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40 Things About The Outlandish Math Cult Leader, and Other Unusual Facts From the Ancient World

Khalid Elhassan May 22, 2020 33 min

Democritus and Protagoras - Odysseus and Nausicaa (Ulysses and Nausicaa) — 'Pythagoras and the Fishermen', by Salvatore Rosa. Wikimedia

25. The Murderous King of Judea

ritorno erode strage innocenti giotto — ‘The Massacre of the Innocents’, by by Giotto Di Bondone. 1st Art Gallery

Herod the Great of Judea is best known as the king from the New Testament who ordered all babies killed when Jesus was born. That event, The Massacre of the Innocents, never happened, but Herod was still a bloody murderer, whose victims included his own flesh and blood. Indeed, quipping about how Herod treated his offspring, Roman Emperor Augustus remarked: “I would rather be Herod’s pig than his son“.

A Roman client king, Herod built some massive projects during his reign, such as the Second Temple in Jerusalem, and the fortress of Masada. His reign started off well, but as it progressed, Herod started getting paranoid about plots against him, some real, others imaginary. Those around Herod manipulated his fears, causing him to often lash out violently. The victims of his wrath included members of his own family.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.