May 8, 2007, 18:08 GMT
Jerusalem - Herod the Great, whose tomb archaeologists said Tuesday that have discovered at a location 15 kilometres south of Jerusalem, was the biblical king who according to Christian tradition slaughtered the new-born in Bethlehem after Jesus was born.
To the Jews, he was the client king of Rome who ruled as a bloody tyrant, executing many of his subjects, his own wife and three sons among them.
But he was also known for his extensive building projects, such as the historical fortress of Masada on a hilltop overlooking the Dead Sea, the Roman port of Caesaria, on the Mediterranean coast south of Haifa, the Herodium fortress in the Judean desert where his tomb was discovered, and extensive renovations to the Second Biblical Temple in Jerusalem, which even today is sometimes known as 'herod's Temple'.
He was born, around 74 BC, into a wealthy and influential Edomite family which had been forcibly converted to Judaism. When the Romans intervened in a civil war in Judea, and the kingdom became a Roman protectorate, Herod, thanks to the influence of his father, was appointed governor of the Galilee.
When the Parthians invaded Judea in around 40 BC, Herod fled to Rome, where he was granted the title of 'King of the Jews' by the Roman Senate.
But he did not fully conquer his kingdom for another three or so years.
Although he had backed Mark Anthony in the former's struggle with Octavian, later Augustus Caesar, Herod managed to convince Octavian he would henceforth support him.
Octavian responded by adding Samaria and the coast of Judea to Herod's realm, and then later giving him control of Gaza and Jericho, which had been independent.
Although his building projects won him plaudits, he was not a popular ruler, feared by most and hated by Orthodox Jews for his Greek tastes, which were at complete variance with strict Hebraic tradition and custom.
He married ten times, and had at least 14 children.
Herod died in 4 BC, from an illness the contemporary historian Flavius Josephus described as 'excruciating'. Some medical experts believed he succumbed to chronic kidney disease complicated by Fournier's gangrene.
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