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Duane W. Roller is Professor of Classics at Ohio State University. He is the author of many archaeological and historical publications, including Tanagran Studies (1989).

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The Building Program of Herod the Great

University of California Press

Herod the Great, the son of Antipatros and Kypros, was born around 73 B.C. His family was Idumaean and had been in the service of the rulers of Judaea for at least two generations: his grandfather, who died about the time Herod was born, had been governor of Idumaea in the early first B.C. 1 His father, who inherited the governorship, married a Nabataean, possibly the daughter of King Aretas III, and this alliance between Idumaea and Nabataea formed the fragile basis of the power their son was to develop. Antipatros was an early, if reluctant, supporter of Roman expansion, one of the first dynasts in the region to seek out Pompey when the latter was advancing through Syria in 64 B.C. Antipatros's position was strengthened during Aulus Gabinius's eastern command in the 50's B.C. , a period that would have seen young Herod's introduction both to politics and to Roman commanders.

Herod's career rose with that of his father, who received Roman citizenship from Julius Caesar after Pharsalos; thus Herod also became a citizen. Caesar was to exercise a profound influence on the direction of Herod's architectural endeavors. By 47 B.C. , Herod was strategos of Galilee. Yet his ethnic background was offensive to many Jews, and difficulties with the Synhedrion in Jerusalem caused him to flee to the governor of Syria, Sextus

On the background of Herod's family, see Schürer (NEV), 1: 234; Tessa Rajak, "Justus of Tiberias," CQ , n.s., 23 (1973): 366–67. It has recently been suggested that Herod's "Idumaean" origins are of little significance, given the mixed nature of the population of Hellenistic Idumaea, and that the obscure tradition that Herod's family was Askalonian (see further infra, p. 217) makes more sense. This would mean that his ethnic background was more likely Hellenized Phoenician, perhaps making him more acceptable to the Romans and more Roman in his outlook. See Nikos Kokkinos, "The Herodian Dynasty: Origins, Role in Society, and Eclipse" (Ph.D. diss., Oxford University, 1993).

Julius Caesar, thereby beginning a lifelong tradition of seeking Roman protection from domestic political problems. Sextus offered Herod a position in Koile-Syria, but he soon had difficulties of his own and was killed in the summer of 46 B.C. Herod then sought the support of Sextus's relative Julius Caesar, but he too was soon murdered, whereupon Herod effortlessly attached himself to C. Cassius Longinus. Shortly thereafter, Herod's father Antipatros was also assassinated, a result of increasing instability in Judaea after the death of Julius Caesar. Cassius assisted Herod in avenging Antipatros's death and proposed that Herod be named king of Judaea, an office that had been vacant for twenty years.

Cassius did not live long enough to implement the idea, and when the victor of Philippi, Marcus Antonius, arrived in the East late in 42 B.C. , he named Herod tetrarch. But the Parthians, ever active along the eastern limits of the Roman sphere of influence, invaded Syria in 40 B.C. and put forward their own candidate for king of Judaea, the Hasmonean claimant Antigonos II. This brought about civil war in Judaea, resulted in the death of Herod's brother Phasael, and encouraged Herod to seek the protection of Cleopatra in Egypt. By the end of the year, however, he decided that going direct to Rome was in his best interest. On his way, he aided in the reconstruction of Rhodes.

In Rome, Herod successfully exploited his previous association with Antonius and other important Romans, and he was promptly named king of Judaea. However, he spent the next three years in a continuing civil war there, which was not settled until 37 B.C. , and then only with extensive Roman assistance. Herod's early years as king also coincided with the final stages of the Roman civil war. He attempted to remain neutral while Antonius became more involved with Cleopatra and even gave parts of Herod's kingdom to her. There were also continued problems with other claimants to his throne: Antigonos II had been eliminated in 37 B.C. , but the Hasmoneans instigated a revolt in 35 or 34 B.C. , and there was war with the Nabataeans in 32-31 B.C. This war and an earthquake in Judaea in the spring of 31 B.C. fortunately prevented Herod from personally aiding Antonius and Cleopatra at Actium late that summer. When Octavian came to Rhodes early the following year, Herod quickly appeared and successfully persuaded him of his future loyalty. He assisted Octavian logistically on his way to Egypt and saw his own kingdom expanded in return. Despite the chaos of these early years of Herod's kingship, his internal architectural program was already well under way, with fortifications ringing his kingdom and palaces erected at Masada and Jerusalem.

The following decade finally saw Herod's external political position secure and the Roman civil war over. His kingdom was never free of conspiracies and claimants to the throne, but these were not yet the problem they would be later in the reign. He had been involved in architectural

construction since before he was king, but Octavian's ascendancy after the demise of Antonius and Cleopatra and the devastation of the earthquake of 31 B.C. provided the impetus for an intensive architectural program, which especially flourished in the twenty years between 29 and 9 B.C. , It began with the reconstruction of Samaria, renamed Sebaste to honor (in Greek) Octavian's new name of Augustus. Throughout the 20's B.C. , there was extensive building inside his kingdom, especially at Jerusalem, Herodeion, and Caesarea. Herod also built in the Greek world, including at the Roman victory city of Nikopolis near Actium. His friendship with Augustus's heir apparent Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa—and the architectural influence it implied—was solidified during Agrippa's residency in Mytilene beginning in 23 B.C. Augustus continued to enlarge Herod's kingdom, especially in 22 B.C. , and after the two met in Syria in 20 B.C. , Herod regularly sent his sons to Rome to be educated (some of them were housed with Augustus himself) and also encouraged scholars to reside at his own court, especially those set adrift by the collapse of Antonius and Cleopatra. His children were married to other eastern rulers, creating a dynastic network that spread as far as Armenia and lasted until at least the second century A.C.

The peak of Herod's career came in the decade following 20 B.C. That year he began his greatest architectural achievement, the new Temple in Jerusalem. After the dedication of the still-unfinished building, probably in 18 B.C. , he made his first trip to Rome as king, to visit his sons and to be received by Augustus. In 15 B.C. , Marcus Agrippa made a state visit to Judaea and saw firsthand the romanization of the kingdom; at this time he asked for Herod's assistance on an expedition to the Kimmerian Bosporos. Herod joined Agrippa, and together they made a triumphal tour across Asia Minor. In 12 B.C. , Herod was named agonothetes of the Olympic Games, in response to generous financial support, and presided at the games while on the way to Rome for the third and last time. In early 9 B.C. , Caesarea, his most expansive architectural creation, was dedicated.

The last years of Herod's life were marked by increasingly stormy relations with his family and repeated attempts to...