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is amazing that he survived so long, but as a young man this handsome, athletic and kind Arab –
not many princes in his day bothered to ransom their younger brothers – managed to convince the Romans
and
the Jews he was the only figure in the landscape they could trust. He was
trusted by and loyal to Antony and then, in spite of being penniless, was believed by the new conqueror, Octavian (Augustus), who added to his dominions and trusted him as completely. By the age of
thirty-six, through charm, daring and political genius – much of which consisted in out-bribing the bribers – he became the King of Judaea, ‘the friend of Caesar, the most
distinguished non-Roman in the Roman world, known throughoutthe Empire for his wealth, his splendour and his magnificence’. 8
    His money came not from taxation and, though he was the biggest spender in the ancient world, and second to the Emperor Hadrian the biggest builder, he was never in debt. Through his mother,
whose father was a merchant in Petra – not then a picturesque spot with rose-red walls, but the most profitable trading-post in the world – he controlled the traffic from the East to
the Mediterranean, owned the palm and balsam groves round Jericho, ran on Augustus’ behalf the copper mines in Cyprus and split the profits with him, and lent money to other local kings.
    Though not a Jew, he professed and marketed Judaism (although the spiritual element eluded him) with as much zeal and on a greater scale than any Jewish king since Solomon. (The institution of
monarchy, ‘fashionable in modern times’, as Gibbon sourly remarks, was a Jewish invention.) He rebuilt the Temple in Jerusalem within an enclosure covering thirty-five acres, greater
than the area of the Acropolis, and filled it with colossal buildings. The Temple was begun in 19 BC and not completed till AD 64. The little Old
City of today’s Jerusalem, cosy if tortured, encircled by Saladin’s intact wall, is a fraction of the size of Herod’s and is without an edifice of any remark. Herod’s city
was staggering. Here is Sir Charles Wilson, quoted by Stewart Perowne, on the Royal Portico, which he investigated 100 years ago: ‘It is almost impossible to realize the effect which would be
produced by a building longer and higher than York Cathedral, standing on a solid mass of masonry almost equal in height to the tallest of our church spires: and to this we must add the whiteness
of stone fresh from the mason’s hands.’
    Within his kingdom, Herod created ‘western’ cities like Caesarea, and the fortress Masada, where he planned to retreat in case of heavy trouble from his own
subjects. Synonymous with munificence internationally, like a Carnegie, a Rockefeller or a Rothschild, Herod spread his
euergetai
– good works – throughout the Empire, repaving
Antioch with marble, presiding at great expense over the Olympic Games and constantly giving hand-outs to good and bad causes.
    One of his subjects, born just before his death, must have been awed by Herod’s development of Jerusalem. The young Galilean from Nazareth – not a highly rated place in his day
– may have contemplated its gardens and palaces with resentment, for he was not invited in. Jesus’ only rich friend was Lazarus, in nearby Bethania (Bethany), whose hospitality he was
able to repay with the ultimate gift – life. His overturning of the money-changers’ tables outside the Temple would have been regarded by the fat cats of Jerusalem as a Republican
Senator would consider a raid on the souvenir shop at Fort Knox today.
    The special relationship between Rome and Jerusalem, the Imperial family and Herod, could not survive his death and in AD 6, Judaea was annexed as a province and subsumed
by Syria. Through the reigns of Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius and Nero, Herod the Great’s dominions were chopped about and administered by governors or procurators of no particular account,
certain of whom are known to