HER'OD, the name of a family which rose to power in Judea during the period which immediately preceded the complete destruction of the Jewish nationality. The family was of Idumean descent; but, though alien in blood, was .Jewish to religion, the Idumeans having been conquered and converted to Judaism by John Hyrcanus, 130 B.C. The most remarkable rulers of the name are four in number—Herod the great, Herod Antipas, and Herod Agrippa I. and II. (for the last two, see AGRIPPA). 1. HEROn TUE GIdEAT. He was the second son of Antipater, who was appointed procura tor of Judea by Julius Cxsar, 47 B.C. At the time of his father's elevation, Herod, though only 15 years of age, was made governor of Galilee, and afterwards of Cole-Syria; and finally he and his elder brother were made joint-tetrarchs of .Judea; but he was soon displaced by Antigonus, the representative of the Asmo.,ean dynasty. and forced to flee to Rome, where he obtained, through the patronage of Antony, a full recognition of his claims, together with the title of king of Judea, 40 p.c. Several years elapsed, however, before he succeeded in establishing himself in Jerusalem. On the fall of Antony, he managed to secure a continuance of favor from Augustus, from whom he not only obtained a confirmation of his title. to the kingdom, but also a con siderable accession of territory, 31 me. From this time till his death, his reign was undisturbed by foreign war; but it was stained with cruelties and atrocities of a char acter almost without parallel in history. Every member of the Asmonean family, and even those of his own blood, fell in succession a sacrifice to his jealous fears; and in the latter years of his life, the lightest shade of suspicion sufficed as the ground for his wholesale butcheries, which are related in detail by Josephus. Of these, the one with
which we are best acquainted is the slaughter of the infants at Bethlehem. The one eminent quality by which Herod was distinguished was his love of magnificence in architecture, and the grandeur of the public works executed under his direction. Even by these, however, he alienated the Jews, who ascribed them all to his gentile leanin7s. and to a covert design of subverting the national religion. Herod married no fewer than ten wives, by whom he had fourteen children. He died of a loathsome disease at the age of 70, after a reign of 37 years.-2. HEnon ANTIPAS, son of Herod the great by his wife Malthace, a Samaritan, was originally designed by his father as his successor: but by the final arrangements of the will of Herod the great, Antipas was named tetrarch of Galilee and Perea. He divorced his first wife, the daughter of Aretas, king of Arabia Petrea, in order to marry Herodias, the wife of his half-brother Philip—au incestuous connection, against which John the baptist remonstrated, and was in conse quence put to death. It was during a visit of Herod Antipas to Jerusalem for the pur pose of celebrating the passover that our Lord, as having been a resident of his tetrarchate, was sent before him by Pilate for examination. At a later time he made a journey to Rome, in the hope of obtaining the title of king; but he not only failed in this design, but, through the intrigues of Herod Agrippa, was banished to Luirdunum (Lyon), where he died in exile.