Professor Benedict Eckhardt

He gets shipwrecked along the way.

He does eventually make it to Rhodes and then he makes it to Rome.

When Herod's in Rome, the first person he goes to is Mark Antony, one of the key power figures in Rome at this time.

Obviously, Caesar has been killed quite a few years ago now.

In 44, we then get the various civil wars, and we're now at the point where we have the rise of Mark Antony and of Octavian, who will later become Caesar Augustus.

So these are the big Roman figures on the scene.

There have been relations before, Antony has supported Herod before, and then Herod turns up in Rome with a complete reversal of fortunes.

He has lost various members of his family, he has previously been one of the most prominent people in the region, and suddenly he has been exiled, essentially he has had to flee Jerusalem, and he has nothing, and he's turned up in Rome and he asks Antony for help.

And Antony seems quite willing to do so.

The points that are mentioned in terms of Antony's willingness to help Herod are indeed his prior relationship with his father, Antipater, remembering the good services, and also Antony's particular antipathy for Antigonus, who is obviously the Parthian candidate who is currently occupying Jerusalem.

And Herod has given many good services to the Roman in his own right, so he then becomes essentially the Roman candidate.

He becomes useful for Antony in securing this region again and for making sure that this client state has a Roman-friendly person, let's say, at this point in power.

But it's not just about Antony, because Herod then also apparently wins the support of Octavian, who is later to become Augustus.

Octavian being the adoptive son of Julius Caesar.

And Josephus is fairly explicit that it really is not just Antony.

Octavian is even more keen on Herod.

He is even fiercer in his support for putting Herod in power.

And this is again put back to citing Antipater's support for Caesar in Egypt, so way back when an awful lot goes back to this military support that his father had given, and the worries about the Parthians and about Antigonus being installed in Jerusalem.

So, Herod's plea for help is quite successful.

There ends up being a senate meeting called, where the same sort of arguments are put forward, i.e.