The Life of Herod the Great

This novel by Zora Neale Hurston is a work of historical fiction set in the first century BCE that dramatizes the life of Herod the Great, the Idumean-born king of Judea. Challenging the long-standing portrayal of Herod as a villain of Christian and Jewish tradition, the novel reimagines him as a complex figure of extraordinary ability, charisma, and tragic passion.

The story opens at the temple of Zorobabel, Jerusalem's rebuilt Second Temple, where Antipater, the wealthiest and most powerful citizen of Judea, addresses the nation. An Idumean of ducal status appointed procurator by Julius Caesar, Antipater warns against sedition and announces his eldest son, Phasaelus, as governor of Jerusalem, and his second son, Herod, as governor of Galilee. Herod's task is to suppress Hezekiah, a notorious bandit leader whose followers terrorize the region. The crowd erupts at the sight of Herod, whose extraordinary handsomeness and confidence captivate nearly everyone, though most privately believe his assignment is a death sentence.

Jerusalem's leading men gather to debate. Pollio, an eminent scholar of the Pharisees, a powerful Jewish religious-political sect, and his pupil Sameas discuss the situation with traditionalist elders who resent the family's Idumean origins and Greek customs. The conversation recounts the disastrous history of the Hasmonean dynasty, the priestly family that had ruled Judea: their internecine murders, the feeble-mindedness of the current high priest Hyrcanus II, and the civil war with his brother Aristobulus II that invited Roman intervention and Antipater's rise.

Meanwhile, Alexandra, the widowed daughter of Hyrcanus, schemes to secure the throne for her young son, Aristobulus III. Her daughter Mariamne, a beautiful girl approaching puberty, asks if she will ever be valued, but Alexandra dismisses her because she is female. When Herod rides out for Galilee in a spectacular military display, Alexandra watches from the palace, fantasizing about marrying him and ruling through his power, while Mariamne watches from another window, yearning for love and protection.

In Galilee, Herod wins over the provincial elders and pledges to destroy Hezekiah. He drives off the bandits in a skirmish near Capernaum, then lures them into the walled city of Sepphoris, where archers hidden on rooftops ambush them. He attacks Hezekiah's mountain stronghold near Lake Gennesaret and kills the bandit leader with a javelin. The Galileans celebrate him as a hero. Sextus Caesar, the Roman governor of Syria, declares Herod has "all the makings of a great king."

Herod's enemies exploit Hyrcanus's jealousy and summon Herod before the Sanhedrin, the supreme Jewish judicial council, for killing Hezekiah without legal authority. Instead of arriving humbly, Herod strides in wearing royal purple, backed by 250 armed soldiers, and glares the body into silence. Hyrcanus faints from terror. Sameas prophesies that Herod will one day master the nation.

An unexpected alliance follows as Antipater befriends Pollio and Sameas. Herod acknowledges that his marriage to his first wife, Doris, is loveless. On his return to Galilee, he detours to Mount Gilboa to commune with the spirit of King Saul, whom he regards as a patriotic warrior betrayed by the priesthood, a parallel to his own conflict with the Sanhedrin. Back in Galilee, he consolidates power and earns promotion to commander of all forces in Celesyria, the Roman province encompassing Syria and Palestine. Hyrcanus offers to betroth Mariamne to Herod, but Herod refuses. Alexandra engineers a public announcement he cannot deny without shaming the girl.

A cascade of upheavals follows. Julius Caesar is murdered in Rome. Cassius, one of Caesar's assassins, demands tribute from Judea; Herod raises his share in record time. The family's enemy Malichus poisons Antipater at a palace banquet. Herod obtains permission from Cassius and kills Malichus on a beach near Tyre. Marc Antony, now master of Asia after the Battle of Philippi, elevates Herod and Phasaelus to tetrarchs, granting them sole governance of Judea. At Tarsus, Herod witnesses the spectacular arrival of Cleopatra, queen of Egypt, on a gilded barge and watches Antony fall under her spell. Cleopatra secretly sends Herod a love note, but he, loyal to Antony, never responds.

The Parthians, rulers of an empire stretching across old Persia, invade Syria. Despite Herod's protests, Phasaelus admits Parthian horsemen into Jerusalem and accompanies Hyrcanus to a supposed peace negotiation that proves a trap. Phasaelus kills himself rather than submit to torture by Antigonus, the youngest son of Aristobulus II, who has bargained with the Parthians for the Judean throne. Antigonus bites off Hyrcanus's ears to disqualify him from the priesthood and sends him prisoner to Parthia.

Herod learns the terms of Antigonus's deal: 1,000 talents and 500 virgins from Judea's first families. He organizes a desperate nighttime escape from Jerusalem, accepting far more refugees than expected. During the march south, he fights a savage battle at a hill, annihilating a pursuing army. Afterward, Mariamne breaks from the crowd and throws herself upon Herod, declaring her love. Struck by overwhelming passion, Herod declares them married. His mother Cypros, watching Alexandra's reaction, recognizes with dread that Alexandra is in love with Herod herself.

Herod's road to Rome is arduous. King Malchus of Arabia, his kinsman, refuses him aid. In Alexandria, Cleopatra tries to recruit his military genius; he declines and escapes. A storm shipwrecks him on Rhodes. In Rome, Antony and Octavius Caesar, grandnephew and heir of the murdered Julius Caesar, champion his cause before the senate, which votes unanimously to make Herod king of Judea. He processes to the temple of Jupiter Capitoline flanked by both Roman leaders.

Herod sails home, raises an army, relieves the siege of Masada where his brother Joseph has held the fort through desperate months, and besieges Jerusalem for five months. He physically prevents Roman soldiers from defiling the temple and pays them from his own pocket to prevent plunder. Antigonus is sent in chains to Antony, who beheads him. Herod and Mariamne are crowned in splendor.

Trouble festers immediately. Alexandra's scheming never ceases. Cleopatra visits Jerusalem and openly pursues Herod, who resists out of loyalty to Antony. After her departure, Mariamne begins imitating Cleopatra's mannerisms. When Alexandra accuses Herod of arranging the drowning of young Aristobulus III, Antony summons Herod for trial but dismisses the charges. Over the years, Alexandra poisons Mariamne's mind, convincing her that Herod murdered her brother Aristobulus and her grandfather Hyrcanus. Mariamne grows hostile, openly declaring hatred and refusing to share Herod's bed. When a cup-bearer reveals she gave him a substance, possibly poison, for the king's wine, Herod orders her tried. Alexandra betrays her own daughter in court, denouncing Mariamne to save herself. Mariamne is condemned and strangled; at the last moment, she cries out and begs for her life.

Herod falls into devastating grief, calling Mariamne's name as though she were still alive. He retreats to an Essene monastery near the Jordan River, where the Essenes, a Jewish sect devoted to communal living and spiritual purity, nurse him back to health. When Alexandra attempts to seize key fortresses during his illness, he orders her executed.

After five years, Herod remarries and enters the height of his reign, building the cities of Sebaste and Caesarea, saving the nation during famine by stripping his palace of gold to buy grain, and earning from Caesar Augustus the title "Herod the Great." His crowning achievement is rebuilding the temple of Jerusalem, completed in 18 months, which becomes one of the showplaces of the ancient world. His sons Alexander and Aristobulus, Mariamne's children educated in Rome, return only to be corrupted by anti-Herodian factions, publicly denouncing their father as a usurper and murderer. Herod hosts Marcus Agrippa, a powerful Roman statesman, in Judea and accompanies him through Asia Minor, interceding for Jewish communities living outside Judea and securing their right to live by their own laws.

The surviving text ends with Herod at the height of his powers. An epilogue drawn from Hurston's letters argues that Herod supported the Essene movement from which Christianity evolved and that the Sanhedrin would never have dared persecute Jesus under Herod's protection. After 37 years on the throne, Hurston writes, Herod died peacefully in his bed.