Editing Herod the Great (section)

== Death ==
[[File:Herodian Tetrarchy political map.svg|thumb|Divisions of the Herodian kingdom:<br />{{legend inline|#dab7bb|Territory under [[Herod Archelaus]]}}<br />{{legend inline|#bcbdcf|Territory under [[Herod Antipas]]}}<br />{{legend inline|#e8bd9a|Territory under [[Philip the Tetrarch]]}}<br />{{legend inline|#c6cc9e|Territory under [[Salome I]]}}]]
Herod died in [[Jericho]],{{sfn|''Britannica''}} after an unidentified but excruciatingly painful, putrefying illness, known to posterity as "Herod's Evil".{{Efn|Based on Josephus' descriptions, one medical expert has diagnosed Herod's cause of death as [[chronic kidney disease]] complicated by [[Fournier's gangrene]].<ref>CNN.com – Health (25 January 2002). [http://edition.cnn.com/2002/HEALTH/conditions/01/25/king.herod/ Mystery of Herod's death 'solved'] ''CNN'' Archives, 2002. Accessed 30 January 2013.</ref>}}<ref>[http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/196/what-loathsome-disease-did-king-herod-die-of What loathsome disease did King Herod die of?], ''[[The Straight Dope]]'', November 23, 1979</ref>{{sfn|''Antiquities of the Jews''|loc=[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=J.+AJ+17.6.5&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0146 17.6.5]}} Josephus states that the pain of his illness led Herod to attempt suicide by stabbing, and that the attempt was thwarted by his cousin.{{sfn|''Antiquities of the Jews''|loc=[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0146%3Abook%3D17%3Awhiston+chapter%3D7%3Awhiston+section%3D1 17.7]}} In some much later narratives and depictions, the attempt succeeds; for example, in the 12th-century [[Eadwine Psalter]].<ref>{{Cite book |title=English romanesque art 1066–1200: Hayward Gallery; London 5 April–8 July 1984 |publisher=Arts Council of Great Britain |year=1984 |isbn=978-0-7287-0386-5 |editor-last=Zarnecki |editor-first=George |location=London |page=111}}</ref> Other medieval dramatizations, such as the [[Ordo Rachelis]], follow Josephus' account.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Murray |first=Alexander |title=Suicide in the Middle Ages: The Curse on Self-Murder |volume=2 |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2000 | isbn=978-0-19-161399-9}}</ref>

Josephus stated that Herod was so concerned that no one would mourn his death that he commanded a large group of distinguished men to come to Jericho, and he gave an order that they should be killed at the time of his death so that the displays of grief that he craved would take place;{{sfn|''Antiquities of the Jews''|loc=[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0146%3Abook%3D17%3Awhiston+chapter%3D6%3Awhiston+section%3D5 17.6.5]}} his brother-in-law Alexas and his sister Salome did not carry out this wish.{{sfn|''Antiquities of the Jews''|loc=[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0146%3Abook%3D17%3Awhiston+chapter%3D8%3Awhiston+section%3D2 17.8.2]}}

=== Dating ===
{{Anchor|Year of death: either 5, 4 or 1 BCE, or 1 CE}}Most scholarship concerning the date of Herod's death follows [[Emil Schürer]]'s calculations, which suggest that the date was in or around 4&nbsp;BCE; this is three years earlier than the previous consensus and tradition (1&nbsp;BCE).<ref>[[Schürer, Emil]]. ''A History of the Jewish People in the Time of Jesus Christ'', Vol. I, Herod the Great pp. 400–467, New York, Scribner's, 1896. [https://archive.org/details/historyofjewishp01sch/]</ref><ref name="Marshall2012" />{{sfn|Steinmann|2011|pp=219–256}}<ref>Barnes, Timothy David. "The Date of Herod's Death," ''Journal of Theological Studies'' ns 19 (1968), 204–219</ref><ref>Bernegger, P. M. "Affirmation of Herod's Death in 4 B.C.", ''Journal of Theological Studies'' ns 34 (1983), 526–531.</ref><ref>Knoblet, Jerry. ''Herod the Great'' (University Press of America, 2005), p. 179.</ref>
Two of Herod's sons, Archelaus and Philip the Tetrarch, dated their rule from 4&nbsp;BCE,{{sfn|''The Jewish War''|loc=1.631–632}} though Archelaus apparently held royal authority during Herod's lifetime.{{sfn|''The Jewish War''|loc=2.26}} Philip's reign would last for 37 years, until his death in the 20th year of [[Tiberius]] (34&nbsp;CE), which implies his accession as 4&nbsp;BCE.<ref>[[Harold Hoehner|Hoehner, Harold]]. ''Herod Antipas'', (Zondervan, 1980) p. 251.</ref>

Some scholars support the traditional date of 1&nbsp;BCE for Herod's death.<ref>Edwards, Ormond. "Herodian Chronology", ''[[Palestine Exploration Quarterly]]'' 114 (1982) 29–42</ref><ref>Keresztes, Paul. ''Imperial Rome and the Christians: From Herod the Great to About 200 AD'' (Lanham, Maryland: University Press of America, 1989), pp. 1–43.</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |year=1989 |editor-last=Vardaman |editor-first=Jerry |editor2-last=Yamauchi |editor2-first=Edwin M. |title=The Nativity and Herod's Death |journal=Chronos, Kairos, Christos: Nativity and Chronological Studies Presented to Jack Finegan |location=Winona Lake, IN |publisher=Eisenbrauns |pages=85–92}}</ref><ref>Finegan, Jack. [http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/brill/not/2009/00000051/00000001/art00001 ''Handbook of Biblical Chronology''], Rev. ed. (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1998) 300, §&nbsp;516.</ref>

Filmer, for example, proposes that Herod died in 1&nbsp;BCE, and that his heirs backdated their reigns to 4&nbsp;or 3&nbsp;BCE to assert an overlapping with Herod's rule, and bolster their own legitimacy.<ref name="Filmer1966">Filmer, W. E. "Chronology of the Reign of Herod the Great", ''[[Journal of Theological Studies]]'' ns 17 (1966), 283–298.</ref><ref name="Marshall2012">Marshall, Taylor. ''The Eternal City'' (Dallas: St. John, 2012), pp. 35–65.</ref> Based on the coins of Herod's sons Steinmann and Young argue that Herod's sons antedated their reigns to 6&nbsp;BCE before Herod's death so that their reigns cannot be used to argue for a 4&nbsp;BCE date for Herod's death.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Steinmann |first1=Andrew E. |last2=Young |first2=Rodger C. |year=2021 |title=The Case for Antedating in the Reigns of Herod's Sons |journal=Bibliotheca Sacra |volume=178 |pages=436–455}}</ref>

In Josephus' account, Herod's death was preceded by first a Jewish fast day (10 Tevet&nbsp;3761/Sun 24 Dec 1&nbsp;BCE), a [[lunar eclipse]] and followed by [[Passover]] (27 March 1&nbsp;CE).{{sfn|''Antiquities of the Jews''|loc=[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=J.+AJ+17.6.4&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0146 17.6.4]}} Objections to the 4&nbsp;BCE date include the assertion that there was not nearly enough time between the eclipse on March&nbsp;13 and Passover on April&nbsp;10 for the recorded events surrounding Herod's death to have taken place.<ref name="Filmer1966" /><ref>Steinmann, Andrew. [http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/brilleclipses /not/2009/00000051/00000001/art00001 "When Did Herod the Great Reign?"]{{dead link|date=January 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, ''Novum Testamentum'', Volume 51, Number 1, 2009, pp. 1–29.</ref><ref name="Marshall2012" />
In 66&nbsp;CE, Eleazar ben Hanania compiled the [[Megillat Taanit]], which contains two unattributed entries for cause of festivity: 7 Kislev and 2 Shevat. A later Scholion (commentary) on the Megillat Taanit attributes the 7 Kislev festivity to king Herod the Great's death (no year is mentioned).<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20190715202448/http://www.verednoam.com/articles/Noam%20MegillatTaanit.pdf Megillat Taanit – The Scroll of Fasting] by [[Vered Noam]]</ref> Some scholars ignore the Scholion and attribute the 2 Shevat date instead to Herod's death.

=== Successors ===
Augustus respected the terms of Herod's will, which stipulated the division of Herod's kingdom among three of his sons.<ref>{{harvnb|''Antiquities of the Jews''|loc=17.12.317–319}}. Augustus "appointed Archelaus, not indeed to be the king of the whole country, but [[ethnarch]] of one half of that which had been subject to Herod, and promised to give him the royal dignity hereafter, if he governed his part virtuously. But as for the other half, he divided it into two parts, and gave it to two other of Herod's sons, to Philip and to [[Herod Antipas]], that Herod Antipas who disputed with Archelaus for the whole kingdom. Now, to him it was that [[Perea]] and [[Galilee]] paid their tribute, which amounted annually to two hundred talents, while [[Batanea]] with [[Trachonitis]], as well as [[Auranitis]], with a certain part of what was called House of Lenodorus, paid the tribute of one hundred talents to Philip; but Idumea, and Judea, and the country of Samaria, paid tribute to Archelaus, but had now a fourth part of that tribute taken off by the order of Caesar, who decreed them that mitigation, because they did not join in this revolt with the rest of the multitude."</ref>  Augustus recognised Herod's son Herod Archelaus as [[ethnarch]] of Judea, Samaria, and [[Idumea]] from {{Circa|4&nbsp;BCE|6&nbsp;CE|lk=no}} Augustus then judged Archelaus incompetent to rule, removed him from power, and combined the provinces of Samaria, Judea proper, and Idumea into [[Iudaea province]].<ref>Ben-Sasson, H. H. ''A History of the Jewish People'', Harvard University Press, 1976, {{ISBN|978-0-674-39731-6}}, p. 246: "When Archelaus was deposed from the ethnarchy in 6&nbsp;CE, Judea proper, Samaria and Idumea were converted into a Roman province under the name Iudaea."</ref> This enlarged province was ruled by a [[Prefect#Ancient Rome|prefect]] until the year 41&nbsp;CE. As to Herod's other sons, Herod Antipas was tetrarch of [[Galilee]] and [[Peraea]] from Herod's death to 39&nbsp;CE when he was deposed and exiled; Philip became tetrarch of territories north and east of the Jordan, namely [[Iturea]], [[Trachonitis]], [[Batanea]], [[Gaulanitis]], [[Auranitis]] and [[Paneas]],<ref>{{bibleverse|Luke|3:1}}</ref>{{sfn|''Antiquities of the Jews''|loc=[https://www.gutenberg.org/files/2848/2848-h/2848-h.htm#link172HCH0008 Concerning Herod's Death, And Testament, And Burial]}}{{sfn|''Antiquities of the Jews''|loc=[https://www.gutenberg.org/files/2848/2848-h/2848-h.htm#link172HCH0011 An Embassage To Caesar; And How Caesar Confirmed Herod's Testament]}} and ruled until his death in 34&nbsp;CE.