Many of us met Herod the Great on the pages of Mikhail Bulgakov’s immortal novel “The Master and Margarita.” Or rather, not with Herod himself, but only with his palace, into the covered colonnade of which the fifth procurator Pontius Pilate once came out. We will return to this historical event in future articles, but for now let’s get acquainted with the owner of the palace, King Herod, one of the greatest rulers of the pre-Christian era.

However, this is not entirely true. Herod ruled Judea for the first year or two after the birth of Jesus. After all, the fifth verse of the Gospel of Luke begins with the words "In the days of Herod king of Judah...". Luke tells us about the birth of John the Baptist, and another evangelist, Saint Matthew, about how Herod the Great having learned from the Magi about "born king of the Jews", "he was greatly troubled, and all Jerusalem with him"(Gospel of Matthew 2:3). So what caused the anxiety of the elderly king? Why did the ensuing Bethlehem massacre, known as "massacre of the innocents", was not described in any of the historical documents of that era?

We will try to answer these and other questions that historians and biblical scholars still face in this article. But these will only be hypotheses and assumptions, for the Temple Mount, which acquired its modern appearance under King Herod the Great, still keeps its terrible secrets...

It’s interesting that no one called Herod “great” during his lifetime. Most likely, in those days one of the nicknames stuck to him, similar to the familiar expression “Herod the accursed,” which became a common noun in the Russian language. But the most interesting thing is that his name was not Herod at all. His name in the local dialect was pronounced Hordos, and he was the son of a major politician and courtier Antipater. It was in honor of his father that he would name one of his sons Herod Antipas. And this second Herod will become even more famous than his father, because he will go down in history as the murderer of John the Baptist. So the Russian “Herod the accursed” can be successfully addressed to both father and son.

But let's return to those times when, since the time of the great revolt of Judas Maccabee, little Judea was closely watched by its overseas neighbor - the Roman Republic.

The Republic had its own plans. The Republic did not like the dominance of the Ptolemies in Egypt and the Seleucids in Syria. And she saw small independent Judea as a future political and military partner. Until the Republic of Kazakhstan decides to “play” another political card in Judea. Therefore, in 63 BC. Gnaeus Pompey, in the recent past a consul, and now a commander in chief of the entire army of the Republic, invades Judea and carries out a terrible massacre in Jerusalem. As befits a pagan, he robs and desecrates the Jerusalem Temple.

Pompey appoints Alexandre's son Jannaeus, known in history as Hyrcanus the Younger, as ruler of Judea. No, Hyrcanus was no longer a king like his father. He was a puppet ruler who strictly followed the rules of the game established by the Republic. Thus Judea falls under the rule of Rome, which will last until the end of the seventh century AD. And then the cunning Antipater, taking advantage of the situation, brings his four sons into the world. And our hero Hordos, then unknown to anyone, but a promising military leader, marries the granddaughter of Hyrcanus the Younger, the beautiful Miriam. In Russian translations she is known under the name Mariamne. And all further history Jerusalem will henceforth be inextricably linked with the name of this man, Herod the Great.

But Pompey fell victim to a conspiracy headed by him ex-friend and comrade Gaius Julius Caesar. And then Caesar himself was betrayed and killed by his associates. So in 36 BC, with the support of the future emperor Octavian Augustus and his rival Mark Antony, Hordos-Herod became the sovereign ruler of Judea.

His path to power, despite the support of Roman patrons, was marked by local civil strife. The storming of Jerusalem, blood and looting, then the death of his beloved brother Fazael and the overthrow of Antigonus, who was the last ruler of the capital, then the execution of forty of the most prominent citizens of the capital - this is far from full list disasters and atrocities that led to the power of the greatest despot and builder of Judea.

Traces of construction from Herod's time can be seen today in many places in Israel, including Jerusalem. The first thing Herod started with was the reconstruction of the entire water supply system of the capital.

In the spurs of the Hebron Highlands south of Jerusalem, a gigantic water pipeline for those times, about 70 kilometers long, was laid. From it, water flowed to the southern city wall and was collected in a large drainage basin located in the Gehenom ravine. Today, this site, known as Sultan's Ponds, houses a city park and an outdoor concert venue.

Then, through a system of aqueducts, the water rose up and entered the second reservoir - Migdalon (“the basin of Hizkiyahu”). The remains of this pool can be seen from observation deck. It supplied water to the luxurious royal palace built in the western part of the city. Today there is no longer any water in the pool, but at the end of the 19th century there was water in it. Evidence of this is the sketch of the famous Russian artist N.A. Yaroshenko. Why the pool bore the name of the Jewish king who lived in the 8th century BC - we do not know.

Several more pools were built by Herod during the reconstruction of the Jerusalem Temple and Temple Mount. Most large swimming pool, known as Birkat Israel, was located in the northern part of the city, and is currently hidden under the pavement and buildings in the Arab Quarter. But nearby the remains of a pool known as the Sheep Ponds, or Bethesda (Beit Hesda), have been excavated. Built next to the sheep market during the reign of the Hasmoneans, it originally served to wash livestock brought into the city for sale and for sale. Subsequently, it was discovered that the waters of the stream that filled this pool allegedly possess healing properties, and in the Roman-Byzantine period medicinal baths were built here.

A few hundred meters from Bethesda are the remains of another Strution pool. During the time of the Hasmoneans, it supplied water to the fortress of Bira, the same one where the guards mistakenly stabbed to death Antigonus, the brother of the cruel king Aristobulus. Herod ordered the destruction of the old building, and instead of it he located the Antonia fortress nearby, in which he placed a garrison. Herod was always afraid of assassination attempts, and besides, the presence of a large military unit instilled fear in the inhabitants of the city, and contributed to peace and order on the Temple Mount. For the safety of the fortress, he ordered a deep ditch to be dug in its northern part, which crossed the Hasmonean canal that supplied water to the Temple Mount. In order to prevent water from filling the ditch and supplying the Antonia fortress with water, Herod builds a small pool in front of it, which was called “Struthion” after the former Hasmonean “Stratonic Tower”.

Part of the Srution pool is located under the buildings of the Sisters of Zion monastery. The arched vaults over the pool were built in the 2nd century AD. Roman Emperor Hadrian, since a street was built over this place. The brickwork was built after the construction of the monastery in order to close the passage on its territory through the underground pool. The second half of the pool is located at the end of the Temple Wall tunnel (“Hasmonean Tunnel”).

In addition to the large drainage basins in various places In the city, water storage tanks were found in rich houses and public buildings. These tanks, as a rule, had a dome-shaped or rectangular shape with a hole in the ceiling, through which a container was lowered into the tank on ropes and filled with water. If the cistern was built deep enough, then steps were cut along its walls, along which one could go down to get water or clean the cistern from accumulated dirt.

Nowadays, due to the current situation on the territory of the Temple Mount, it is impossible to carry out any archaeological excavations or research. However, scientists using remote sensing discovered 37 water cisterns there, built during reconstruction work carried out on the orders of Herod the Great. The largest of them, with a capacity of 12 thousand cubic meters, was filled with water from an aqueduct that brought water from the Hebron Highlands.

Remains of a water tank found during excavations in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City (top view).

In addition to the water supply, the city had a drainage and sewerage system. During excavations in the "City of David" under the Herodian street, underground drainage structures were discovered leading from the southern wall of the Temple Mount to the Gehennom Gully. There is an assumption that wastewater was used to fertilize and irrigate fields and plantations. During the defeat of Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 AD. Here the inhabitants and defenders of the city were hiding, whom the Roman soldiers found, dragged out and killed. Many of them, as Josephus writes in the book “The Jewish War,” not wanting to surrender to the enemy, committed suicide. Not long ago, a leather belt and sword of a Roman legionnaire were found in one of these dungeons. Among the finds were coins minted by the rebels with the inscription "Freedom of Zion", oil lamps and shards of pottery.

Ancient underground structures found in the “City of David” served to drain sewer water during the Second Temple. Now this tunnel is open to visitors and you can walk through it from the lowest section of the archaeological park of the “City of David” - the Pool of Siloam to the Garbage Gate of the Old City.

The Pool of Siloam (Shiloah), during the reign of Herod the Great, was expanded, and another water reservoir was added to it, the remains of the steps of which can be seen in the park of the “City of David”. Historians believe that this pool was intended for ritual ablutions of pilgrims ascending to the Jerusalem Temple. From it the priests took water for libations on the temple altar on the holiday of Sukkot, praying to the Almighty to send rain to the Land of Israel.

Pool of Shiloah ("Pool of Siloam") on a model of Herodian Jerusalem in the Israel Museum. The author of the project, Professor Michael Avi-Yona, who worked on creating the model in the 60s, could not have known what the steps of the pool, found by archaeologists only in 2004, looked like. Therefore, its reconstruction, made according to descriptions, differs from the real appearance of the reservoir.

It is difficult to even imagine how the appearance of Jerusalem changed under Herod. New houses and neighborhoods appeared in the city, a theater and a hippodrome were built, luxurious houses of the city nobility were located in the Upper Town, while in Lower town there were quarters of the urban poor and the pagans living there.

In the northwestern part of the city, Herod builds a magnificent palace, in the northern part of which there were three watchtowers, “Phatsael”, “Hippicus” and “Miriam”, named after the king’s brother, his friend and his beloved wife, executed on his orders.

One of distinctive features Herod's buildings is a kind of processing and polishing of stone blocks used for external walls. Today, archaeologists, and not only them, unmistakably identify the stone blocks of Herodian buildings, and if these blocks are also very tightly fitted to each other, then we can talk about the remnant of the original (not destroyed or rebuilt) walls from the time of Herod. Interestingly, the stone blocks in Herodian buildings reached truly gigantic size, up to 10-13 meters in length, 4-5 meters thick and weighing up to 500 tons! How did the workers in the quarries manage to extract and process such blocks?

Scientists observed the methods of extracting and processing stones today in primitive artisanal quarries, and came to the conclusion that the technology of the Herodian stonemasons was as follows. from all sides, trimming it with metal tools. All that remained was to separate the block from the sole and trim its lower edge. And here nature itself came to their aid.

The fact is that in Jerusalem and its environs there are sedimentary rocks, limestones and dolomites. These rocks form layers whose thickness, as a rule, does not exceed one and a half meters. And at the junction of such layers, the rock is the most fragile and pliable. If you cut a vertical slot 10-15 cm thick in a block, drive wooden wedges into it, and then fill them with water, the wood, swelling, increases in volume and tears the block away from the sole. Instead of wooden ones, iron wedges were sometimes used, which were driven into the crack with a hammer. To avoid damaging the surfaces of the blocks, they were protected with metal plates.

The second task, which the king’s engineers and architects successfully handled, was transporting giant blocks to the construction site. The blocks were placed on carts drawn by four oxen, or they were dragged along a road lined with round logs. The heaviest and most massive stones were installed as an axle between two giant wooden wheels, and this huge chariot was rolled to the construction site. There the stones were lifted onto the wall using wooden winches.

It must be said that Herod’s architects had considerable ingenuity and excellent knowledge of the laws of mechanics. The Tsar himself also participated in solving the most complex engineering problems.

Between the royal palace and the Temple Mount stretched the quarters of the Upper City, where the highest strata of society lived. During excavations in the Old City, a site of ancient Jerusalem was discovered with the remains of buildings, among which stands out the building in which, according to scientists, the Kohen HaGadol, the temple, could have lived. A mikveh - a pool for ritual ablutions - was considered an invariable attribute of any rich home. A large number of mikvahs of varying sizes can also be seen in the remains of the Herodian quarter of the Upper City. It is interesting that small mikvahs were also installed in the children's rooms of rich houses, the floors of which were decorated with mosaics.

Remains of a ritual mikveh pool

Fragment of a children's room with a mosaic floor and a mikveh

Herod considered the main task of his life to be the reconstruction of everything, including the building of the Temple itself. Built during the time of Ezra and Nehemiah, the Second Temple of Jerusalem was partially reconstructed during the reign of the Hasmoneans, but by the time Herod the Great came to power it was already dilapidated and did not live up to the plans and ambitions of the great builder. And the king’s ambitions would have been enough for several centuries to come. It was as if he challenged the Creator himself to a competition, and built everything against His will. So he appeared on the deserted seashore port city of Caesarea, in the inaccessible mountains on the coast Dead Sea- the flourishing fortress city of Masada, on an artificially raised high hill south of Jerusalem - the Herodion Palace. In Jerusalem, Herod decided to surpass King Solomon himself and turn the Temple Mount into an architectural masterpiece, which had no equal either in Rome or in other cities of the empire.

In 20 BC. Herod began to implement his plan. He had to solve two main problems: turn the ancient hill of Moriah, also called the Temple Mount, into a flat area and rebuild the Temple building. The first problem could be solved using purely engineering techniques, while the second required a special approach. We have already said that in the Temple itself there were rooms to which only priests-cohens had access, and only the High Priest could enter the Holy of Holies, and only once a year. Knowing all this, Herod ordered a thousand priests to be trained in construction skills. Their task was to build new premises on the site where the Ark of the Covenant had once been located. These works were carried out with special precautions and in compliance with all measures of ritual purity. In addition, the service in the Temple should not have been interrupted even for a day!

The solution to the second problem was the construction of a supporting wall around the Temple Mount. For this purpose, Herod ordered the area adjacent to the Temple to be leveled and paved with stone slabs. Mount Moriah was razed, and in its place an area of ​​145 thousand was formed. square meters. It can still be seen today from the observation deck on the Mount of Olives. The Temple Mount area towered several tens of meters above the surrounding area; in essence, it was an artificial mound surrounded by massive supporting walls.

Reconstruction of the “Robinson Arch”. From the exhibition of the Jerusalem History Museum.

Under the slabs that covered the area, Herod ordered the construction of underground rooms, which were used as reservoirs and service spaces.

To build the supporting walls, the most massive stone blocks were used, which were not laid strictly vertically, but at a certain angle. It is believed that this was done to strengthen the walls, which could withstand the pressure of the huge internal embankment, and, in addition, people passing under them from the outside should have felt safe, without fear that the whole structure might one day fall on their heads. This is clearly visible in the surviving Herodian masonry in the southeast corner of the modern wall of the Old City.

The Romans, who destroyed the Jerusalem Temple in 70 AD, were never able to break through these walls in a number of places. This was facilitated by a powerful embankment that pressed on the wall from the inside, which prevented their destruction. The surviving part of the walls can be seen today both outside and underground.

On one of the sections of the western wall of the Temple, traces of stone masonry projections are visible. They were discovered and described by British theologian Edward Robinson in 1838. Since then, this section of the temple complex has been known throughout the world as “Robinson’s Arch.” But what does the arch have to do with it?

Further archaeological research showed that the masonry projections Robinson found were in fact traces of a large arched bridge built at the southern corner of the western wall. Scholars believe that this bridge was built to increase the capacity of the main temple gates during festivals. At this time, hundreds of thousands of pilgrims from all over the Land of Israel came to Jerusalem.

Until recently, it was assumed that the arched bridge was destroyed during the siege of the Temple Mount by Roman legionaries. However, the prominent Israeli historian and archaeologist Meir Ben-Dov believes that it was destroyed by groups of Jewish fanatics, led by Shimon Bar-Giora, who settled on the Temple Mount. These rebels, even before the Roman siege of the city, were waging internal wars with another group, led by Johanan of Gush Halav (John of Gischal), entrenched in the Upper City. To strengthen their positions, the warriors of Shimon Bar-Giora destroyed these passages. Thus came the end of these amazing buildings, which were many centuries ahead of all similar buildings in the world.

On the remains of the southern wall of the temple complex, a walled gate was discovered, the so-called “Gate of Hulda”, named after the ancient prophetess who, according to legend, lived during the time of the First Temple. There were steps leading to the gate, along which pilgrims climbed the Temple Mount, having previously bathed in the mikveh and changed into festive clothes. To avoid crowding and overcrowding, pilgrims entered through the eastern (triple) gate and exited through the western (double) gate. These steps had different widths, 40 and 90 centimeters. The Jewish sages explained this by saying that people who climbed the steps to the Temple should not think about earthly affairs, therefore the rhythm of the ascent, which constantly accelerated and slowed down, was supposed to remind them of God.

Under Herod, the temple service was held with special solemnity. Josephus wrote that Herod ordered three hundred oxen to be brought to the solemn consecration of the newly rebuilt Temple! And how magnificent were the celebrations on the days of the great Jewish holidays! The number of pilgrims these days reached hundreds of thousands of people. They walked in families, some on foot, some on donkey carts. At the gates of Jerusalem they bought sacrificial animals: cows, sheep, goats. Those who were poorer bought doves at the entrance to the Temple - the cheapest sacrifice available even to the poor. During excavations of ancient villages in Judea, columbaria were found - special premises for breeding pigeons. They were then sold in shopping galleries and markets located south of the temple complex. The money changers were also sitting there, exchanging Roman coins with the image of Caesar for Jewish ones. According to the tradition commanded by Moses, no images were allowed in the Temple.

Walled "Hulda Gate" and steps leading to the Temple Mount in the Davidson Park (Ophel) archaeological site

During the numerous, ongoing festive sacrifices, the inner courtyard of the Temple presented an eerie sight. It was all spattered with the blood of sacrificial animals, littered with entrails, over which thousands of flies swarmed. It was necessary to periodically clean the area. For these purposes, on the western wall there was a gate called the Water Gate, next to which there was an aqueduct. Water was let through a special conduit into the temple courtyards, and all the remains of the sacrifices were washed away through the Gate of Mercy into the Kidron ravine. Some of the Herodian stones can still be seen today in the masonry of the Gate of Mercy, or, as they are also called today, the “Golden Gate”. During Muslim rule, this gate was walled up, and a Muslim cemetery was located in front of it. Tradition tells that Muslims did this on purpose to block the path of Moshiach, who must pass through these gates to the Temple Mount.

On the opposite slope of the Kidron Ravine to the Temple there is a huge Jewish cemetery. A careful look can immediately notice that modern burials stand out among the ancient dilapidated graves. This cemetery is active, and today people are buried there either for great services to the state and people of Israel, or for a lot of money. According to ancient legend, one day, with the first rays of the sun, Mashiach (Messiah) should descend from the top of the Mount of Olives. That's when the resurrection from the dead will take place and Last Judgment over the souls of the dead. And the first to rise from their graves will be those who are buried on the slopes of the Mount of Olives, near the graves of the pious King Jehoshaphat, who ruled Judah in the 9th century BC. and the prophet Zechariah, who lived during the First Temple period. Therefore, the ravine under the slopes of the mountain is called the “valley of Jehoshaphat,” whose name is translated from Hebrew as “Lord the Judge.”

This territory outside the city walls has served as a burial place since the reign of the kings of the house of David. Archaeologists have discovered a very ancient grave in these places, which Muslims consider the grave of the “daughter of Pharaoh” - the first wife of King Solomon. Scientists refute this legend and date the burial to the 8th century BC. One way or another, this is one of the most ancient burials found in the territory of the “Valley of Jehoshaphat.”

Under the foundations of the houses of the Arab settlement of Siluam, located on the western slope of the Kidron ravine, there are numerous ancient cave burials. Local residents use these caves as cellars. There are heaps of garbage around the ancient graves, which causes anger and pain in the souls of the Jews, who see this as a direct violation of the ancient graves.

North of Silouam, on the western slope of the Kidron, several ancient necropolises are visible, which scholars date to the Second Temple period. The farthest one from the south is, according to legend, the grave of Zechariah, who lived during the time of King Jehoash. And it’s not so important that King Jehoash ruled at the end of the 9th century BC, and the mausoleum was built, as we already wrote, in a clearly Greek style. Beginning in the 15th century, wealthy Jews living in Europe requested in their wills to be buried near Zechariah's grave.

The next burial, dated to the 2nd century BC, belongs to the Hezirah family - hereditary temple priests first mentioned in the Book of Nehemiah (10:21) and the Book of Chronicles (24:15). Archaeologists managed to identify the burial in 1854 from a surviving inscription in Hebrew, which mentions the names of the six Khezir brothers buried in this family crypt.

A few tens of meters to the north stands a crypt with a cone-shaped roof, carved from a single block of stone. This is the so-called “grave of Absalom,” the rebellious son of King David, who died at the hands of the soldiers whom David sent to suppress the rebellion. It is clear that no Absalom was buried there, since he lived and died in the 10th century BC, and the mausoleum, according to historians, was built a thousand years later. The reason for the folk legend was an excerpt from the Book of Kings.

Religious Jews, passing by this mausoleum, will not fail to throw a stone at it as a sign of contempt for the son who raised his hand against his father.

At the back of Absalom's tomb, another burial from the Second Temple period was found, the so-called "Tomb of Jehoshaphat", which folk tradition connects with the valley, which the prophet Joel speaks of as the place of the Last Judgment.

The surviving mausoleum monuments from the Second Temple period are the family burial grounds of very rich and noble citizens of Jerusalem. Less wealthy townspeople buried their relatives in burial caves, which were cut out of soft rocks in the vicinity of the city. Typical in the time of Herod the Great were burial caves consisting of several compartments.

In the central part of the cave there was a stone slab on which the body of the deceased was laid, wrapped in funeral ribbons, richly soaked in balsam and incense to eliminate unpleasant odor. They read over the body funeral prayers, after which the deceased was placed on a shelf in one of the small compartments of the burial cave. There the body lay for about a year and, in the hot, dry climate, had time to mummify. A year later, the relatives of the deceased entered the tomb, took out the body of the deceased and placed the bones in a stone ossuary box. The box was walled up in a small hole cut inside the cave, and the shelf on which the deceased lay was cleared for a new burial. This method existed in Judea until the destruction of the Temple and Jerusalem by the Romans. Nowadays, archaeologists have found a large number of stone ossuary coffins, decorated with rich carvings or simple, smooth ones. Often you can see the names of the dead carved on them or a warning not to open the coffin so as not to disturb the souls of the dead.

It was in such a luxurious, prosperous Jerusalem, in a palace known to us from the magnificent descriptions of Mikhail Bulgakov, that the elderly king received news of the Magi who had come to the city. And what do you think this sick man, already suffering from a severe form of paranoia, should have thought, who personally sent masses of people to the next world, including his closest relatives, sons and his beloved wife Miriam?

“What other king of the Jews was born in Bethlehem? Here the king of the Jews is me, Herod the Great, and one of my sons will succeed me! And I will order the impostor to be exterminated, even if this means destroying hundreds of innocent babies!”

Theologians believe that such actions were very characteristic of the “great” ruler, and there are countless of them, and therefore such an “insignificant” event for the reign of Herod as the “slaughter of the infants” in Bethlehem and its environs was not included in historical documents.

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Five days before his death, King Herod made a frantic attempt to commit suicide. Lying in bed, he began to quickly, as if in a frenzy, saw himself with a knife in the throat, and when the old servant began to take the knife away from him, he tried to stab himself with it. At the same time, Herod fought in hysterics and shouted that even in his death he was not free.

They took the knife away, so at least give me some poison. You have a lot of poison. You have all accumulated a lot of poison for me. Why are you so greedy? I ask you: why? Why? - Herod groaned.

His body was swollen and ached both inside and out. The ulcers festered, bled and stank. His tongue was also swollen, making it difficult for him to speak and difficult for others to understand him. He no longer took food, but sometimes drank water in small portions. Doctors were constantly on duty next to him, often changing bandages and lubricating wounds with medicinal ointments. When Herod’s pain intensified, the doctors gave him a strange powder to swallow, after which the pain became much weaker and the king calmly fell asleep.

Yesterday morning he remembered his son Antipater, who had been sitting in the dungeon of the palace for a year and ordered to bring him, but not for farewell, but for the last interrogation.

Tell me, Antipater is my son, last time, but it’s better to lie. Did you really get involved with the zealots and patronize them? Did you, having listened enough to these talkative Judas and Matthew, whom I burned alive, tell everyone that after my death you would tear down from the great gates of the Jerusalem Temple the golden Roman eagle installed by me, your father?

Yes! This is true! That's exactly what I said.

Did you say that when you become king, you will drive out the Romans?

Everyone wants this except you, my father.

Who's everyone?

What do you have to do with it? I am your father from Idum. Your mother is a Samaritan. Your grandfather was the king of Idumea. The Jews defeated him and could have destroyed the entire Edomite people if not for him. He converted to Judaism and became part of the Jewish state, but as a conquered state. You knew about this, didn't you?

Maybe you changed your mind and are repenting? I will forgive you.

No. I haven't changed my mind.

It turns out that you want war, death and destruction of everything that I built. What forces did you want to oppose Rome? Rome has twenty-seven legions. Each legion has between eight and ten thousand soldiers, each of whom is well trained. The Romans do not allow a soldier who has served less than five years into battle. Who will you let into battle? Peasants, shoemakers, artisans? Think about it? Think about how much it costs to arm and maintain one warrior? Alexander the Great had one hundred and thirty thousand soldiers, and he found considerable funds for each. His army had the most best weapon in the world at that time, and it was very expensive. That's why they call him the Great, and not because you thought. Do you agree with me? Have the last word.

No. I disagree.

We interrogated your teachers with passion. These are the ones I burned alive. We understood that they were stupid or... . I have known for a long time that if fools are doing stupid things somewhere, then you have to look behind their backs smart people. Your teachers, Judas and Matthew, turned out to be accomplices of spies. We extracted from them a whole spy network that led to the Parthians and Persians. Give up on these people, and I will forgive you everything. I fought with the Parthians and I know who they are. I have fought with other enemies and I know who they are and what they want. For us, the calmest and most reliable power is the power of Rome. This is our support and our calm future. This is our ally, our peace and prosperity. Give up your thoughts and don’t listen to traitors anymore.

These are not traitors. Your people extracted these false confessions through torture.

If I were a simple person, then I wouldn’t do anything to you, but I’m a king. Besides you, I have other children and I want them to live. Goodbye!

Their conversation was short. Then Antipater was taken back to the dungeon, and an hour later Herod ordered him to be hanged, which was immediately carried out. It was his third son whom he ordered executed. At the time when his son was being killed in the dungeon of the palace, Herod was already dictating changes to his will:

I leave Idumea and Samara to my son Herod Archelaus. I leave Galilee and Peria to my son Herod Antipas. To my son Herod Philip I leave Iturea, the Trachonite region and Averan. Let them fairly divide Judea and Jerusalem themselves.

Not without pleasure Herod said last words. The division of Judea with Jerusalem will cause enmity between the unfriendly brothers, and he was counting on this.

By the evening of the same day she arrived at the palace Native sister Herod Solomiya. The king asked to be left alone and took an oath from his sister that she would help Archelaus in fulfilling his secret will.

Three days before his death, King Herod stopped coming to his senses. In his delirium, he named someone’s names, but none of those present could make out his words. Some of close circle Herod was later told that before his death he called for his beloved wife Mariamne (Mariamne I), who had long been strangled on his orders.

The death of King Herod, which had long been expected, was a holiday, as he himself had foreseen. News of this soon reached Rome, where Herod's ambassadors were now free to complain to Emperor Augustus:

Those who survived under him were more unhappy even than those who were tortured. Better a terrible ending than endless horror.

Then they told Augustus about the numerous atrocities of Herod and, of course, did not forget to report about the recent massacre of the infants in Bethlehem:

They killed everyone who was two years old and younger. They say that among those killed was the illegitimate son of Herod himself.

Augustus listened to the ambassadors with genuine interest, and then said:

It's better to be Herod's pig than his son.

Indeed, the Jew Herod did not eat pork and Augustus knew this.

But the blood of these babies is just a small trickle in the huge stream of blood that he shed throughout his life.

What about his other children? I heard that he executed his two sons for treason? - asked the emperor.

Not two, but three. Before his death, he hanged Antipater.

And what kind of people are the rest? – Augustus asked, looking at Herod’s presentation of his sons.

They themselves suffered from it. Archelaus is the youngest. Herod also wanted to execute him, but changed his mind. Antipas is a cheerful person, loves all kinds of fun and entertainment. She and Philip tried to stay away from their father. Philip is closed by nature, silent and incomprehensible, but we rarely saw him.

Fine! I will think. For now, according to the will of the late king, I will not confirm anyone to the kingdom, but let them take over the inheritance. I appoint Archelaus as Herod’s successor, but not as a king, but as an ethnarch, that is, the ruler of the people. I confirm to him Idumea, Samara and..., and Judea with Jerusalem. Antipas and Philip to be tetrarchs over the regions assigned to them by Herod. I'm done. – August said ending the conversation.

The Jewish ambassadors bowed and left. In their hearts they were very happy with this decision of the emperor. The Edomites are no longer kings over Israel. Now all of them, the descendants of Herod the Edomite, became simple tetrarchs (governors).

At the same time, Prince Herod Archelaus, who had not yet been confirmed by Emperor Augustus and had not entered into the inheritance, received numerous congratulations. He saw the joy of his servants, and every day from morning to evening he observed the general celebration caused by the death of his father. His other two brothers observed the same thing. There was anarchy in the country. The old king died, and there were no new kings yet.

Herod- the name of several Jewish kings or kings of Edomite origin. The main one is 1) Herod the Great, founder of the Edomite dynasty on the Jewish throne. The son of the Idumean prince Antipater, he possessed outstanding military and political talents, which made him stand out in the eyes of the Roman government, which entrusted him with the administration of Galilee in his youth. He rendered important services to the Roman government by suppressing banditry and, with his clever intrigues, was so able to establish himself before Antony and Octavius ​​that, on their instructions, he was appointed king of all Judea (in 40 BC). During the war that followed between Antony and Octavius, he knew how to maneuver between rivals so skillfully that, although in general he sided with Antony, after the latter’s defeat at Actium he was able to timely declare his allegiance to Octavius, who expanded his possessions by annexing the north-east. region Palestine - Trachonitis, Vatanei and Auranitis, and made him generally the head of Syria. Feeling solid ground beneath him, I. began to play the role of the great eastern monarch. Distinguished by his love of construction and some architectural taste, I. restored from ruins and decorated several cities of his country with magnificent buildings, giving them new names in honor of his supreme patron-ruler, Caesar Augustus (he renamed Samaria Sebastia - from the Greek word σεβαστός = Augustus, Strato's Tower - in Caesarea). In Jerusalem itself, he restored the ancient castle, which he named Antonia, and also built magnificent palaces, which became the best decoration of the city. Despite this splendor, the Jews did not like I., since they saw in him a foreigner, a Roman protege and the thief of the throne of David. Among the people, burdened with double taxes - in favor of the Romans and in favor of the magnificent, luxury-loving king - a dull murmur began. In order to reconcile his subjects with himself, I. decided to satisfy their religious feelings and decided to build a new temple, which would surpass even the Temple of Solomon in its grandeur. Construction really began on the most grandiose scale, and the temple was magnificent. For the same purpose, I. married Mariamne, the grandson of the high priest Hyrcanus II, in order to thereby give his dynasty the sanction of consanguinity with the house of David. But it was all in vain. The Jewish people were adamant in their hatred of the usurper, which was facilitated by many of his measures. Thus, in the cities he restored, he built theaters and amphitheaters, introduced Roman and Greek games, held feasts with purely pagan amusements, and generally introduced customs that, being completely pagan in nature, could only inspire Jews with a sense of horror and disgust. Things got to the point that a strong party of adherents of the law, namely the Pharisees, numbering 6,000 people, refused to take an oath of allegiance to him and hatched a conspiracy that threatened I. with overthrow. These facts clearly showed I. the mood of the people, and he, seeing the impossibility of reconciliation, decided to break the opposition with tough and cruel gentlemen. He turned into a cruel and bloodthirsty despot who mercilessly exterminated everyone and everything in which only his suspicious gaze saw a sign of sedition. So, he exterminated almost the entire house of Asmoneans, as the descendants of the legitimate rulers of the Jewish people, and did not even stop before killing Mariamne, although she was the most beloved of his ten wives. The end of his reign was marked by unimaginable horrors, which culminated in the murder of his own son Antipater. In this mood, I. is quite understandable the horror with which he listened, according to the testimony of St. Matthew (chap. II), from the eastern wise men the news that the true king of the Jews was born, to whom they came from the distant East to worship. I.'s first thought, according to this testimony, was to kill the newborn king, and when he failed to find him, he did not stop before the general beating of infants in Bethlehem (see). Struck by a serious illness, eaten alive by worms, he raged even on his deathbed and gave the order on the very day of his death to exterminate all the Jewish nobility, gathered for this purpose in a circus; but his order was not carried out. He died a few months after the birth of Christ. The main source of information about his life is Josephus, who used the works of his court historiographer Nicholas of Damascus (“Ancient Jude,” Prince XV-XVII). For a detailed account of the history of his reign, see Graetz, “Geschichte der Juden” (vol. 3); into Russian language in Lopukhin, “Bib. history" (vol. II, chapters LXVII and LXVIII), as well as in the brilliant posthumous study by E. Renan, trans. in Voskhod (April and May 1894). 2) The name I. became a family name in his dynasty and was borne by his closest successors. to his son I. Antipe, or Antipater, the will inherited a fourth part of his possessions, namely Galilee and Perea. Like his father, he was a passionate builder who, among other things, founded new town Tiberias (in honor of Emperor Tiberius), where he moved his residence. Not having his father’s means and receiving only 200 talents of income, he, however, loved purely pagan pomp and gave magnificent feasts, which even Roman poets wrote about. For his relationship with the wife of his brother Philip, see

) - king of Judea, was the son of Antipater and the ancestor of other kings of the same name, mentioned in N.Z. He ruled Judea, then a Roman province, in the year of the Nativity of the Lord in Bethlehem of Judea. However, although Herod bore the title of king, he was subordinate to the Roman Emperor. He was distinguished by his wild ferocity. A series of atrocities marked his 34-year reign - he even killed his own wife and two sons. In the thirty-third year of the reign of Herod, as we noted above, the Savior of the world, the Lord Jesus Christ, was born in Bethlehem. Having learned about the newborn King of the Jews and fearing that He would eventually take away his kingdom, Herod beat 14 thousand Bethlehem babies, thinking among them to destroy the Infant Jesus; however, soon after that he himself died a terrible death in Jericho - he was eaten alive by worms. Before his death, he divided the administration of the kingdom between his three sons. He made Archelaus ruler over Judea, Samaria and Idumea; over Galilee and Pereaea he made Herod Antipas tetrarch, giving Philip as ruler of the three upper regions on V. from Jordan: Ituria, Avranite and Trachonite (Luke 3:1). A well-known saying of Augustus, who, hearing that Herod, among the Bethlehem infants, had killed his own son, exclaimed: Better to be Herod's pig than his son! directly proves that the rumor about the massacre of the Bethlehem infants, in one form or another, penetrated even the most Rome.

b) Herod Archelaus. cm. .

V) Herod Agrippa II. cm. .

G) Herod Antipas. cm. .

e) Herod Philip I(Mark 6:17) - the son of Herod the Great and Mariamne, daughter of the high priest Simon. He should not be confused with the tetrarch Philip. He was married to Herodias, sister of Agrippa I, with whom he had a daughter, Salome. However, Herodias left Philip and entered into an incestuous marriage with Philip’s half-brother Herod Antipas (Matthew 14:3, Mark 6:17, Luke 3:19). Herod disinherited him, and Philip spent his entire life as a private man.

and) Herod Philip II- son of Herod the Great and Jerusalemite Cleopatra. He ruled over Bataneia, Trachonita and Avranita, with the title of tetrarch (Luke 3:1). His reign was distinguished by moderation and justice. He built a new city on the site of ancient Panea, called Caesarea (Matthew 16:13); im resumed G. Bethsaida in lower Gavlonite, with its renaming Julia, in which he died in 34 AD R.H. was married to Salome, daughter of Philip I and Herodias. The Herodian dynasty reigned in Judea for 140 years.

Bible. Dilapidated and New Testaments. Sinoidal translation. Biblical encyclopedia.. arch. Nikifor. 1891.

Synonyms:

See what “Herod” is in other dictionaries:

Great Hebrew הוֹרדוֹס‎, lat. Herodus Herod I the Great captures Jerusalem ... Wikipedia

Herod of Chalcis Hebrew. Wikipedia

- 'Herod a) (Mat.2:1,3,7,12,15,16,19; Luke 1:5) Herod the Great, second son of the Edomite leader Antipater, head of the family of kings and rulers of the Herods who ruled in Palestine in 1st century according to RH. In 47 BC, after the death of Antipater, he was appointed Julius Caesar... ... Bible. Old and New Testaments. Synodal translation. Biblical encyclopedia arch. Nikifor.

Herod- 'Herod a) (Mat.2:1,3,7,12,15,16,19; Luke 1:5) Herod the Great, second son of the Edomite leader Antipater, head of the family of kings and rulers of the Herods who ruled in Palestine in 1 ·v. ·according to RH. At 47 ·before Christ, after the death of Antipater, he was appointed Julius... ... Complete and detailed Bible Dictionary to the Russian Canonical Bible

Villain, bloodsucker, bloodsucker, life-cutter, inquisitor, flayer, torturer, asp, villain, tormentor, fanatic, beast, executioner, monster Dictionary of Russian synonyms. Herod, see tormentor Dictionary of synonyms of the Russian language. Practical guide. M.: Russian... ... Synonym dictionary

- (Great) (Greek descendant of the hero), second son of the Edomite, procurator of Judea, Antipater and his Arabian wife Cyprus. I. only formally belonged to the Jews, but in his adherence to the Greek. culture, incl. to its architecture, and love for luxury he was... ... Brockhaus Biblical Encyclopedia

- (Herodes). 1) Son of Antipater, king of the Jews, called the Great. IN Last year under his control the Savior was born. 2) Herod Antippa, son of the previous one, tetrarch of Galilee and Perea. He was married to Herodias and executed John the Baptist. Caligula deprived him... ... Encyclopedia of Mythology

From the Bible. The name of King Herod of Judea became a household name because the authors of the Gospels attribute to him the “massacre of the infants” (see Massacre of the Innocents), which, however, is not consistent with the real chronology, since the king of Judea Herod I (73-4 BC) died... ... Dictionary of popular words and expressions

The name of several Jewish kings or princes, of Edomite origin. The main one is: 1) Herod the Great, the founder of the Edomite dynasty on the Jewish throne. The son of the Idumean prince Antipater, he had outstanding military and political... ... Encyclopedia of Brockhaus and Efron

Today we will talk about a man whose name has become a household name in many languages ​​and serves as the personification of evil. This is Herod the Great, who became famous for his cruelty and lust for power. A bloody tyrant who killed his own sons. Herod, whom the people of Israel never called Great - what do we know about him?

Rise to power and reign

Herod came to power on Roman bayonets, or rather, on pilums - bayonets did not yet exist... He had no legal rights to reign: Herod was only one of the sons of one of the assistants of one of the contenders for power. But he convinced the Romans that he could keep the Jews in line, and he kept his promise.

His power was strengthened by quick executions of troublemakers, a powerful mercenary army, deft maneuvering between different Jewish parties, reliance on Jewish repatriates from Babylonia, skillful politics and, most importantly, the lack of an alternative. Many people rely on the lack of alternatives modern politicians, Herod also relied on this. The legitimate dynasty of David had not been in power for hundreds of years, and the Hasmonean (Maccabean) dynasty degenerated, became mired in civil strife and was already quite tired of both the aristocracy and the people. So there were no real contenders for power.

Herod also had an elaborate system for pacifying potential rebels. For example, using palace gold, he purchased bread for starving Jewish peasants! No hunger - no rebellion. And more than a dozen legions in neighboring Syria, ready at any moment to come to the aid of the Roman protege, of course, also played a significant role.

So our hero reigned, spending his time on grandiose construction (he rebuilt Caesarea, Samaria, Herodion), executions of his own sons who attempted to assassinate him, marriages/executions of wives and other innocent amusements.

Herod's insight

Herod had the hardest time in 31 BC, when his Roman patron Antony lost in civil war, and Octavian came to power in the empire, who, in theory, was supposed to deal with all former supporters of Anthony, including Herod. But here Herod was helped by his brilliant insight.

It was like this: many of Antony’s former allies came running to the camp of the victorious Octavian, and they all began vying with each other to prove to Octavian that they had never loved Antony, did all kinds of harm to him, sent rotten supplies, weak soldiers, and they themselves secretly prayed for Octavian’s victory. And from this whole crowd, only Herod stood out, who, unlike these fawning liars, described how he last minute helped Antony defeat Octavian. Everyone looked at the suicide... and then Herod uttered a brilliant phrase: “But you, Octavian, look not at whose friend I was, but at what kind of friend I was.” Octavian appreciated his resourcefulness and not only left Herod his kingdom, but also made him his friend.

Was Herod a Jew?

Was there Herod? Hard to say. His father was one of the Edomites who converted to Judaism, whose conversion to Judaism was beyond doubt, that is, according to all Jewish rules, Herod’s father was a Jew. But a child receives his soul not from his father, but from his mother. And with Herod’s mother everything is more complicated...

Herod’s mother was born an Arab, and whether her conversion to Judaism was an empty formality not recognized by the rabbis, or a real one, there is no answer to this question. Therefore, there is no answer to the question of whether her son Herod was a Jew.

Royal jumps

Historians who are also psychiatrists believe that Herod’s behavior, described in some detail by his contemporaries, indicates manic depression. This means that our royal villain suffered from bipolar disorder, that is, the mood swings that any person has, were much stronger for him and resulted in specific actions.

If a depressed person experiences fears and experiences internal conflicts, then at the manic stage, not only desires, but also possibilities seem real to him. So a manic-depressive person is much more powerful than any other person. And if he also has royal power, he can cause a lot of trouble.

Was Herod a baby killer?

"King" in the Roman Empire was nothing more than the title of a native official with broad powers. But one should not overestimate the willingness of the Romans to put a lot of meaning into the concept of “broad powers”.

For example, once Herod even had to pay for the persecution (without permission from above) of the robbers who were robbing his possessions, and even took permission from the Romans to execute the conspirators who were plotting against him. What can we say about the possibility of carrying out a massacre, the reason for which he could not even explain to the Romans, much less obtain permission for it.

Additionally, Herod died in 4 BC, a date that is clearly reflected in many sources. Moreover, his death causes such powerful changes in Judea that it is impossible to make a mistake in the date. That is, Herod dies before the birth of Jesus, which means he could not physically participate in the epic massacre of infants (which is not reflected anywhere except the New Testament).

This, of course, does not make Herod a positive hero - he did a lot of evil. He executed many young people in Galilee for resisting Roman rule and killed his own relatives, including his sons (and each time received separate sanctions from the Romans for this). He built pagan temples. No wonder the people of Israel never called him great - he was a scourge in the hands of the Romans, leaving bloody welts on the backs of the people of Israel. This is such a difficult page in history.