Herod (c.74–4 bc), ruled 37–4 bc, known as Herod the Great. He built the palace of Masada and rebuilt the Temple in Jerusalem. According to the New Testament, Jesus was born during his reign, and he ordered the Massacre of the Innocents (Matthew 2:16). (See also out-Herod Herod.)

Of his descendants, his grandson Herod Agrippa I (10 bc–ad 44), imprisoned St Peter and put St James the Great to death. Herod Agrippa II (ad 27–c.93), son of Herod Agrippa I, presided over the trial of St Paul (Acts 25:13 ff.).
Herod Antipas (22 bc–c.40 ad), son of Herod the Great, married Herodias and was responsible for the beheading of John the Baptist. According to the New Testament (Luke 23:7), Pilate sent Jesus to be questioned by him before the Crucifixion.

Herod. Several rulers of Jud(a)ea bore this name.1 Herod I (73–4 BCE, the Great) was appointed by his father to be governor of Galilee and, after his father's death, was appointed initially tetrarch by the Romans and, by 37 BCE, king. During his reign he embarked on an extensive building campaign including the Temple in Jerusalem. Despite this he was regarded by his Jewish subjects as a foreign agent and a destroyer of their institutions.2 Herod II, grandson of Herod I and Mariamne, ruled as king of Chalcis, 41–8 CE. During this period, he had the right to appoint high priests.3 Herod Antipas, son of Herod I and Malthace, ruled as tetrarch of Galilee, 4 BCE–39 CE, until he was exiled by the Romans.4 Herod Philip I, son of Herod I and Cleopatra of Jerusalem, ruled as tetrarch of Transjordan, 4 BCE–34 CE.

‘That fox Herod’ (Luke 13.32) is thus Herod Antipas.

HEROD

HEROD (late first century b.c.e.), son of *Herod the Great and Mariamne, daughter of *Simeon B. Boethus. Implicated in the conspiracy of his half brother *Antipater, against his father (5 b.c.e.), Herod was cut off from his father's will and forfeited his hereditary rights (he stood next to Antipater in the line of succession). Herod the Great divorced Mariamne for concealing the plot and removed her father from the office of high priest. Herod thereafter lived in Caesarea as a private citizen. His wife Herodias, the daughter of *Aristobulus, son of Mariamne the Hasmonean, left him and married his brother Herod *Antipas.

bibliography:

Jos., Ant., 17:78; Jos., Wars, 1:557–600; Klausner, Bayit Sheni, 4 (1963), 154, 163; A. Schalit, Hordos ha-Melekh (1964³), 311, 314–6; Schuerer, Hist, 151, 156, 169; A.H.M. Jones, The Herods of Judaea (1938), index.

[Edna Elazary]