Herod the Great

Herod the Great (c. 73–4 B.C.) was the king of Judea at the time of Jesus' birth (Matt. 2:1; Luke 1:5), appointed by the Roman Senate as "king of the Jews" in 37 B.C. He was the son of Antipater the Idumaean and an Arab mother. Despite his non-Jewish origin, he was a remarkable builder: his projects included the massive expansion of the Jerusalem temple (begun c. 20 B.C., still under construction in John 2:20), the palace-fortress of Masada, the harbor city of Caesarea Maritima, and the Herodion. His reign was marked by political cunning, intense cruelty to rivals (he executed his wife Mariamne I and several sons), and the building projects for which he is remembered. He is infamous in Christian tradition for ordering the massacre of infant boys in Bethlehem in his attempt to eliminate the newborn "king of the Jews" (Matt. 2:16–18), fulfilling Jeremiah's prophecy of Rachel weeping for her children. He died shortly after this event, around 4 B.C.