On This Day In Roman History, March 13
Herod the Great, the King of Judea, dies following an eclipse on March 13, 4 BCE. This eclipse is referenced by the first-century Romano-Jewish scholar and historian Josephus and is the supposed date of Herod's death. Most modern scholars will agree that if the death did not take place on this actual day, then it most certainly did take place in late March or early April. Herod was a client king installed by the Romans in 37 BCE. He was granted the title King of Judea by the Roman Senate and prospered under Roman over-lordship. He therefore supported the Roman agenda in full and even made the successful jump from supporting Antony to supporting Octavian.
Did you know?
Herod's demeanor was often marked as paranoid and an interesting story referenced in the New Testament shows just this. Some magi from the East announced that a birth of a king had happened and according to Matthew Herod inquired the whereabouts of this new "king of the Jews". Herod was shocked to find there may be plans to usurp him and gathered his ministers asking them where this alleged "Anointed One" was born. Herod had every boy under the age of two, within Bethlehem, killed. Modern historians think that these events, known as the Massacre of the Innocents, probably really did take place but Bethlehem being a small village may have resulted only in about 20 deaths.
Pictured: A 1430's depiction of King Herod attempting suicide. Photo by Alexander Master, via Wikimedia Commons.
Herod suffered from several debilitating diseases and suffered much of his life. The selected quote is from Josephus in which he talks about Herod's tomb. "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."
Opinion
Welcome to my daily opinion! Yesterday was on this day in Gothic history and today is apparently Judea history. Herod has been very vilified throughout history for what I assume are pretty obvious reasons. Not even looking at the religious side of things, he was still classified as a tyrant who murdered his family and did essentially anything to further his own personal ambitions. That being said, he must have been a pretty crafty dude in order to win favor of Octavian and retain all his spoils of sole King of Judea. This too, however, could again be credited to Octavian's wit not to disturb the status quo and let things keep on rolling the way they had been installed under a previously loyal Antony.
Sources
Ben-Sasson, H. H., & Malamat, A. (2002). A history of the Jewish people. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Univ. Press.
Grant, M. (1971). Herod the Great. New York: American Heritage Press.
Josephus, F., & Feldman, L. H. (2004). Josephus. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Univ. Press.
Further Reading:
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