Professor Helen Bond

All the great things he did, the stability that he gave to the country, the great building works, putting his nation on the world stage, all of those good things that he did are completely overshadowed now by this story that he killed all the boys.

It's like a Greek tragedy or a Shakespearean play.

Herod is born into a prominent Idumean family.

They're noble people, they're wealthy, aristocratic, very ambitious.

His mother is a Nabataean, an Arab.

She also seems to be a noble woman, possibly even from the royal family.

So they're a very influential family.

The Romans really begin to emerge onto the scene at the end of the Hasmonean dynasty.

The queen, Salome Alexandra, dies in 67 BCE, and she leaves the kingdom to her eldest son, Hykenus.

Unfortunately, though, he has a younger brother, Aristobulus, who's much more warlike and aggressive.

And he decides that he wants the royal crown himself.

And so, of course, the country is plunged into civil war.

Now, this gap here provides great opportunities for Herod's father, Antipater, to exert himself and to assert his power.

He is steadfastly loyal to the rightful heir, Hykenus, and always follows Hykenus, possibly because he realized that Hykenus was a little bit weak and there were much greater chances of his own advancement if he threw in his lot with Hykenus.

Anyway, there's a civil war between these two men that goes on for several years.

Eventually, both sides go to Pompey.

Pompey the Great, who's now in Damascus,

We actually don't know very much at all about Herod's early life.

Presumably he would have moved around quite a bit because these are quite turbulent times.

He would have had a good Jewish education.