A JUDEAN SOAP OPERA

A significant number of the archeological sites in Israel are connected one way or another to a very enigmatic figure - Herod the Great - or in Hebrew, הורדוס.  As a tour guide I spend a similarly significant amount of time showing people places like Herodian, the remains of Herod's renovated Temple Mount, Caesarea, and Mearat Hamachpeila (Tomb of the forefathers) in Hevron.  Have you ever stopped to consider whether the name Herod is one that we should want to continue to glorify?  His massive building projects have succeeded in perpetuating his name.  However, does he really deserve such notoriety?

Herod became king of Judea in the year 37 BCE after soliciting the support of another famous scoundrel Marcus Antonius, better known nowadays as Mark Anthony. After the assassination of Julius Caesar, Rome was governed by a triumvirate made up of Caesar's best general - Mark Anthony; Caesar's brilliant nephew and heir - Octavian; and Marcus Lepidus, Caesar's closet ally and friend.  Our primary source for the history of Judea is Josephus Flavius and Josephus goes on for chapter after chapter describing the intricacies of the political infighting in Judea and in the Roman Empire in General.  Herod's protector and patron was Mark Anthony.  Herod promised exorbitant taxes to Rome, or perhaps to line Anthony's pockets.  This patronage won him the use of Roman legions that he used to attack the Judean King, Antigonus, the rightful descendant of the Hashmonian monarchy.

To consolidate his right to the Judean crown Herod married his long time fiance Miriam, a cousin of Antigonus and granddaughter of Hyrcanus the former Hashmonian high priest.  According to Josephus, Herod was also very much infatuated with Miriam and loved her passionately.  Perhaps Miriam and her mother Alexandra had hopes that one of their children by Herod would eventually inherit the crown and return the monarchy to a descendant of the Hashmonian dynasty without having to resort to the sword.

This unfortunately was not to be.  King Herod was an important character in the drama that was to play itself out several years later between Cleopatra, Mark Anthony and Octavian.  For those of you that did not see the movie, Mark Anthony left Rome and allied himself with his mistress Cleopatra in Egypt. Lepidus was convicted of treason and retired in disgrace.  Octavian managed to turn Roman public opinion against Mark Anthony and Cleopatra.  Octavian defeated Mark Anthony at the battle of Actium in 31 BCE and by August of 30 BCE both Mark Anthony and Cleopatra had committed suicide.    Octavian became the undisputed Caesar ruling all of the Roman empire.

As Mark Anthony's protege and ally, Herod feared for his life. Josephus tells us that he was summoned to meet with Octavian, now Augustus Caesar, on the Island of Rhodes.  He was not sure whether or not he would return.  He send most of his family to the fortress at Massada under the protection of his brother Pheroras.  Miriam and her mother Alexandra were separated and sent to the fortress at Alexandrium (now known as Sartoba) under the protection of Herod's friend Soemus.  Herod left secret instructions with Soemus that if anything should happen to him, Miriam and Alexandra were to be executed and his brother Pheroras would become king.

Miriam on trial before Herod - A painting by J W Waterhouse

Herod arrived in Rhodes and removed his official crown going to meet Augustus with dignity and pride but without his royal robes.  In that meeting, he was a magician.  Herod gave the performance of a lifetime. He argued that he had been a loyal servant to Mark Anthony and helped him in his war with Caesar but that he had advised Mark Anthony to abandon Cleopatra and reconcile with Rome.  Herod argued further that just as he had been a loyal friend to Mark Anthony he would now be a loyal servant to Caesar.  Octavian bought it.  Herod returned to Jerusalem in Triumph.  However when he called for his wife Miriam he found her insulting, cold, and condescending.  Miriam had somehow learned of the instructions that Herod had left for her and her mother.  Miriam understood that Herod had no intention of allowing her or any of her children to assume the throne after he was gone.

What ever she had once felt for Herod had turned to hatred and spite.  When Herod learned of all this his paranoia got the better of him.  He assumed that Soemus has been seduced by Miriam and slept with her.  He had him killed.  He then put Miriam on trial for adultery and had her executed.  Years later he would have his two sons by Miriam, Alexander and Aristobulus executed for treason.  Add to these sins his previous murders of Miriam's brother and his execution of her grandfather and one begins to wonder who this King of the Jews really was and why we tend to glorify his name to the extent that we do.

Herod the Great was perhaps not so great after all.  As a builder and administrator he is unparalleled.  As a paranoid murderer and cruel dictator he takes the crown.  Herod truly was a complex individual.