Herod
Excerpt
From 37 until his death in 4 b.c., Herod ruled as king of the Jews, a reign marked by his total loyalty to Rome, his grandiose and sometimes magnificent building programs, his family strife, and his harsh repression of any opposition. Herod showed an uncanny ability to maintain favor with the Roman leadership, managing, for example, to switch his allegiance from Antony to Octavian (later Augustus) after the Battle of Actium in 31 b.c.
In honor of Augustus, Herod rebuilt ancient Samaria into the Hellenistic city of Sebaste (Gk., ‘Augustus’), and he constructed, on the site of a minor anchorage on the Mediterranean coast called Strato’s Tower, the magnificently planned and constructed city of Caesarea Maritima, a major port and the Roman administrative center for Palestine. There is much to admire in Caesarea, including the enormous blocks of stone with which a breakwater was constructed to make a harbor, the sewers that were designed to be flushed out by the sea, and the theaters and temples of the city. The crown of Herod’s constructions, however, was the Temple in Jerusalem, which he rebuilt on a grandiose scale. The project, begun in 20 b.c., was not completed until a.d. 62, and it is this Temple that Jesus and his disciples knew. Recent excavations along the south and southwest walls of the Temple Mount have revealed the broad stairways leading up to the two wide gates on the southern wall, as well as many details of the construction of the walls and of the streets around them. More
Achtemeier, Paul J., Harper & Row and Society of Biblical Literature. Harper’s Bible dictionary 1985: 385. Print.
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