaeology Review November/December 1996: 41-43.

Fergus Millar, The Roman Near East: 31 BC - AD 337 (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1993) 30-41.

The New Testament: New International Version Acts 12:23.

The Oxford Companion to the Bible, eds. Bruce M. Metzger and Michael D. Coogan (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993) 281-182.

Rabbi Leibel Reznick, The Holy Temple Revisited (Northvale, NJ: Jason Aaronson, Inc., 1990) 25-67.

Talmud Bavli Tractate Bava Batra, Tractate Ta'anith 23a, Tractate Kiddushin 75a, Tractate Arachin 14a.