Herod

The title of this article is ambiguous. Further meanings are listed under Herod (disambiguation) .

Copper coin of Herod: front side helmet with cheek protection, inscription: "King Herod"; Reverse Macedonian shield

Herod's client kingdom. For comparison, the modern state of Israel including the territories administered by Israel

Herod (born 73 BC in Idumea , probably in Marissa ; died March 4 BC in Jericho ) was a Jewish client king of Rome.

His father Antipater ran the affairs of state for the ethnarch and high priest Hyrcanus II from the Hasmonean dynasty until his murder . Herod and his brother Phasael were also involved in these administrative tasks . When the Parthians in 40 BC BC invaded Judea, they replaced Hyrcanus with his family enemy Antigonus Mattatias . Herod fled to Rome. He enjoyed the confidence of Mark Antony . That is why the Roman Senate declared him a friendly king - initially a title without a country. Herod conquered with Roman support in 37 BC. BC Jerusalem and disempowered the Hasmonean family that had ruled until then. After the battle of Actium , Herod moved to the camp of Octavian , who confirmed his kingship (30 BC) and enlarged his territory. The kingdom of Herod was a new type of territorial entity with a multi-ethnic and multi-religious population.

Herod had 37 BC Chr. Mariamne , the granddaughter of Hyrcanus' II., Married. She gathered a Hasmonean party around her at court and maintained contact with Cleopatra VII. As a client of Mark Antony, Herod was forced to act defensively here. After he had moved to Octavian's camp, he created clear relationships: he needed the sons from his marriage to Mariamne, but no longer Mariamne herself. Herod had the queen executed. He had two sons from this marriage, Alexander and Aristobulus , raised to succeed the throne, but then felt increasingly threatened by the brothers. Nonetheless, Alexander and Aristobulus were long involved in their father's system of government and strengthened his father's legitimacy. But 7 BC A Roman court sentenced the two to death for high treason. Herod now considered various candidates among his sons as heirs to his kingdom, a problem that was not resolved until the end of his life.

The reign of Herod is marked by numerous large building projects, some of which are still preserved as ground monuments ( Caesarea Maritima , Herodium , Masada , Jericho ); however, the Jerusalem buildings, especially the new temple , were largely destroyed when the city was taken by the Romans in 70 AD .

The biography of Herod was written by the Jewish-Hellenistic historian Flavius ​​Josephus : a rather positive representation in his work Jüdischer Krieg (Book 1) was followed by a strongly negative representation of Herod in his later major work, Jewish Antiquities (Books 14 to 17). Josephus took advantage of the lost work of Nikolaos of Damascus , a scholar at the court of Herod.

In the childhood stories of Matthew's Gospel , Herod plays a central role as a rival and persecutor of the newborn Jesus of Nazareth ( child murder in Bethlehem ).

Surname

Herod bore a Greek name, which is also attested in inscriptions and papyri for other people, which is derived from Heros , "hero". The original form was Ἡρωίδης Hērōídēs and was contracted to Ἡρῴδης Hērṓdēs (with Iota subscriptum ). His name as a Roman citizen was Gaius Iulius Herodes , posterity knew him as Herod the Great.

Life

Origin and youth

"He [Herod] was always an excellent hunter, and his ability to ride was very helpful." Hunting scene, detail of the so-called Sidonian grave (2nd century BC) in Herod's presumed birthplace of Marissa (2011)

The world Herod grew up in was Roman dominated. But the Roman Empire found itself in a situation of upheaval, which led to deep insecurity among the elites in the eastern Mediterranean region. It was difficult to estimate who was actually in power in Rome and which side to take. The population of the Levant was affected by the Roman civil wars through high war tributes, troop marches and looting.

Herod was the second son of Antipater and his wife Cypros, a Nabataean woman . He had three brothers and a sister; his family belonged to the upper class of Idumea. The Idumeans were in the 2nd century BC. Converted to Judaism - that was a flaw from the perspective of the Jerusalem elite. Herod later had a family tree constructed by his court historian Nikolaos of Damascus , which made him the descendant of Jewish returnees from Babylonian exile , “but he probably only says this in order to ... Herod, who accidentally became King of the Jews ... a favor prove, ”noted Josephus critically. Herod enjoyed a Hellenistic school education, so that later he could be praised for his love of philosophy, history and rhetoric. It was in keeping with the same educational ideal that Josephus described him as a very good hunter and rider as well as a successful athlete.

Idumea was a marginal region within the Hasmonean Empire; Opportunities for advancement were only available in the capital, Jerusalem. Herod's father Antipater successfully went this way. He was political advisor to the ethnarch and high priest Hyrcanus II , but had also earned a good reputation in Rome, as he provided military support several times. In the power struggles within the Hasmonean family, Antipater was loyal to Hyrcanus. “Rome, on the other hand, was the all-ruling power to which one had to be loyal; Pompejus , Gabinius and all the other personalities were merely the interchangeable representatives of this power, “this is how Ernst Baltrusch characterizes the basic lines of Antipater's policy, which Herod learned to a certain extent from his father.

Since 48 BC Hyrcanus II limited himself to his religious office as high priest and left Antipater to defend and tax the empire; this involved his two sons Phasael and Herod in these tasks. 47 BC BC Antipater acquired Roman citizenship and was accepted into the gens Iulia . Antipater installed his older son Phasael as strategos of Jerusalem; he made the still youthful Herod the strategos of Galilee . There Herod took action against rebels, whom he arrested and executed without trial. Because of the executions he had to answer before the synhedrium in Jerusalem. This body had underestimated the extent to which Sextus Julius Caesar , the governor of Syria, supported Herod. Herod was released; the Jerusalem elite had learned that Herod and his family were backed by Rome.

After Antipater at the beginning of 42 BC. After being poisoned by Malichos, a domestic rival, the region sank into chaos for five years. In Tire, Roman soldiers killed Malichos, but his brother continued the fight against the Idumean brothers Phasael and Herod. Other local actors intervened: Helix in Jerusalem (possibly a bribed Roman official), Marion of Tire, who was active in Galilee, Ptolemy of Chalkis and a prefect named Fabius, appointed by Cassius in Damascus. The high priest Hyrcanus was harassed by his family rival Antigonos Mattatias and relied on Phasael and Herod to maintain power. In order to secure the support of the brothers, he promised Herod his eleven-year-old granddaughter Mariamne as his future wife. Herod expelled his first wife Doris, with whom he had a son Antipater. (This Doris, who was later to return to court with her son, was a Jew from an upper-class Jerusalem family.)

In the autumn of 42 Cassius and Brutus were defeated in the double battle at Philippi ; thereafter the Levant belonged to the sphere of power of Marcus Antonius, and he traveled around to make himself known to the local elite. "Antonius was not interested in who was legitimized for office, but only in who was suitable and loyal to him." He confirmed Hyrcanus as high priest and ethnarch and gave Phasael, Herod and Pheroras, a third brother, the somewhat vague title of Tetrarch what specifically meant that in addition to the previous competencies as strategists, the tasks of the murdered father were transferred to her. On his coins, Herod counted his reign as a tetrarch (42 BC) from this appointment.

Rex amicus et socius (40–31 BC)

40 BC The Parthians invaded Judea; they installed Antigonos Mattatias in Jerusalem as king. Herod left his family on Masada under the protection of a military unit . He fled to the Nabatean Empire. The Nabataean king Malichus I held him off so that Herod finally traveled on to Alexandria - where he found no support from Cleopatra VII either. He then came to Rome by sea as a pleading for protection : penniless and thus also militarily without value for his Roman interlocutors. But he had to offer his knowledge of the internal structures in Judea and Idumea. The fact that he did not come from a priestly family and therefore could not develop any ambitions for the high priesthood was an advantage from the Roman point of view. Since Herod could not legitimize himself religiously, recognition from Rome formed his power base from then on. So he was appointed king ( rex amicus et socius ) under the second triumvirate , consisting of Octavian , Marcus Antonius and Marcus Aemilius Lepidus :

“The Senate was convened, and Messala, and after him Atratinus , introduced Herod, gave a continuous report of the good deeds of his father and reminded of his own goodwill towards the Romans. At the same time they accused Antigonus and declared him the enemy, ... because he had received his rule from the Parthians, bypassing Rome, which the Senate noted with indignation. Now Antony appeared and pointed out to the senators that it would also be of use for the war against the Parthians if Herod became king. This opinion was approved by a unanimous decision. "

- Flavius ​​Josephus : Jewish antiquities 14.384f.

Herod, however, initially only had the title and no country: "A person who may be particularly qualified, but not justified, receives the title of king from a foreign power with no fixed spatial limitation with the request to set up himself there," Ernst Baltrusch comments on the unusual situation. Together with the Roman legionary commander Gaius Sosius , Herod conquered from 39 to 37 BC. BC the territory assigned to him, with Herod having the task of mobilizing local troops.

Coin minting of Herod, Samaria approx. 40 BC Chr .: helmet with cheek flaps and star as decoration, two palm branches

According to Baltrusch, it was also a war for the sovereignty of interpretation. Antigonus Mattatias was the first Hasmonean to depict Jewish cult implements on coins and thus to emphasize his religious legitimacy. Herod could not compete with Antigonus in this field. Some of his political opponents denied that Herod the Idumean was a full member of their religion. Consequently, he issued some coins that were open to many interpretations and thus appealing to many population groups. There are recognizable tripods (piety), helmet (ability to defend themselves) and palm branches (peace). While the Roman troops quickly managed to repel the Parthians, Herod found it difficult. Without the Hasmonean high priest Hyrcanus II at his side, he was not legitimized, won few supporters, and occasional Roman aid campaigns, due to their brutality, increased the rejection in the population. In this situation, in the middle of the war, Herod forced the marriage to the 16-year-old Mariamne. It took place in the spring of 37 in Samaria . The marriage to Mariamne brought Herod great advantages, since the children from this marriage would be Hasmoneans and would therefore be acceptable to that part of the Judean elite who still sympathized with the previous ruling house. Significantly, the sons from the marriage of Herod and Mariamne bore the dynastic names Alexander and Aristobulus.

The war ended with the capture of Jerusalem; Herod barely prevented his soldiers from massacring the city's population. This is also a symptom of the tension that existed within Judaism between Judeans and populations who converted to Judaism during the Hasmonean period (Galileans and Idumeans). Antigonus Mattatias was executed on the orders of Mark Antony.

Cleopatra VII was interested in reintegrating Koile Syria into the dominion of the Ptolemies . This endangered Herod's rule in Jerusalem, which was still uncertain. But Mark Antony did not give in to her on this point and clung to Herod. By taking the Hasmonean group around the mother-in-law Alexandra and the wife Mariamne under her protection at Herod's court, Herod forced her to act defensively against his domestic opponents. Marcus Antonius made Cleopatra in 36 BC To the owner of the fertile palm and balsam groves of Jericho, and Herod had to lease them from her. The Nabataean king Malichus I was in the same situation; the relationship between him and Herod was additionally strained, since he had not supported Herod in his escape from the Parthians at the time. Because of a conflict over the lease payment, it came in 32 BC. About the war between Herod and Malichus. In Hauran several battles took place. In the late summer of 31 Herod achieved the decisive victory at Philadelphia ( Amman ). Flavius ​​Josephus suggests that Cleopatra pushed Herod into the war against Malichus, which is partly accepted by scholars and partly rejected as a downright suicidal weakening of one's own position in the conflict with Octavian.

Entrance of the stadium of Nikopolis . "Active" competitions were introduced here to commemorate the victory at Actium. Herod contributed financially to the construction of this "city of victory" and founded "isactic" games in Jerusalem based on its model

After his patron Mark Antony was defeated in the battle of Actium , Herod transferred his loyalty to the victor Octavian. Josephus described it as follows: Herod failed to support Mark Antony with ships and soldiers, and after the battle asked Octavian to apologize for not helping his patron in an appropriate manner. Octavian was happy to forgive him for this mistake. The episode is often viewed as an invention of Josephus, but it is plausible in itself.

Years of stable government (30-12 BC)

Hippodrome with sea view in Caesarea Maritima (2014)

Partial reconstruction of the caldarium of the thermal baths in Herodium (Israel Museum, 2018)

Cold bath room with opus reticulatum in one of the Herodian palaces of Jericho (2011). This typical Roman wall facing was initially largely limited to Italy, but encountered oriental clientele kings in some building projects during the Principate.

Landscape fresco from the royal box in the Theater of Herodium (Israel Museum, 2018)

In the year 30 BC BC Octavian confirmed Herod on Rhodes as King of Judea - "regardless of the role he had played in Antony's system of rule", and included him in his amicitia . In addition, after a kind of probationary period, he got additional areas to his domain.

For the Hasmoneans at Herod's court it was immediately noticeable that they had been under the protection of Cleopatra and that after the agreement with Octavian, Herod no longer had to be considerate. He needed the children from this marriage to settle his succession, but he no longer needed his mother-in-law and his wife: 29 BC. BC Herod had Mariamne executed, and Alexandra a year later. At 23/22 BC BC gave Augustus Herod the right to name a successor. The choice fell on the princes Alexander and Aristobulus; they were carefully brought up and spent five years in Rome until Herod brought them back to Judea on his way back to Rome. Appropriate marriages were now arranged for the two of them. It soon became apparent that the two princes were cultivating their Hasmonean identity more strongly than expected and that the Idumaean group at the court of Herod's sister Salome mistrusted everything Hasmonean deeply. But by the time the brothers were sentenced and executed (7 BC), the two were well integrated into Herod's system of government and strengthened his fragile legitimacy.

Herod honored his Roman patrons by naming building projects after them (Caesarea, Sebaste, Agrippeion, Antonia, Julias). In Jerusalem, his capital, he showed himself to be a benefactor in Roman style by building a new theater and amphitheater (27 BC) and establishing the “isactic” games: athletic, musical and dramatic competitions as well as horse races. Animal baiting were demonstrated; Visitors to the city were impressed, but the population (according to Josephus) rejected these projects because they were against tradition.

Herod had the Jewish temple rebuilt in Jerusalem. A generous esplanade created space not only for the actual temple house with the inner temple courtyards, but also for the outer forecourt with the surrounding columned halls.

After the sabbatical year 29/28, in which agriculture was suspended, a severe drought year 28/27 followed. Hunger and disease were rampant. Herod used his private fortune and even had his art treasures melted down to buy grain for the people of Egypt. Thanks to good relations with Publius Petronius , the prefect of Egypt, he was given preferential treatment among prospective buyers. Herod organized the distribution of the grain in an exemplary manner. He was able to book the entire campaign for himself as a propagandist; At the same time, even in this emergency, he was able to fulfill his duties as a friend of Rome and provided a contingent of 500 elite soldiers from his bodyguard for the campaign of Aelius Gallus in southern Arabia. The next sabbatical year 22/21 was again followed by a bad harvest; this time Herod lowered the taxes for all residents of his kingdom by a third.

In 22 BC The expansion of the city of Caesarea Maritima and its port , located by the sea, began . The urban planning concept is interesting for the policy with which Herod tried to integrate the different population groups of his empire. Caesarea's inhabitants were half Jewish and half non-Jewish, but Herod's building project resulted in a clearly Roman city: the visitors arriving by ship were the first to see the elevated temple of the Roma and Augustus.

The year 15 BC BC brought a great political success for Herod: he managed to win Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa , the closest confidante of Augustus, on a tour of Judea during his trip to the Orient. He was able to demonstrate his new city buildings in Roman style, his palace fortresses (the region was also militarily secured) and the magnificently developed metropolis of Jerusalem. The population cheered the Roman guest; this, the co-emperor, had sacrifices made in his name to the god YHWH in the temple and thereby enhanced the value of the Jewish religion in the Roman Empire. On a trial basis, the excavator Ehud Netzer associated the small theater of Herodium with Agrippa's visit. It had a royal box, "a structural unique in the Greco-Roman theater building." The walls are painted in the 2nd Pompeian style . A number of illusionistic window imitations that provide views of a Nile landscape are unique in this region.

Herod built a reputation for himself in the eastern Mediterranean as an enthusiastic and extremely generous Philhellene . He supported the financially troubled Olympic Games and thus secured their future. On his trip to Rome in 12 BC. As a thank you for this, he was probably given the honor of leading the 50th Olympiad, which should have earned him great prestige in the Greek world. Another emblematic place, Athens, received benefits from Herod. After Josephus, he donated consecration offerings. The bases of two Herod statues erected in Athens have been preserved; one inscription praises him as a friend of the Romans, the other as a friend of the emperor. It was assumed that Herod also had the temple of the Roma and Augustus built on the site of the Acropolis. In Seia (Sīʿ) near Qanawat there was a statue of Herod in the temple of Baal Shamim. Three fragments of Herod's foundation inscription were found on the island of Syros ; but this inscription may come from the island of Delos . In Berytos , according to an inscription, Herod Agrippa II and Berenike restored something "that their great-grandfather Herod had built."

Crisis government years (12–4 BC)

The crisis-ridden final phase of government began when Herod suddenly made a change in the succession plan. Around 14/13 BC He brought his first wife Doris back to court and took measures to compensate for the neglected upbringing of his eldest son Antipater. This was now also sent to Rome. There was considerable tension at court, as Herod had reached an old age for the time and the courtiers were sounding out whether they should join one of the circles of friends of the two Mariamne sons. When Herod brought a new applicant for the crown to court, the situation got out of hand. "With Josephus, the exact process reads hardly any different from a staged family soap from Hollywood or as an absurd theater." Antipatros soon had his own circle of friends, which he used to denounce the two Mariamne sons to Herod - he himself held back . The latter, in turn, openly claimed that their Hasmonean origins legitimized them to rule, and announced that they would degrade the king's non-Hasmonean wives and their descendants to weavers and village clerks in the future. This brought the "Idumeans" around Salome and the suddenly newly formed circle around Antipater closer together, although it remains vague who supported Antipater, possibly parts of the Jerusalem upper class from which his mother came.

In the year 12 BC BC Herod reported the two princes from his marriage to Mariamne for attempted poisoning before the emperor. He drove both of them to Aquileia , where the trial was to take place; but Augustus insisted that the three be reconciled. Herod arranged his succession in such a way that both Alexandros and Aristobulus were raised to royal rank, but Antipater should be superior to them. Augustus confirmed that Herod had the right to arrange his succession in this way.

Typical of a client king, Herod strengthened his relationship with the emperor through large, formally voluntary gifts of money, which in turn rewarded him with privileges. So he gave Augustus 300 talents (7.5 million sesterces ) in gratitude for the reconciliation he brokered with his sons. In return, Augustus ceded half of the income from the copper mines of Cyprus to him, which made it easier for Herod to mint his own coins (client kings were not allowed to mint gold and silver coins).

At the end of his reign, Herod temporarily lost the position of trust with Augustus, which he had been able to maintain for a long time. The background was a resurgence of the old conflict with the Nabataeans from around 14 BC. Herod snubbed the Nabatean chancellor Syllaios, who wished to marry Herod's sister Salome, by making his conversion to Judaism a condition. Syllaios then supported rebellion movements in trachonitis with his own mercenaries , and Herod attacked there 9 BC. BC militarily. Thereupon Syllaios sued Herod at the emperor. Herod's court chronicler Nikolaos of Damascus was able to refute the allegations in Rome, and Augustus sentenced Syllaios to death. In the same year 9 BC BC Aretas IV . Had taken over the throne in Petra without first being confirmed by the emperor. Augustus then considered adding the Nabatean Empire to Herod's territory. In view of the age of Herod and the imponderables of his successor, he decided against it.

After a suspicion launched by Antipater, Herod charged the sons of Mariamne with high treason . Augustus gave him permission to take legal action against his sons, that is, he had the power to save them, but failed to do so. The trial took place 7 BC. In Berytos ( Beirut ) before a Roman court. It was a kind of show trial that was not about the guilty verdict but about the sentence - Herod was unsure of that. But in view of the troubled emotions in the empire and at his court, neither imprisonment nor exile was an option. The brothers were strangled in Sebaste and then buried in Alexandreion. According to Josephus, the death sentence for the prince was the result of court intrigue. It was obvious that they hated their father for the execution of their mother. But for Herod there may also have been a power-political reason for having the brothers executed: the likelihood that there would be a fight between the two for the succession to the throne and thus a civil war after Herod's death. In any case, Herod then presented himself as a loving grandfather who wanted to take care of the upbringing and marriage of the orphans. Antipater got through that Alexander and Tigranes, the two sons of Alexander, were removed from the Jerusalem court and deported to Cappadocia, from where their mother Glaphyra came. There they both later made careers.

The succession was changed so that Antipater should become the sole heir to the throne. As his heir he classified his 15-year-old son Philip from his marriage to Mariamne II. Obviously, the choice fell on him because he came from a high priestly, but not Hasmonean family. But in the year 6 BC After further court intrigues, Herod divorced Mariamne II and deposed her father as high priest; thus Antipater remained as the sole heir to the throne. His flaw, however, was that he was not of noble origin and was born before Herod's rise to power. In addition, his circle of friends, which he had cleverly used to denounce his two half-brothers, now brought him into a latent opposition to the king himself. Shortly afterwards, Antipater was brought to justice for high treason. The guilty verdict first had to be approved by the Roman emperor. Even then Herod was marked by a serious illness. Emperor Augustus approved the death penalty for Antipater, which was carried out in prison a few days before the death of his father (4 BC).

Herod's Last Measures and Death

The new succession arrangement divided the kingdom between two sons, whom Herod had with the Samaritan Malthake, and a son whose mother was Jerusalem. Herod Archelaus to reign as King over the entire kingdom of Herod, while Herod Antipas as tetrarch over Galilee and Perea and Philip the Tetrarch as Tetrarch over Gaulanitis ( Golan ), Trachonitis , Batanaea and Panias should prevail. According to Samuel Rocca, these inheritance rules show that Herod was spiritually confused at the end of his life: he valued Herod Antipas as much as he hated the other two heirs. While for Herod Philippos at least the fact that his mother came from the upper class of Jerusalem, which part of the population would welcome, there is no reason to prefer Herod Archelaus in the rule of law.

Already terminally ill, Herod found out that some young people were publicly chopping off a golden eagle above the "great gate" of the temple, as it was a violation of the ban on images and a symbol of Rome. Behind the action stood Judas and Matthias, two Pharisaic teachers. The eagle had been at this point for over a decade, was an ambiguous symbol in this region and time, and had not previously bothered. This showed a deep dissatisfaction with the government of Herod, whose control increasingly slipped in the last months of his life. The temple police arrested the perpetrators. Herod regained strength enough to sue her as a temple molester in front of Jewish notables in Jericho and recalled himself as the builder of the temple. The death penalty for the provocateurs was then a matter of course. No matter how the golden eagle was meant when it was affixed, in this conflict it was a symbol of Roman rule.

After these events in February / March of the year 4 BC Herod's health deteriorated more and more. His sufferings were described in detail by Josephus, but since the painful end of villains is a topos , Herod's real illness can only be guessed at: diabetes, colon cancer or terminal liver cirrhosis with simultaneous arteriosclerosis . Shortly before his death, according to Josephus' report, Herod had the most respected Jewish men from all over the country locked up in the hippodrome of Jericho. He continued:

“I know that my death will be a celebration of joy for the Jews. But I have the power ... to receive a splendid funeral service. ... Soldiers should surround those arrested men and kill them at the moment of my death, so that every family in Judea weep for me against their will! "

- Flavius ​​Josephus : Jewish War 1,659f.

However, Herod's sister Salome and her husband Alexas disobeyed the order and released the men. According to Ernst Baltrusch, this text can be interpreted in two ways:

• The imprisonment of the elite could have been meant as a hostage-taking in order to prevent serious unrest after the news of his death became known (as was the case with Walter Otto, who saw it as “proof of his great governance”, which Salome had thwarted).
• History can symbolize Herod's failure to be recognized as king by his Jewish subjects.

Herod had not achieved complete, but very extensive, autonomy within the empire during his reign. However, he did not succeed in stabilizing conditions in Judea with a succession plan after his death. Despite all the conspiracies and murders in Herod's last years, which were motivated by the struggle for the succession - not Herod himself, but Augustus had it. Probably because the grandchildren were very young, the emperor divided Herod's kingdom into three parts. Herod Archelaus, the heir named in the will, was granted the rule of the heartland (Judea, Samaria, Idumea) on probation, but withdrawn after failure.

Herod's tomb

Restored sarcophagus from the grave attributed to Herod by Netzer ( Israel Museum , 2016)

Flavius ​​Josephus wrote that Herod had the palace fortress Herodium built as his burial place and, in fact, after he died in Jericho, he was brought in procession to Herodium and buried there. Since he named the palace complex after himself, it is widely believed that Herod wanted to be buried here.

Ehud Netzer stated that after a long search he had located Herod's tomb in Herodium, about twelve kilometers south of Jerusalem in the West Bank . Netzer's team followed the hypothesis that the palace fortress on the summit of the conical mountain ( Upper Herodium ) was out of the question as a burial place, since the Jewish religion provides for a clear separation between graves and the living area of ​​the living. All the more so since no trace of a grave was ever found on the summit. Therefore the search for the grave in the palace and administrative wing at the foot of the hill ( Lower Herodium ) was unsuccessful and the focus was finally on the area of ​​a monumental staircase, already mentioned by Josephus, which connected the upper and lower palace. A vaulted passage that was discovered in this area halfway up the slope could not be identified at first. In April 2007, the team found fragments of an intricately crafted sarcophagus made of reddish limestone nearby. Underneath, they exposed a square podium that Netzer identified as the base of Herod's tomb. On April 10, 2007, this find was announced to the media.

In October 2013, archaeologists Joseph Patrich and Benjamin Arubas questioned whether the resting place was identified as Herod's tomb. According to Patrich and Arubas, among other things, the comparatively small resting place does not fit the monumental style of the ruler. Roi Porat, who had taken over the management of the excavation after Netzer's death, rejected the arguments as unfounded. Patrich and Arubas have since elaborated their criticism of the interpretation as Herod's tomb.

From February 2013 to January 2014, a special exhibition entitled “Herod the Great - The King's Last Journey” was on view at the Israel Museum, Jerusalem. It was also dedicated to Ehud Netzer's life's work. His excavations in Herodium and the sarcophagus found there had a prominent place. Criticism was sparked by the fact that a large part of the exhibits came from archaeological sites in the Palestinian Territories . A spokesman for the Israel Museum said that the objects are only on loan and will be returned to the excavation sites a few months after the end of the special exhibition. In 2020 the sarcophagus is apparently still in the Israel Museum.

The kingdom of Herod

Court keeping

We are informed in great detail about the court of Herod from Flavius ​​Josephus. Herod was able to use the various palace fortresses that he had built as a kind of palatinate, but mostly he resided in his later reigns in the Jerusalem royal palace. The extensive complex was located in the area of ​​today's Armenian Quarter of the old town ; archaeologically it is little known. Ehud Netzer assumes that the palace was an architectural counterweight to the temple in the cityscape of Jerusalem.

The “inner courtyard” was formed by people who were constantly present here: the relatives, the “friends”, the service staff. The “outer court” included those people who briefly called in at the palace, such as envoys, officers and officials. Unlike at the courts of the Ptolemies and Seleucids , there does not appear to have been any graded ranks of courtiers; the ruler drew people near him at will and removed them again from this privileged position. So everyone was constantly competing for his favor. Herod saw with suspicion that circles of friends were forming around his sons, whose loyalty was then only indirectly - or not at all - to him. At the funeral procession of Herod, his court made a solemn appearance, with the military dominating in view of the uncertain situation:

“The king's sons and the great multitude of his relatives surrounded the cot, and were joined by the soldiers, according to the following order. First the bodyguard walked along, then followed one after the other by the Thracians, Teutons and Gauls, ... and this was followed by the remaining warriors with their leaders and captains, as if prepared for battle. At the end were five hundred servants who carried spices. "

- Flavius ​​Josephus : Jewish antiquities 17,196ff. (Translator Clementz)

Herod was married to ten women, sometimes at the same time. Polygamy was not forbidden in either biblical or rabbinical texts; nevertheless Herod is the only known Jew of the Hellenistic and Roman times who lived polygamous. Eleven sons are known by name, eight of whom Herod temporarily considered as successors. Daughters played no important role at Herod's court. (An overview of all marriages, children and further descendants is provided in the Herodian article .)

Herod came from a large family, and some of his Idumaean relatives held powerful positions at court:

• his uncle Joseph (executed in 34 BC);
• his brother Pheroras, who was temporarily regarded as an heir but was then sent to Perea as governor ;
• his sister Salome , who was particularly close to Herod, first married to Joseph, second to Kostobaros , the governor of Idumea, and third to Hilkiah, one of Herod's most influential advisers;
• Achiab, the son of Joseph or nephew of Herod, was in command of the palace guards.

In addition to this Idumaean group at court (around Herod's sister Salome) there was a Hasmonean group (around the mother-in-law Alexandra, the wife Mariamne and their children), a Nabataean (Herod's mother was a Nabataean) and representatives of Rome in various functions. Because of the ruler's ten marriages, the kinship was numerous. The Jewish religion restricted the possibilities of marrying women off to foreign royal courts. This, for example, results in the active role of Salome at the court of her brother Herod. Herod only exceptionally removed relatives from the court who were unpopular because he could control them more effectively in his vicinity. Herod was given the task of mediating between the mutually intriguing groups.

Herod's most important (unrelated) advisers are known by name, Ptolemy and Sappinos; The scholar Nikolaos of Damascus was also one of the king's “friends” . "Friends" could be used flexibly at Hellenistic courts, for example as prince educators or financial administrators. The trial against Mariamne is significant, in which Herod appeared before a small committee of “friends” as his wife's accuser; they sensed what he wanted and pronounced the death sentence. Then the procedure for enforcement was discussed together.

Network of the clientele kings

Herod is suitable as a case study of a “Hellenistic” client king during the principate. Because of the completely preserved historical work of Josephus, the sources here are very favorable. He was in contact with other client kings: people visited each other and increased their prestige by donating buildings in the cities of kings who were friends. Marriage relationships strengthened mutual ties. An information network of regional princes emerged here, who at the same time competed with one another for the favor of Rome. Occasionally friendly princes intervened in the conflicts at the Jerusalem court. Archelaus of Cappadocia, the father-in-law of the son of Herodes Alexander, had a particularly good relationship with Herod and was therefore able to mediate in the dispute between father and son. In contrast, the actions of Eurykles of Sparta at the Jerusalem court (according to Josephus) exacerbated the conflict. He was friends with both Mariamne sons and at the same time with their older half-brother Antipatros, played them off against each other and in doing so also received the benevolence of Herod, who trusted him.

military

Among the major construction projects of Herod are several palace fortresses that served to protect the ruler, his family and entourage. Since revolts were more likely to occur among the urban than the rural population, Herod's palace in Jerusalem was fortified. Other palace fortresses existed both in strategically favorable places ( Herodium ) and as secluded refuges ( Masada ). Such buildings were designed so that you could survive a siege for a certain time until help from outside, from your own or the Roman army, arrived.

Smaller and less luxurious were the fortresses distributed over the entire area of ​​the empire, which served as the official seat of the regional strategos and in some cases also the civil administration. One such small four-tower complex (tetrapyrgion) is the archaeological site Horvath ʿEleq in the Ramat haNadiv nature park. Herod had small fortresses built in strategically favorable locations, preferably along the borders, including on the coast. The garrison quarters were located around an inner courtyard; A tower was included in the outer wall, reinforced by a stone glacis (example: Rujum el-Hamiri archaeological site southeast of Hebron). The border fortresses are also known as the “Herodian Limes ” and are interpreted accordingly.

Military colonies were of great strategic importance to Herod. This enabled contingents of loyal soldiers to intervene quickly in the event of a flare-up. The king preferred to settle here Idumeans, members of his own ethnic group. Idumeans usually fought as light infantry. A special feature was the Bathyra colony, which consisted of Jews from the Babylonian diaspora under their leader Zamaris. As far as is known, these military colonies followed a Seleucid rather than a Roman pattern.

Herod's coins depict warships; this only makes sense if Herod owned a fleet. The anchors on his coins symbolized the rule of the sea. Sebastos, the artificial harbor of Caesarea Maritima, was suitable for military use with its fortifications and its lighthouse. The war fleet secured the coast from piracy and was able to carry out Roman naval expeditions, e.g. B. into the Black Sea .

Economic policy

The country that Herod ruled was dominated by agriculture, with the main focuses common in the eastern Mediterranean: agriculture (grain, oil, wine) and cattle breeding (mainly sheep and goats). Pigeon breeding was particularly widespread in the Jerusalem area. As in neighboring countries, slaves played a relatively minor role in agriculture. Aside from the textile industry and pottery, there were other branches of trade: purple dyeing and glass blowing as well as the stone cutting trade.

Royal estates were located in particularly fertile areas and were managed by tenants. The royal date palm and balsam plantations in the Jericho and En Gedi area were particularly profitable . Herod was involved in the extraction of bitumen on the Dead Sea .

At the beginning of Herod's reign, the country was drained by civil war and the population suffered from high taxes. The building program that Herod put in place in many places and other socio-political measures brought about an improvement. During the reign of Herod there was an economic boom, as Judea increasingly participated in long-distance trade, preferably with Roman provinces (Asia, Syria) - a pattern that can already be seen in the Hasmonean period. Trade with Italy was added. Herod was engaged in the spice trade, which was highly profitable; in addition, the balsam came as a Judean luxury good. The court of Herod and Judean elites imported wine from Italy in return.

How well the income from his crown goods and the taxes, customs and port dues (especially in the newly built port of Caesarea Maritima) filled Herod's coffers, and how well they were in relation to the considerable expenditures from building projects and acts of royal charity, is not in retrospect assessable. It is assumed, however, that the expenditure clearly exceeded the income.

Religious politics

Boulevard along the western wall of the Tempelesplanade. The stone layers of the Herodian wall with the approach of the Robinson arch (right) have been preserved, on the opposite side of the street the pillar house and the associated staircase with shops. (Jerusalem Archaeological Park, 2007)

From this perspective, one recognizes the approach of the Robinson Arch, which was part of a monumental staircase, with which the visitors came from the city to the level of the temple planade. (2006)

From the Roman point of view, what raised Herod from the crowd of client kings was his expertise in Judaism, because this religion was represented as a diaspora throughout the empire. In the middle, stable phase, Herod (from the Roman point of view) seemed to be accepted by the Jewish subjects in his multi-religious empire. That recommended him as an expert in the settlement of Jewish-Greek conflicts in many cities of the empire.

High priesthood

Herod intended in his early years as ruler a family connection with the Hasmoneans. Therefore he married the first Mariamne. As a result, Mariamne's brother Aristobulus came into consideration as an heir. 36 BC Herod installed his brother-in-law as high priest - this may have been part of the marriage agreement with the bride's family. "Appointing a Hasmonean as high priest was an act full of political symbolism ... The only possible reason for such a dangerous maneuver was to build Aristobulus as an heir." The 17-year-old officiated at the Feast of Tabernacles and was cheered by the people. Shortly afterwards he died in a swimming accident in Jericho. Josephus “knows” that Herod drowned the young Hasmonean. Research has largely followed him: Aristobulus seemed too dangerous as a competitor, and the chosen murder method left a residual ambiguity. But here it can be asked critically whether a real swimming accident was not used by Herod's political opponents for propaganda purposes. Because from Herod's perspective, it was nonsensical to upgrade Aristobulus first and then to eliminate it immediately.

Herod then appointed and dismissed high priests as he pleased, whom he selected from a few particularly qualified families. With the Antonia Castle he controlled the events on the temple square, and here he also had the robes in safekeeping, without which the high priest could not officiate. As a result, the high priesthood, which had been a priestly kingdom under the last Hasmoneans, became less important. Herod also made an attempt to get in touch with this office personally and thus to strengthen his legitimacy: Soon after 29 BC. He married a woman from a Jerusalem priestly family ( Mariamne II, in contrast to the Hasmonean Mariamne) and made her father Simon high priest. Josephus indicates that Simon descended from the oniads , who had set the high priests in the early Hellenistic period before they were ousted by the Hasmoneans. This marriage remained stable away from court intrigues until the last years of government; because of the political activities of her brothers, Mariamne II was born in 6 BC. And deposed Simon.

Temple construction

→ Main article : Herodian Temple

Around 20 BC Construction work began on the Jerusalem temple, which dates from the Persian era and was renovated in the Hellenistic era. Against the background of the religious restoration program that Augustus initiated after the ravages of the civil war, Herod justified his building project in a comparable way as an act of piety and restoration of the old. The temple was built around 10 BC. Inaugurated, although the construction work was not finished, but continued until Herod's death and beyond. With this temple, Herod had succeeded in creating a building "that was not only religious but also simply beautiful and therefore also appealed to non-Jews."

Various factors worked together, so that the Jewish population of the entire Mediterranean area aligned itself with this temple in a way that had not been possible before: in the eastern Mediterranean area, in principle, relatively safe conditions were established, long-distance travel and pilgrimages were made easier. One of the interventions with which Herod was successful on behalf of the Jewish diaspora was the permission to send money ( temple taxes and donations) to Jerusalem. The new temple was architecturally suitable for large streams of visitors, and the Jerusalem population adjusted to these pilgrims: as lodging providers, street vendors, craftsmen. Products from Jerusalem and the surrounding area, particularly a certain type of oil lamp and stone-cut vessels, were apparently often bought as a souvenir of a pilgrimage. "One should ... not forget that although his temple was flourishing, one never heard of its theater, amphitheater or its" isactic "games." ( Seth Schwartz )

With the construction of the temple, Herod was able to present himself to his Jewish subjects as the new King Solomon ; that he wanted to place himself in the tradition of the first kings of Israel can also be seen from the fact that he had a funerary monument built for King David . (Josephus, who was not well disposed to him, claimed that Herod had previously plundered the tombs of David and Solomon and removed golden objects from them, which is not credible: that wicked kings plunder tombs is a literary topos; that it was in the time of Herod gave royal tombs with gold inventory in Jerusalem is historically unlikely.)

Shrines in Idumea

There is a consensus in research to address the neighboring Abrahamic shrines of Hebron ( Machpela ) and Mamre in Idumea as buildings of Herod, although Josephus does not mention them. The following reasons are given for his silence:

• the readership of Josephus and especially of Nikolaos of Damascus, whose work Josephus based on the time of Herod, was interested in building projects with a Greco-Roman reference (this also included the well-known Jerusalem Temple), and not in places of biblical tradition;
• the buildings do not match the image of Herod that Josephus wanted to convey: apart from the temple, Herod only built for non-Jews and not for Jews (according to his criticism in the Jewish Antiquities 19,329).

It is obvious that Herod strengthened the loyalty of the Idumeans with the building projects in Hebron and Mamre, because his government relied heavily on this, his own ethnic group. It is possible that the two shrines of Abraham were also intended as common holy places for Judeans and Idumeans. According to archaeological findings, however, victims took place in Mamre, which is not compatible with the centralization of Jerusalem's cults. Achim Lichtenberger suspects: “A Semitic religion - that of the Idumeans - which was closely related to the Jewish one in pre-Hellenistic times and was Judaized in the Hasmonean period and yet retained a certain independence, seems to have worshiped places comparable to the Jews. It is difficult to decide whether to refer to this group as 'Jews', 'Idumeans', or 'Gentiles'; the transitions are obviously fluid. ”In doing so, Lichtenberger does not specify whether Herod himself practiced, wanted to promote or simply allowed the cult in Mamre, which deviated significantly from Jerusalem, to do so.

Also Monika Bernett believes that Herod had built shrines in Hebron and Mamre representative. In doing so, just like when building the temple in Jerusalem, he tried to “demonstrate his Judaism”. Promoting an Idumean form of Judaism would have been "even more scandalous than Herod's foundations of imperial cults, because Herod would have negated the ideological value of the Hasmonean conquest of Idumea" - Josephus would not have omitted this in his negative portrayal of Herod's government. It therefore summarizes the Jerusalem temple, Hebron and Mamre as a triple “public commitment to the Jewish cult” with which Herod wanted to balance his previous foundation of three temples for Roma and Augustus in Judea (Sebaste, Caesarea Maritima, Paneion).

Building policy

While Herod had emphasized continuities to the Hasmonean Empire in his first years of reign, he chose a new way of depicting power after confirmation by Augustus: “As a town builder, temple founder, builder of public and palatial architecture, he appears as an omnipotent ruler who has infinite material and social resources in order to design space… “The Hasmoneans, on the other hand, had little presence as builders and had defined themselves through military success. That was obsolete in the context of the Pax Romana . As the author of the historical work on the government of Herod, Flavius ​​Josephus, in retrospect, effectively contrasted the crimes of Herod with their preferred locations, the magnificent buildings presented as benefits.

A selection of construction projects

	Surname	description	today's national territory
	Agrippias (old name: Anthedon)	Coastal town near Gaza (no excavations)	Palestinian Territories
	Alexandreion	Palace fortress	Palestinian Territories
	Antipatris (old name: Pegai)	The place existed from the Hellenistic period to late antiquity; the Herodian building activity mentioned by Josephus is perhaps still recognizable in the Kolonnadenstrasse	Israel
	Bathyra	Military colony to stabilize the northern border, localization uncertain (possibly the modern place Basir near Sanamein, about 60 km northeast of the Sea of ​​Galilee )	Syria
	Caesarea Maritima (old name: Stratonos Pyrgos)	Largest artificial harbor built on the open sea until then; Temple in honor of Augustus and Roma; Palace; Hippodrome; Theatre; Amphitheater; aqueduct	Israel
	Danaba	Military colony, today Dneibeh east of Ezraʿ	Syria
	Esebonitis	Fortress built by Herod and seat of the Tetrarch of Perea ; the description would fit Macharus rather than the archaeological site of Tall Ḥisbān .	Jordan
	Hebron	Shrine of Abraham with typical mirror blocks and wall structure with integrated pilasters; Due to the architecture, it can be safely assigned to Herod, although not mentioned by Josephus.	Palestinian Territories
	Herodium	Palace fortress ( Upper Herodium ) on a beg in the shape of a truncated cone, palace and administrative wing at its foot ( Lower Herodium ); Herod's tomb halfway up the slope as a round building ( tholos ) on a square podium	Palestinian Territories
	Hyrkania	Palace fortress	Palestinian Territories
	Jericho	Three palace complexes	Palestinian Territories
	Jerusalem	Palace complex, adjoining it three large towers, one of which is still partially preserved (part of the so-called David's Citadel ); Esplanade of the Temple Mount , on it the Herodian Temple with Antonia Castle . The theater and hippodrome, mentioned by Josephus, were probably outside the walls and so far could not be located.	Controversial status (annexed by Israel)
	Cypros	Palace fortress to protect Jericho	Palestinian Territories
	Mamre	Shrine of Abraham with typical mirror blocks and wall structure with integrated pilasters; Due to the architecture, it can be safely assigned to Herod, although not mentioned by Josephus. Possibly a Pagan-Biblical place of worship for an Idumaean target group.	Palestinian Territories
	Masada	Two palace complexes on the plateau of a table mountain	Israel
	Machaerus	Palace fortress	Jordan
	Paneion	Pan sanctuary by the Jordan springs, today banyas : Augustus temple	Golan Heights (occupied by Israel)
	Phasaelis	City, royal estate or palace (no excavations)	Palestinian Territories
	Sebaste (old name: Samaria )	New construction of the city with wall, aqueduct, forum, theater; Temple in honor of Augustus and Roma; Temple of the Kore	Palestinian Territories

Statues of Herod

Statues were set up for Herod during his lifetime, as is known from epigraphic tradition. He did not do without the ruling self-portrayal through round sculptures. Therefore, several ancient sculptures have been proposed as portraits of Herod without reaching a consensus here:

• Bearded colossal head from Memphis ( Museum of Fine Arts, Boston ) - unlikely as it is more of a ruler portrait from Ptolemaic Egypt;
• Bearded colossal head with corona laureata, found in Jerusalem in 1873 ( Hermitage, Saint Petersburg ) - unlikely, as stylistic features, especially the drilling of the eyes, point to the 2nd century AD;
• Torso of a colossal armored statue from the Augustus temple of Sebaste-Samaria ( Hebrew University of Jerusalem );
• Beardless portrait head of an oriental clientele (with tiara) from Byblos ( National Museum Beirut );
• Torso of an honorary statue from Caesarea Maritima (Museum of Sdot Yam ).

Impact history

New Testament

The Gospel of Luke only mentions Herod briefly in his capacity as king ( Lk 1.5  EU ). According to Luke, the parents of Jesus are said to have been in Bethlehem on the basis of a census ( Lk 2  EU ). A census only took place after Herod's death.

Herod is described in the Gospel of Matthew ( Mt 2.1  EU ) as the King of Judea who feared for his own reign because of the visit of the magicians and their question about the birth of the "King of the Jews" (i.e. Jesus ) and finally the Ordered the murder of all boys up to the age of two in Bethlehem ( Mt 2.16  EU ). “Our story is a short and matter-of- fact legend that does not ask about the laws of historical probability. This is shown by the desperate questions posed by the interpreters: Why didn't Herod at least give the magicians a spy? ”( Ulrich Luz ) The story is unhistorical, says Klaus Bringmann , but it is instructive for the image that the population made of Herod: a Despot without legitimation, who held on to power through maximum cruelty.

Flavius ​​Josephus

Flavius ​​Josephus gives the reign of Herod a lot of space both in his work Jüdischer Krieg and in the later major work, Jewish Antiquities . Although Herod's image of antiquity is more negative than that in the Jewish War , the basic message is the same: Herod was successful in his foreign policy (his military undertakings, good relations with Rome and the building projects), but he failed in his domestic policy, namely relationships with his Jewish subjects, dealing with Jewish opposition and losing control over one's own family.

While Josephus described Herod's building projects almost enthusiastically during the Jewish War , he achieved a more negative image of them in antiquity by placing them in a specific context: Herod built in such a way to protect himself from his own subjects; the founding of the city of Caesarea Maritima, for example, is "a citadel against the whole (Jewish) people"; the magnificent buildings were connected with the introduction of Pagan cults and were bought at a high price with the suffering of the population.

In much of the josephischen Geschichtswerkstatt Herod is presented to the reader as complex personality, the author especially in the Jewish antiquities repeatedly scatters clues to the real tyrannical character of the king, who then effectively increases at its end of life: rabid, bitter and cruel leaves the king took the stage, knowing that the Jewish people despised him.

literature

Mariamne Leaving Herod's Judgment Seat ( John William Waterhouse , 1887)

In late antique and medieval adaptations of the childhood story of Jesus, Herod played the role of the villain and thus contrasted with the positive characters Joachim and Anna, but above all the Holy Family . Since Eusebius of Caesarea and John Chrysostom it has been emphasized how divine justice punished Herod through personal misfortunes. Petrus Comestor reintroduced the motif that child murder also required the killing of one of his own sons.

In the literary reception of the Herod figure, the work of Flavius ​​Josephus could always be used, which has been widely read as a kind of manual for the Bible since late antiquity. Examples of this reception are Hans Sachs , Tragedia… the angry king Herod, how he killed his three sons and his gmahel (1552) and Friedrich Hebbel's tragedy Herodes and Mariamne (1858).

Herod was also used several times by authors as an alias for Adolf Hitler , for example by Jean-Paul Sartre in Bariona (1940) and Michel Tournier in Le Roi des aulnes (1970), German: Der Erlkönig .

music

Several oratorios give space to the figure of Herod, e.g. B. Herod the Child Murderer (anonymous, Nuremberg 1675) and Heinrich Schütz 's Christmas story (Dresden 1664) in the 6th Intermedium. Johann Sebastian Bach left out the child murder at Bethlehem in the Christmas Oratorio (Leipzig 1734), but Herod appears singing in the cantata for Epiphany (Christmas Oratorio VI), commented on by the recitative: "You wrong one, just seek to cut down the Lord!" Hector Berlioz ' Trilogy L'enfance du Christ (1854) contains a solo aria depicting Herod as a neurotic tyrant.

Research history

Walter Otto presented the first biography of Herod with a scientific claim in 1913 as part of the Realencyclopadie der classical antiquity . The extensive monograph by Abraham Schalit (1969) is considered the standard work because of its wealth of material; the theses advocated by Schalit are often outdated. The title says it all : The man and his work . Shalit made a distinction between Herod's personality and his achievements; he paid tribute to the latter. This “realpolitical” approach to Herod was sharply criticized by Israeli historians as Machiavellian after the publication of the somewhat shorter Hebrew first edition in 1960 . In a detailed reply to Schalit, Solomon Zeitlin emphasized that Herod was a malicious insane and not a realpolitician. Nonetheless, Schalit was awarded the Israel Prize for this major work in 1960 .

Parallel to the reception of his great biography of Herod, archaeological research into Herodian buildings began in Israel and areas administered by Israel from the 1960s, in particular by Ehud Netzer . Three archaeological sites (Caesarea Maritima, Masada and Herodium) are Israeli national parks . The fact that research has increasingly turned to Herod's buildings corresponds to “today's needs for visual communication of meaningful spatial configurations,” says Lukas Bormann . With the help of his impressive buildings, it is possible to perceive Herod in modern Israel as a "historical figure who creates identity": as a Jewish king.

The study of the biography of Herod has recently followed various approaches. The historian Aryeh Kasher, King Herod: A Persecuted Persecutor (2007), evaluated in collaboration with the psychiatrist Eliezer Witztum the writings of Josephus for a psychiatric diagnosis of Herod had a paranoid personality disorder had that to be paranoid ( delusional disorder persecutory type ) expanded. Due to this approach, Kasher comes to completely different interpretations of Herod's behavior than historians, who see the king in the field of tension between different role expectations, for example as "King of the Jews and friend of the Romans" (for example Peter Richardson 1996). Kasher understands his biography of Herod as an alternative to Schalit's work, with which he draws on the negative image of Herod in the older Jewish historiography ( Heinrich Graetz , Joseph Klausner ); this is firmly established in a 2000-year-old collective Jewish self.

As the interdisciplinary Herod conference in Bochum made clear in 2006, Herod is mainly interpreted in German-language research as a Jewish king who, however, had to play a multitude of roles in his political activities in the Hellenistic-Roman world, for example as a founder of Euergetic cities . In his Herod monograph, Ernst Baltrusch presents the various identities of Herod as an Idumean, Roman, Jew, "Hellenist" and "family father". Baltrusch emphasizes that Herod not only ruled over Judea, but also over a multi-ethnic and multi-religious territory, and tried to do justice to it in various ways.

swell

• Otto Michel , Otto Bauernfeind (ed.): Flavius ​​Josephus: De bello Judaico. The Jewish War. Bilingual edition of the seven books . 3 volumes, Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 1959–1969 (critical edition with limited equipment)

literature

• Ernst Baltrusch : Herod. King in the Holy Land. 2nd edition, Beck, Munich 2020, ISBN 978-3-406-75318-3 . ( Scientific review of the first edition 2012).
• Ernst Baltrusch: Knowledge. Power. Rich. King Herod, the Jews of Asia Minor and Rome . In: Ernst Baltrusch, Julia Wilker (Ed.): Amici - socii - clientes? Dependent rule in the Imperium Romanum (= Berlin Studies of the Ancient World . Volume 31). Edition Topoi, Berlin 2015, pp. 67–90. ( PDF )
• Ferdinand Deanini: The court of Herod. About its structure and history . In: Historia , 57/3 (2008), pp. 274-297.
• Linda-Marie Günther (Ed.): Herodes and Rome. Steiner, Stuttgart 2007. ISBN 978-3-515-09012-4 .
• Linda-Marie Günther (Ed.): Herodes and Jerusalem. Steiner, Stuttgart 2009, ISBN 978-3-515-09260-9 .
• Linda-Marie Günther: Herod the Great. Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 2005, ISBN 3-534-15420-7 ( scientific review ).
• David M. Jacobson, Nikos Kokkinos (Ed.): Herod and Augustus. Papers Presented at the IJS Conference, 21st – 23rd June 2005 (= IJS Studies in Judaica. Volume 6). Brill, Leiden 2009, ISBN 978-90-04-16546-5 .
• Achim Lichtenberger : The building policy of Herod the Great (= treatises of the German Palestine Association . Volume 26). Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1999. ISBN 978-3-447-04147-8 .
• Ehud Netzer : The palaces of the Hasmoneans and Herod the great. Zabern, Mainz 1999, ISBN 3-8053-2011-6 .
• Ehud Netzer: The architecture of Herod, the great builder . Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen 2006. ISBN 978-3-16-148570-1 .
• Ehud Netzer, Yaakov Kalman, Roi Porath, Rachel Chachy-Laureys: Preliminary report on Herod's mausoleum and theater with a royal box at Herodium . In: Journal of Roman Archeology 23 (2010), pp. 84-108. ( PDF )
• Samuel Rocca: Herod's Judaea: A Mediterranean State in the Classical World . Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen 2008. ISBN 978-3-16-149717-9 .
• Abraham Schalit: Herod. The man and his work. 2nd Edition. De Gruyter, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-11-017036-1 . (Translation from Hebrew: Yehoshua Amir )
• Jan Willem van Henten: Herod the Great in Josephus . In: Honora Howell Chapman, Zuleika Rodgers (eds.): A Companion to Josephus . Wiley & Sons, Chichester 2016, ISBN 978-1-444-33533-0 , pp. 235-246.
• Florian Weber: Herod - King by the grace of Rome? Herod as a model of a Roman clientele in the late Republican and Augustan times. Logos, Berlin 2003, ISBN 3-8325-0308-0 ( scientific review ).
• Jürgen Zangenberg : Herod. King of Judea. Philipp von Zabern, Darmstadt 2016, ISBN 978-3-805-34950-5 .

Web links

Commons : Herod the Great  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Wikisource: Herod  - Sources and full texts

(Walter Otto: Herodes. Contributions to the history of the last Jewish royal family . Metzler, Stuttgart 1913)

• Literature by and about Herod in the catalog of the German National Library

Remarks

1. ^ Image from: Frederic William Madden : History of Jewish coinage and of money in the Old and New Testament . London 1864, p. 85.
2. ↑ Ernst Baltrusch: Herodes. King in the Holy Land , Munich 2020, p. 29. 34.
3. ↑ Greek-German dictionary on the writings of the New Testament and the early Christian literature by Walter Bauer . 6th, completely revised edition, ed. by Kurt Aland and Barbara Aland . Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 1988, Col. 706. Cf. Emil Schürer : History of the Jewish People in the Age of Jesus Christ , Part One: Introduction and Political History , Leipzig 1886, pp. 306f.
4. ↑ So z. B. on an honorary inscription on the island of Kos: "The people honored King Gaius Iulius Herod because of his performance and his benevolence towards him." ( IG XII 4, 2, 882 ); on the inscription David M. Jacobson: King Herod, Roman Citizen and Benefactor of Kos. In: Bulletin of the Anglo-Israel Archaeological Society. Volume 13, 1993-1994, pp. 31-35 ( online ).
5. ↑ So already Flavius ​​Josephus: Jüdische antiques 18,130. Walter Otto suspected "that ὁ μέγας is not supposed to refer to 'the great' here at all, but rather simply the elder in the Hebrew language". In: Ders .: Herod. Contributions to the history of the last Jewish royal family , Stuttgart 1913, column 150. Ernst Baltrusch, on the other hand, believes that Josephus assigns such an important role to Herod in his history that he actually sees him as “the great”. See Ernst Baltrusch: Herodes. King in the Holy Land , Munich 2020, p. 419 Note 1.
6. ↑ ^{a b} Ernst Baltrusch: Herodes. King in the Holy Land , Munich 2020, p. 52f. 328. Cf. Flavius ​​Josephus: Jüdischer Krieg 1.429f.
7. ↑ Ernst Baltrusch: Herodes. King in the Holy Land , Munich 2020, p. 21.45.
8. ↑ Ernst Baltrusch: Herodes. King in the Holy Land , Munich 2020, pp. 21.36.181f. Cf. Flavius ​​Josephus: Jewish antiquities 14.9. (Translator Clementz)
9. ↑ Abraham Shalit: King Herod, the man and his work . Walter de Gruyter, 2nd edition Berlin et al. 2001, p. 37f. Ernst Baltrusch: Herod. King in the Holy Land , Munich 2020, p. 44.
10. ↑ Ernst Baltrusch: Herodes. King in the Holy Land , Munich 2020, p. 39.
11. ↑ On the age of Herod cf. Nadav Sharon: Herod's Age When Appointed Strategos of Galilee: Scribal Error or Literary Motif? In: Biblica 95 (2014), pp. 49-63 ( online ). The age specification "15 years" is a literary motif that Josephus took from the work of Nikolaos of Damascus . The future king is presented as a kind of military prodigy, on the other hand Nikolaos with the (wrong) age stated a symbolic year of birth 63 BC. Created. It was the year that Pompey shocked the Jewish population by entering the Jerusalem Temple. At the same time it was the year of birth of Augustus (comparable in some respects to Herod).
12. ↑ Abraham Schalit: King Herodes, the man and his work , Berlin / New York 2001, p. 42. Cf. Flavius ​​Josephus: Jüdischer Krieg 1.204-209; Jewish Antiquities 14,159–167.
13. ↑ Abraham Schalit: King Herodes, the man and his work, Berlin / New York 2001, p. 43.
14. ↑ Ernst Baltrusch: Herodes. King in the Holy Land , Munich 2020, pp. 54–58.
15. ↑ Ernst Baltrusch: Herodes. King in the Holy Land , Munich 2020, pp. 63–67.
16. ↑ Ernst Baltrusch: Herodes. King in the Holy Land , Munich 2020, p. 275.
17. ↑ Ernst Baltrusch: Herodes. König im Heiligen Land , Munich 2020, p. 67. See David M. Jacobson: Three Roman Client Kings: Herod of Judaea, Archelaus of Cappadocia and Juba of Mauretania. In: Palestine Exploration Quarterly. Volume 133, 2001, pp. 22–38, here p. 24: Herod was one of a number of “handpicked” people with leadership qualities who raised Antony to kings and who were mostly confirmed by Octavian. ( online )
18. ↑ Ernst Baltrusch: Herodes. King in the Holy Land , Munich 2020, p. 69f. Cf. Ulrich Huebner: The coinage of Herod the Great (40 / 37-4 BC): Self-presentation and political reality . In: Anne Lykke (Ed.): Power of Money - Power of Images (= treatises of the German Palestine Association . Volume 42), Wiesbaden 2013, pp. 93-122, here pp. 97f. ( PDF )
19. ↑ Cf. Benedikt Eckhardt: Herodes und Rom 40 v. Chr. Chr. In: Linda-Marie Günther (Ed.): Herodes and Jerusalem , Stuttgart 2007, pp. 9-25. Eckhardt argues against the portrayal of Josephus for the fact that Herod did not intend to become king at this point in time.
20. ↑ Ernst Baltrusch: The right man at the right time in the right place. Herod from the perspective of the Roman emperors. In: World and Environment of the Bible 70 (2013), pp. 12–17, here p. 14.
21. ↑ Translation from: Abraham Schalit: King Herodes, the man and his work , Berlin / New York 2001, p. 146.
22. ↑ Ernst Baltrusch: Knowledge. Power. Rich. King Herod, the Jews of Asia Minor and Rome , Berlin 2015, p. 75.
23. ↑ Jan Willem van Henten: Herod the Great in Josephus , Chichester 2016, p. 236. Antigonus assessed him as a “half-Jew” (ἡμιιουδαῖος). Cf. Flavius ​​Josephus: Jüdische Antiquities 14,403: “... they would not act fairly if they let rule come to Herod, who is a private citizen and, as an Idumean, is only half a Jew, while the royal dignity according to the customs of the country is only granted to men from royal life Gender may fall. "(Translator Clementz)
24. ↑ Ernst Baltrusch: Knowledge. Power. Rich. King Herod, the Jews of Asia Minor and Rome , Berlin 2015, p. 76f. But see Monika Bernett: The imperial cult in Judea among the Herodians and Romans: Investigations into the political and religious history of Judea from 30 BC. to 66 AD , Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen 2007, pp. 95f., who suggests understanding the coin image as a pilos of a Dioscuri adorned with laurel and star and sees in it a reference to the mint of Sebaste-Samaria, where there is a cult of Kore, who was associated with the Dioscuri.
25. ↑ Ernst Baltrusch: Herodes. King in the Holy Land , Munich 2020, p. 88f.
26. ↑ Seth Schwartz: Judaism in antiquity. From Alexander to Mohammed . Reclam, Stuttgart 2016, pp. 89f. Although the two later fell out of favor and were executed, they had children and thus established ruling families of Roman client kings, some of whom had the rank of Roman senators.
27. ↑ Seth Schwartz : Judaism in antiquity. From Alexander to Mohammed . Reclam, Stuttgart 2016, p. 88. Cf. Flavius ​​Josephus: Jüdische Altertümer 14,479.
28. ↑ Ernst Baltrusch: Herodes. King in the Holy Land , Munich 2020, pp. 117–119.
29. ↑ Ernst Baltrusch: Herodes. King in the Holy Land , Munich 2020, p. 279f.
30. ↑ Klaus Bringmann: History of the Jews in antiquity. From the Babylonian exile to the Arab conquest . Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 2005, p. 182.
31. ↑ Flavius ​​Josephus: Jewish War 1,364f .; Jewish antiquities 15.108–111.
32. ↑ Abraham Schalit: King Herodes, the man and his work , Berlin / New York 2001, p. 122: “The wicked Cleopatra ... it was not right that Herod took an essential part in this war [against Octavian] and thus one afterwards could justifiably lay claim to thanks to Antonius for the help provided. "
33. ↑ Ernst Baltrusch: Herodes. King in the Holy Land , Munich 2020, p. 126.
34. ↑ Ernst Baltrusch: Herodes. King in the Holy Land , Munich 2020, pp. 141f.
35. ↑ Klaus Bringmann: History of the Jews in antiquity. From the Babylonian exile to the Arab conquest . Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 2005, p. 181.
36. ↑ Seth Schwartz: Judaism in antiquity. From Alexander to Mohammed . Reclam, Stuttgart 2016, p. 91. Cf. Flavius ​​Josephus: Jüdische Altertümer 15, 187–193.
37. ^ David M. Jacobson: Three Roman Client Kings: Herod of Judaea, Archelaus of Cappadocia and Juba of Mauretania. In: Palestine Exploration Quarterly. Volume 133, 2001, pp. 22-38, here p. 28. ( online )
38. ↑ Klaus Bringmann: History of the Jews in antiquity. From the Babylonian exile to the Arab conquest . Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 2005, p. 182.
39. ↑ Ernst Baltrusch: Herodes. King in the Holy Land , Munich 2020, p. 281.
40. ↑ Ernst Baltrusch: Herodes. King in the Holy Land , Munich 2020, p. 282f.
41. ↑ New name for the city of Samaria, from the Greek σεβαστός "sublime", corresponds to the Latin "Augustus".
42. ↑ Monika Bernett: The imperial cult in Judea under the Herodians and Romans: Investigations into the political and religious history of Judea from 30 BC. to 66 AD , Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen 2007. P. 65. Seth Schwartz: Were the Jews a Mediterranean Society? Reciprocity and Solidarity in Ancient Judaism . Princeton University Press, Princeton 2010, pp. 99f. Ernst Baltrusch: Herod. King in the Holy Land , Munich 2020, p. 139f. Cf. Flavius ​​Josephus: Jüdische Antiquities 15,267-279.
43. ↑ Abraham Shalit: King Herod, the man and his work . Walter de Gruyter, 2nd edition Berlin et al. 2001, p. 163.423. Ernst Baltrusch: Herod. King in the Holy Land , Munich 2020, p. 198f. Cf. Flavius ​​Josephus: Jüdische Antiquities 15, 299–317.
44. ↑ Ernst Baltrusch: Herodes. King in the Holy Land , Munich 2020, p. 198f.
45. ↑ Seth Schwartz: Judaism in antiquity. From Alexander to Mohammed . Reclam, Stuttgart 2016, p. 92.
46. ↑ Erich S. Gruen: The Construct of Identity in Hellenistic Judaism: Essays on Early Jewish Literature and History . Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / Boston 2016, p. 390. Ernst Baltrusch: Herodes. King in the Holy Land , Munich 2020, pp. 158–162.
47. ^ Monika Bernett: Rule and representation among the Herodians . In: Journal of the German Palestine Association 127/1 (2011), pp. 75-104, here p. 75.77 ( online ).
48. ↑ Josephus , Jüdische Antiquities 16,149; Jewish War 1,426-427.
49. ^ Samuel Rocca: Herod's Judaea: A Mediterranean State in the Classic World . Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen 2008, p. 43.
50. ^ Samuel Rocca: Herod's Judaea: A Mediterranean State in the Classic World . Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen 2008, p. 44.
51. ↑ Described by Charles-Jean-Melchior de Vogüé in 1861 , then lost. Compare the der .: La Syrie Centrale. Architecture civile et religieuse du Ier au VIIe siècle , Volume 1, Paris 1865–1877, p. 35: La statue d'Hérode était grande comme nature, il n'en reste que le pied droit, encore attenant à la base sur laquelle est gravée l'inscription; le torse gisait plus loin, très-mutilé; il avait été brisé à dessein .
52. ↑ Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum 38-825. Syros. Dedication of a building by Herod the Great, 27-4 BC ; Rudolf Haensch : The Contributions of Inscriptions to our Knowledge of the Herodian Dynasty . In: Scripta Classica Israelica 33 (2014), pp. 99–116, here p. 100: It has been proposed that three fragments, found in different places on the isle of Syros, are parts of the same epistyle. According to this reconstruction, King Herod gave something to the people of an unknown community . ( PDF )
53. ^ Rudolf Haensch: The Contributions of Inscriptions to our Knowledge of the Herodian Dynasty . In: Scripta Classica Israelica 33 (2014), pp. 99–116, here p. 101.
54. ↑ Ernst Baltrusch: Herodes. King in the Holy Land , Munich 2020, p. 292.
55. ↑ Ferdinand Deanini: The court of Herod. On its structure and history , 2008, pp. 294f.
56. ↑ Ernst Baltrusch: Herodes. King in the Holy Land , Munich 2020, p. 293f.
57. ↑ Flavius ​​Josephus: Jüdischer Krieg 1, 452.
58. ^ Samuel Rocca: Herod's Judaea: A Mediterranean State in the Classic World . Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen 2008, p. 81.
59. ↑ Klaus Bringmann: History of the Jews in antiquity. From the Babylonian exile to the Arab conquest . Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 2005, pp. 184f.
60. ^ Stephan G. Schmid: Nabataean Royal Propaganda: A Response to Herod and Augustus? In: David M. Jacobson, Nikos Kokkinos (ed.): Herod and Augustus , Leiden 2009, pp. 325–360, here p. 335 ( online ). Ernst Baltrusch: Herod. König im Heiligen Land , Munich 2020, p. 144. Cf. ibid. P. 254: “... then there was a concrete expectation for the future life of Syllaios, a life not as a Nabatean king but as a brother-in-law of the Jewish king. "
61. ↑ Ernst Baltrusch: Herodes. King in the Holy Land , Munich 2020, pp. 306–309.
62. ^ Samuel Rocca: Herod's Judaea: A Mediterranean State in the Classic World . Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen 2008, p. 82.
63. ↑ Ernst Baltrusch: Herodes. King in the Holy Land , Munich 2020, pp. 310–313.
64. ↑ Ferdinand Deanini: The court of Herod. On its structure and history , 2008, p.296.
65. ^ Samuel Rocca: Herod's Judaea: A Mediterranean State in the Classic World . Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen 2008, p. 83.
66. ↑ Flavius ​​Josephus: Jewish War 1,648–655; Jewish Antiquities 17.149–167.
67. ↑ Peter Richardson: Herod: King of the Jews and Friend of the Romans . University of South Carolina Press, Columbia 1996, pp. 15-18. Linda-Marie Günther: Herodes the Great , Darmstadt 2005, p. 175. Ernst Baltrusch: Herodes. King in the Holy Land , Munich 2020, pp. 216f.320f.
68. ↑ Erich S. Gruen: The Construct of Identity in Hellenistic Judaism: Essays on Early Jewish Literature and History . Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / Boston 2016, p. 385.
69. ↑ Abraham Schalit: King Herodes, the man and his work, Berlin / New York 2001, p. 639f.
70. ↑ Josephus, Jewish War 1.666.
71. ↑ Ernst Baltrusch: Herodes. King in the Holy Land , Munich 2020, p. 187.
72. ↑ Walter Otto: Herodes. Contributions to the history of the last Jewish royal family , Stuttgart 1913, column 148.
73. ↑ Seth Schwartz: Judaism in antiquity. From Alexander to Mohammed . Reclam, Stuttgart 2016, pp. 101f.
74. ↑ Jodi Magness: Where Is Herod's Tomb at Herodium? In: Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 322 (May 2001), pp. 43–46, here p. 43. Cf. Flavius ​​Josephus: Jüdischer Krieg 1,667–673; Jewish antiquities 17.195–199.
75. ↑ Ehud Netzer, Yaakov Kalman, Roi Porath, Rachel Chachy-Laureys: Preliminary report on Herod's mausoleum and theater with a royal box at Herodium , 2010, p. 87: In April 2007, below and to the west of the arched doorway and to the east of the monumental stairway, we found a few fragments of a lavish sarcophagus in a reddish limestone. Digging down from that point we soon exposed a structure made of hard white limestone ashlars which turned out to be a podium measuring 10 x 10 m (...). This is the base of the monument which we have designated Herod's mausoleum. On May 10, 2007, the discovery was announced to the media .
76. ^ Archaeological Stunner: Not Herod's Tomb After All? In: Haaretz , October 11, 2013.
77. ^ Joseph Patrich, Benjamin Arubas: Revisiting the mausoleum at Herodium: is it Herod's tomb? In: Palestine Exploration Quarterly 147, 4 (2015), pp. 299-315 ( PDF ).
78. ↑ the israel museum, jerusalem (exhibition archive): Herod the Great. The King's Final Journey
79. ^ Yolande Knell: Modern politics overshadows Israel's historic Herod exhibit . In: BBC News, February 16, 2013.
80. ↑ Herod's sarcophagus on the museum's website
81. ^ Ehud Netzer: The Ideal City in the eyes of Herod the Great . In: Nikos Kokkinos (Ed.): The World of the Herods . Volume 1 of the International Conference The World of the Herods and the Nabataeans held at the British Museum, April 17-19, 2001. Steiner, Stuttgart 2007, pp. 71–92, here p. 76. ( PDF )
82. ↑ Ferdinand Deanini: The court of Herod. On its structure and history , 2008, pp. 276.286–289.
83. ↑ Seth Schwartz: Judaism in antiquity. From Alexander to Mohammed . Reclam, Stuttgart 2016, p. 88.
84. ^ Samuel Rocca: Herod's Judaea: A Mediterranean State in the Classic World . Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen 2008, p. 74.
85. ↑ Ferdinand Deanini: The court of Herod. On its structure and history , 2008, p. 280f.
86. ↑ Ferdinand Deanini: The court of Herod. On its structure and history , 2008, p. 284. The "friend" Ptolemy is possibly identical with the brother of the same name of Nikolaos of Damascus.
87. ^ David M. Jacobson: Three Roman Client Kings: Herod of Judaea, Archelaus of Cappadocia and Juba of Mauretania. In: Palestine Exploration Quarterly. Volume 133, 2001, pp. 22-38, here p. 23. ( online ): The survival of the extensive writings of Josephus, virtually intact, means that we possess much more information about Herod than we do about all the other client kings . For this reason, Herod provides the best case study on this subject.
88. ↑ Ernst Baltrusch: Herodes. King in the Holy Land , Munich 2020, pp. 249–251. David M. Jacobson: Three Roman Client Kings: Herod of Judaea, Archelaus of Cappadocia and Juba of Mauretania. In: Palestine Exploration Quarterly. Volume 133, 2001, pp. 22–38, here p. 27. ( online )
89. ^ Samuel Rocca: Herod's Judaea: A Mediterranean State in the Classic World . Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen 2008, p. 168.
90. ^ Samuel Rocca: Herod's Judaea: A Mediterranean State in the Classic World . Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen 2008, pp. 176-180.
91. ^ Samuel Rocca: Herod's Judaea: A Mediterranean State in the Classic World . Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen 2008, pp. 188–190.
92. ^ Samuel Rocca: Herod's Judaea: A Mediterranean State in the Classic World . Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen 2008, pp. 190-195.
93. ^ Samuel Rocca: Herod's Judaea: A Mediterranean State in the Classic World . Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen 2008, pp. 227.238ff. Ernst Baltrusch: Herod. King in the Holy Land , Munich 2020, p. 157f.
94. ↑ Max Küchler: Jerusalem. A handbook and study guide to the Holy City. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2007, pp. 290.294–297. The boulevard itself was probably only completed under Herod Agrippa II , cf. ibid., p. 280.
95. ↑ Ernst Baltrusch: Herodes. King in the Holy Land , Munich 2020, pp. 171.213f. Seth Schwartz: Judaism in antiquity. From Alexander to Mohammed . Reclam, Stuttgart 2016, p. 93.
96. ^ Samuel Rocca: Herod's Judaea: A Mediterranean State in the Classic World . Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen 2008, p. 79f.
97. ↑ Abraham Schalit: King Herodes, the man and his work , Berlin / New York 2001, p. 113.
98. ↑ Ernst Baltrusch: Herodes. König im Heiligen Land , Munich 2020, p. 187. Linda-Marie Günther: Herodes der Große , Darmstadt 2005, p. 101: “There are certainly several explanations why the suspicion of murder by Flavius ​​Josephus is presented as a certainty; but it should not be forgotten that there are also good reasons to assume a tragic accident in the palace at Jericho. "Ferdinand Deanini: The court of Herod. On its structure and history , 2008, p. 292: "Accidental death, ... behind which rumors suspected Herod as the originator."
99. ↑ Ernst Baltrusch: Herodes. King in the Holy Land , Munich 2020, pp. 216.283f.
100. ↑ Achim Lichtenberger: The building policy of Herodes the Great , Wiesbaden 1999, p. 138.
101. ↑ Ernst Baltrusch: Herodes. King in the Holy Land , Munich 2020, p. 191.
102. ↑ Seth Schwartz: Judaism in antiquity. From Alexander to Mohammed . Reclam, Stuttgart 2016, p. 94f.
103. ↑ Seth Schwartz: Judaism in antiquity. From Alexander to Mohammed . Reclam, Stuttgart 2016, p. 101.
104. ^ Samuel Rocca: Herod's Judaea: A Mediterranean State in the Classic World . Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen 2008, p. 26f. Ernst Baltrusch: Herod. King in the Holy Land , Munich 2020, p. 196. Cf. Flavius ​​Josephus: Jüdische Altertümer 16, 179–184.
105. ↑ Achim Lichtenberger: Jews, Idumeans and "Heiden". The Herodian buildings in Hebron and Mamre . In: Linda-Marie Günther (Ed.): Herodes and Rom , Stuttgart 2007, pp. 59–78, here pp. 61–63.
106. ^ Mark Alan Chancey, Adam Lowry Porter: The Archeology of Roman Palestine . In: Near Eastern Archeology 64/4 (2001), pp. 164-203, here p. 169.
107. ↑ Peter Richardson: Herod: King of the Jews and Friend of the Romans , Columbia 1996, pp. 60-62.
108. ↑ Achim Lichtenberger: Jews, Idumeans and "Heiden". The Herodian buildings in Hebron and Mamre . In: Linda-Marie Günther (Ed.): Herodes and Rom , Stuttgart 2007, pp. 59–78, here p. 70. Anders Achim Lichtenberger: Die Bauppolitik Herodes des Große , Wiesbaden 1999, p. 148f .: Dass Herodes idumäe Wanted to strengthen cult traditions, Lichtenberger seems just as possible in this earlier work as the expansion of the two sites for Judean pilgrims with the suppression of specifically Idumaean elements.
109. ↑ Monika Bernett: The imperial cult in Judea under the Herodians and Romans: Investigations into the political and religious history of Judea from 30 BC. to 66 AD , Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen 2007, pp. 158–161, quotation p. 160.
110. ↑ Monika Bernett: The imperial cult in Judea under the Herodians and Romans: Investigations into the political and religious history of Judea from 30 BC. to 66 AD , Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen 2007, p.158–161, quotation p. 152.
111. ^ Monika Bernett: Rule and representation among the Herodians . In: Journal of the German Palestine Association 127/1 (2011), pp. 75-104, here p. 85.
112. ^ Monika Bernett: Rule and representation among the Herodians . In: Journal of the German Palestine Association 127/1 (2011), pp. 75-104, here p. 87.
113. ^ Samuel Rocca: Herod's Judaea: A Mediterranean State in the Classic World . Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen 2008, p.188. Cf. Flavius ​​Josephus: Jüdische Antiquities 15,294.
114. ↑ Achim Lichtenberger: Jews, Idumeans and "Heiden". The Herodian buildings in Hebron and Mamre , Stuttgart 2007, p. 66.
115. ↑ Thomas M. Weber: The emperor's best friend. Herod the great and statuesque forms of representation in oriental shrines of the early imperial period . In: Detlev Kreikenbom et al. (Ed.): Augustus - the view from the outside. The perception of the emperor in the provinces of the empire and in the neighboring states. Files from the international conference at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz from 12-14 October 2006 . Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 2008, pp. 249-270; Ulrich Hübner: The coinage of Herod the Great (40 / 37–4 BC): self-portrayal and political reality . In: Anne Lykke (Hrsg.): Macht des Geldes - Macht der Bilder (= Treatises of the German Palestine Association . Volume 42), Wiesbaden 2013, pp. 93–122, here p. 109 note 82. ( PDF );
116. ↑ Ulrich Luz: The Gospel according to Matthew (Mt 1–7) (= EKK Volume I / 1), Benzinger and Neukirchener Verlag, Zurich et al. 4th reviewed edition 1997, p. 115.
117. ↑ Klaus Bringmann: History of the Jews in antiquity. From the Babylonian exile to the Arab conquest . Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 2005, p. 196.
118. ↑ Jan Willem van Henten: Herod the Great in Josephus . In: Honora Howell Chapman, Zuleika Rodgers (eds.): A Companion to Josephus . Wiley & Sons, Chichester 2016, pp. 235–246, here p. 237.
119. ↑ Jan Willem van Henten: Herod the Great in Josephus . In: Honora Howell Chapman, Zuleika Rodgers (eds.): A Companion to Josephus . Wiley & Sons, Chichester 2016, pp. 235–246, here pp. 237–240. Cf. Flavius ​​Josephus: Jüdische Antiquities 15,293.
120. ↑ Jan Willem van Henten: Herod the Great in Josephus . In: Honora Howell Chapman, Zuleika Rodgers (eds.): A Companion to Josephus . Wiley & Sons, Chichester 2016, pp. 235–246, here p. 244f.
121. ^ Anthony Swindell: Herod the great: V. Literature . In: Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception , Volume 11, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / Boston 2015, Sp. 930-932.
122. ^ Nils Holger Petersen: Herod the great: VII. Music . In: Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception , Volume 11, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / Boston 2015, Sp. 934-936.
123. ^ Walter Otto: Herodes 14. In: Paulys Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswwissenschaft (RE). Supplement volume II, Stuttgart 1913, Col. 1–158.
124. ^ Daniel R. Schwartz: On Abraham Schalit, Herod, Josephus, the Holocaust, Horst R. Moehring, and the Study of Ancient Jewish History . In: Jewish History 2/2 (1987), pp. 9-28, here p. 12. Cf. Solomon Zeitlin: Herod: A Malevolent Maniac . in: The Jewish Quarterly Review 54/1 (July 1963), pp. 1-27.
125. ^ Joseph Davis: Herod the great: III C. Modern Judaism . In: Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception , Volume 11, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / Boston 2015, Sp. 928f.
126. ↑ Lukas Bormann: Jewish or Roman Perspective? New Studies on Roman Dominated Judea - A Critical Literature Review . In: Zeitschrift für Religions- und Geistesgeschichte 61/2 (2009), pp. 105-123, here p. 107.
127. ↑ Daniel R. Schwartz: Reviewed Work: King Herod: A Persecuted Persecutor. A Case Study in Psychohistory and Psychobiography. (Studia Judaica 36 ) by Aryeh Kasher, Eliezer Witztum. In: Journal for the Study of Judaism in the Persian, Hellenistic, and Roman Period 39/3 (2008), pp. 409-411. Very critical Linda-Marie Günther: King Herodes in recent historical research , Freiburg im Breisgau et al. 2013, p. 81: Kasher no longer allows academic discourse, but postulates "scientifically generated truths as it were".
128. ^ Aryeh Kasher: King Herod: A Persecuted Persecutor , Walter de Gruyter, Berlin 2007, p. Xiv.
129. ↑ Lukas Bormann: Jewish or Roman Perspective? New Studies on Roman Dominated Judea - A Critical Literature Review . In: Zeitschrift für Religions- und Geistesgeschichte 61/2 (2009), pp. 105-123, here p. 110.

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