Professor Helen Bond

He'd have gone to the synagogue.

He would have had private tutors at home as well.

He'd have been taught Greek and history and all the things that a young aristocrat needs to know.

We do know that later on, Herod liked to sort of think of himself as a bit of an intellectual.

So he wrote memoirs and, you know, clearly he'd had some sort of educational background.

Jerusalem is led by a council of noblemen who advise the king, Hykenus.

And most of these are made up of the old nobility, people who are pro-Hasmonean, old money, we might say.

And they get very jealous of Antipater and his sons.

And clearly, they resent the fact that they are now quickly rising to power.

So they start to insinuate things in the ear of the king.

And they particularly

take on Herod.

Herod at first isn't particularly worried by this because he doesn't think he's done anything wrong.

He's got very powerful backing in the shape of Sextus Caesar in Syria, who actually sends a note to say, make sure he's acquitted.

He's also fairly confident that his family are high standing, and so he doesn't think he's got anything to worry about.

When he gets there, according to Josephus, he wears purple robes and he goes in with a bodyguard in full military dress.

Not enough to make anyone suspicious that he's staging a coup, but just enough to let them know that he's somebody significant.

On the Ides of March in 44 BCE, Julius Caesar is assassinated.

And this is a massive event for Herod and his family because they have very much pinned their colors to Julius Caesar.

And now suddenly without him, that leaves them in an uncertain territory.