Herod, an Idumaean appointed king of Judea by the Roman Senate, ruled from 37 to 4 BC. He rebuilt the Jerusalem Temple on a grand scale and founded Caesarea Maritima, but was also remembered for ruthlessness, including the execution of his wife Mariamne and several of his sons.
Matthew and Luke date Jesus’s birth to the end of his reign, which places it about 6–4 BC. Matthew tells of the magi’s visit and of Herod’s order to kill the boys of Bethlehem, an episode no other ancient source records; historians are divided over whether it reflects a memory consistent with his character or a narrative modelled on the story of Moses.
Where to start
Every mention
11 writings- 740 BCHosea: out of Egypt I called my sonThe Prophets1×
- 720 BCMicah: the ruler from BethlehemThe Prophets1×
- 600 BCJeremiah: Rachel’s weeping and the new covenantThe Prophets1×
- AD 85The Gospel of MatthewThe New Testament4×
- AD 85The Gospel of LukeThe New Testament1×
- AD 93Josephus, Jewish Antiquities, Book 18: the Testimonium Flavianum and John the BaptistWitnesses Outside the Church1×
- AD 170The Infancy Gospel of James (Protevangelium of James)The Other Gospels2×
- AD 170Tatian’s DiatessaronThe Other Gospels1×
- AD 550Hone’s Apocryphal New Testament: the Arabic Infancy Gospel and the Abgar LettersThe Other Gospels2×
- 2026Guide to the research and the world before JesusThe Dossier1×
- 2026Jesus’s life: a chronological catalogue of the canonical narrativesThe Dossier2×