King of Judea under the protection of Rome from 37 to 4 BCE and founder of the Herodian dynasty. The Roman Senate appointed him king of Judea in 40 BCE. Three years later, with the aid of Roman forces, he captured Jerusalem from Antigonus the Hasmonean and became the country's ruler.
His reign was a period of cruel police government, of unmerciful suppression of all opposition and the erasure of the national character of the kingdom. Eventually, his sway extended over most of the land of Israel. It was a reign marked by the rapid development of foreign trade and transport with other Mediterranean countries, by the erection of magnificent public and royal buildings, and by the construction of new towns and of many forts to assure the safety of Herod's rule from threats within and without.
His family was originally converts of Idumean stock who were officials of Jewish Hasmonean kings, and so by upbringing and descent Herod lacked any deep ties with the Jews or their religion. He was gifted with great energy and commanded administrative ability. With these capabilities he tried to fulfill the functions of kingship according to the standards of educated Greeks and Romans of the time. However, his governing ability was sorely impaired by an unhealthy suspiciousness, a form of paranoia, which became aggravated with age and which deepened his cruelty. Among the many people he put to death were his wife, Mariamne the Hasmonean, and three of their sons.
Herod's most important projects were the construction of Caesarea, whose population was half non-Jewish, and its splendid coastal port, development of foreign trade, friendly relations with the trading cities of the Mediterranean (both by making grants to them for the construction of public buildings and by defending the rights of Jewish communities living in these cities), and the rebuilding of the Temple in magnificent style (though he had a golden eagle, the symbol of Rome, carved on its gate). The sages said of it, “Who has not seen Herod's Temple has never seen a beautiful building” (B.B. 4a). He built a fortified palace in Jerusalem: he rebuilt the city of Samaria, which had been destroyed since the Hasmonean conquest, and named it Sebaste.
He strengthened the Judean desert forts, among them that of Masada and Herodium, not only to fortify the country against foreign attack but also as refuges in the event of internal revolts. His buildings had a characteristic style: they were build of large whole blocks of stone, with characteristic edges, and decorated with ornate columns. In evidence of this style, the wall surrounding the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron is ascribed to him.
