Professor Helen Bond

He can't do it on his own.

Herod must have felt quite isolated at the time.

Josephus paints a really vivid portrait of Herod coming out of the Senate building with Mark Antony on one side, Octavian on the other.

All these consuls and magistrates and they go up to the Capitol and they offer sacrifice.

And this is a great moment of triumph for Herod.

This is the greatest honor his family could ever have imagined.

Galilee is sort of his natural homeland.

That's where he's had most association.

It's a very difficult war to win, though, because it feels like almost as soon as he settles one area and leaves, things pop up.

So the city of Sepphoris revolts.

He has to go back and sort that out.

There's still trouble with brigands and rebels in Galilee.

And one of the stories that Josephus tells us gives us a real insight into Herod as a strategist.

Apparently, there are bandits in caves in Galilee, but the caves are sort of on a sheer drop.

The only way to get up to them is by tiny little tracks that are lower down.

And so, of course, as soon as anybody comes to try and get to the rebels, they can just cut them down easily.

But Herod thinks about it and thinks, how can I manage this?

And he builds cages and has them put down from on high.

He sort of lowers them down with soldiers in the cages.

And so they sort of come right up to the caves and then they can kill the rebels in the caves.