Tristan Hughes

Herod would rule for 37 years, adorning his kingdom with some of Judea's most famous ancient architecture.

He established lavish palace fortresses across the land, including at Masada.

He rebuilt, expanded and glorified Jerusalem's temple, the centre of Jewish worship and the house of their god.

He created new cities adorned with Roman and Greek architecture.

His monumental tomb is one of the greatest archaeological discoveries of recent history.

His colossal building programs helped him become known as Herod the Great.

But he was also ruthless, a paranoid tyrant who would murder several members of his own family and whose legacy has become entwined with the fabled biblical slaughter.

Well, there you go.

There was our special episode talking through the rise of Herod with not one, not two, but three fantastic experts.

Professors Benedict Eckhart and Helen Bond and Dr. Kimberly Tchaikovsky, all from the University of Edinburgh.

The story of Herod's rise is a fascinating one, so I really do hope you enjoyed the episode.

Thank you for listening.

The episode was edited together by our fantastic editor Aidan Lonergan, so Aidan, thank you so much for that.

If you did enjoy this episode, well, if you'd be kind enough to leave us a rating on Spotify, on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts, well, we'd really appreciate that.

Don't forget, you can also sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries with a new release every week.

Sign up at historyhit.com slash subscribe.

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Now, that's all from me.

Thank you for listening, let us know your thoughts in the comments, and I will see you in the next episode.

Hi, I'm Tristan Hughes and if you would like the Ancients ad-free, get early access and bonus episodes, sign up to History Hit. With a History Hit subscription, you can also watch hundreds of hours of original documentaries, including my recent documentary all about Petra and the Nabataeans, and enjoy a new release every week. Sign up now by visiting historyhit.com slash subscribe.