World Religious Traditions II
LAIDE AYODELE
REL/134
June 11th, 2014
STEVEN SELLERS

Introduction:

Herod the great was popularly known as an outstanding man and one of the

personalities in Jewish history. Herod was raised as an Indumeans Jew, and his family

was forced to practice Judaism. He never liked the fact that his family was forced to

convert to Judaism along with the Indumeans, and a s young boy he did not fit with the

rest of his Jewish peers. He was always bullied and treated differently by the kids in his

neighborhood. Because of his family background and history, he was never fortunate to

have any friend instead he focused on his future and plan to rule Judea someday. He

didn’t get the opportunity to meet his mother because she died at child birth; he looked

up to his father as a role model because he was successful, tricky and smart. These are

the attributes Antipater manipulated and made his two sons governors over Galilee and

Jerusalem

Even though, he was ambitious and cruel during his reign that did not hinder

him in terms of understanding the period of Roman domination of the Jewish people.

His was brought into the spot light when he was appointed as the governor of Galilee;

the position was influenced by his father, Antipater. During his career as a governor, his

brutality was noticed when he crushed a revolt in Galilee. His rise to power is the

roman civil war which initiated Rome being ruled by Caesars and emperors. It all started

during the battle of Actium in 31 BC which was between Anthony and Octaviun. Initially Herod

sided with Anthony but later switched his allegiance to Octaviun, who won the battle. Octaviun

changed his name to Augustus when he became the first Roman emperor. Herod was made king

of Israel by the confirmation from Augustus.

Herod wanted to rule over more land because he was not satisfied with the people due

to fact that he was an Indumean Jew and so he looked up to Rome. His opportunity came when

some people in Galilee wanted to rebel against Rome to gain their independence, Herod killed

everyone who participated because he never cared for people of Galilee and because of his

brutality he was summoned for a trial with the Sanhedrin, he didn’t care about the Sanhedrin

because he had the power and affluence, after the demise of Caesar, he made friends with the

newest king of Asia so as to remain king over Judea. During his thirty three years as the king of

Judea, Herod initiated the development and social stability of the country.

King Herod even married a Hasmorian princess in hope of gaining the support of her

people. Herod was upset that his people hated him even though he was economically doing well.

he made Judea richer than it ever had been. He loved to build extravagant and beautiful

buildings and castles and cities. Out of all the years he ruled he never got the trust or respect of

his people and he hated that. He was selfish and smart and powerful and he wanted to be popular

he wanted his people to love him and wanted to be known forever so he made one more last

project before he died. That project was the rebuilding of the temple. He made the temple the

most expensive and beautiful place known to history for the wrong reasons. He didn’t care that it

was for God himself all he really cared about was the fact that he will be known for building

such a beautiful temple. And that is exactly what He is most known for. Herod lived a long life

he was a strong but horrible leader.

He never