Notwithstanding that he thus alienated his subjects from him, he greatly improved his country by the num- ber of fine towns and magnificent public buildings which he had erected. He built a temple at Samaria, and con- verted it into a Roman cit,y mider the name of Sebaste. He also built Gaba in Galilee, and Heshbonitis in Peiaja (Josephus, Ant. xv, 8, 5), besides several other towns, which he called by the names of different members of his family, as Antipatris, from the name of his father Antipater, and Phasaelis, in the plains of Jericho, after his brother Phasael (Josephus, A nt. xvi, 5, 2). On many other towns in Syria and Greece he bestowed money, but his grandest undertaking was the rebuilding of the Temple at Jerusalem. It Mas commenced in the ISth year of his reign (B.C. 21), and the work was canned on with such vigor that the Temple itself (vaot), i. e. the Holy House, was finished in a year and a half (Josephus, -4 «/!! x V, 1 1 , 1 , 6). The cloisters and other buildings were finished in eight years (Josephus, ^ ?!?. xv, 11, 5). Ad- ditions and repairs were continually made, and it was not tin the reign of Herod Agrippa II (c. A.D. 65) that the Temple {to \((i6v) was completed (Josephus, yl ^^^ xx, 9, 7). Hence the Jews said to our Lord, " Forty and six years was this Temple in building [^Jico^oju/yer/— and is not even yet completed], and wilt thou raise it up in three days'!" (John ii, 20). This took place in A.D. 26, not long after our Lord's baptism, who '• was about thirty years of age" (Luke iii, 23), and who was born some two years before the death of Herod, in B.C. 4, according to the true chronology. This beautiful Temple, though built in honor of the God of Israel, did not win the hearts of the people, as is proved by the revolt which took place shortly before Herod's death, when the Jews tore down the golden eagle ivhich he had fastened to the Temple, and broke it in pieces (Josephus, Aniiq. xvii, 6, 2, 3).
HEROD
213
HEROD
The diversity of Herod's nature is remarkable. On regariling liis magnificence, and the benetits he bestow- ed upon his people, one cannot deny that he had a very benelicent disposition ; but wlien we read of his cruel- ties, not only to his subjects, but even to his own rela- tions, one is forced to allow that he was brutish and a stranger to humanity (comp. Josephus, Ant. xvi, 5, 4). His serviUty to Kome is amply shown by the manner in Avhich he transgressed the customs of his nation and set aside many of their laws, building cities and erecting temples in foreign countries, for the Jews did not permit him so to do in Judrea, even though they were under so tj-rannical a government as that of Herod. His con- fessed apology was that he was acting to please Ctesar and the Romans, and so through all his reign he was a Jewish prince only in name, with a Hellenistic disposition (comp. Josephus, Ant. xv, 9, 5; xix, 7, 3). It has even been supposed (Jost, Gesch. d. Judenth. i, 323) that the rebuilding of the Temple furnished him with the oppor- tunity of destroying the authentic collection of geneal- ogies which was of the highest importance to the priest- ly famiUes. Herod, as appears from his public designs, affected the dignity of a second Solomon, but he joined the license of that monarch to his magnificence ; and it was said that the monument which he raised over the royal tombs was due to the fear which seized him after a sacrilegious attempt to rob them of secret treasiu-es (Josephus, .1 nt. xvi, 7, 1). He maintained peace at home during a long reign by the vigor and timely generosity of his administration. Abroad he conciliated the good- will of the Romans under circumstances of unusual diffi- culty. His ostentatious display, and even his arbitrary tyranny, was calculated to inspire Orientals with awe. Eold and yet prudent, oppressive and yet profuse, he had many of the characteristics which make a popular hero ; and the title which may have been first given in admiration of successful despotism now serves to bring out in clearer contrast the terrible price at which the success was purchased.
Josephus gives Herod I the surname of Great ('Hpii- h]Q 6 jiiiyaQ). Ewald suggests that the title =elder is only intended to distinguish him from the younger Herod (Antipas), and compares the cases of 'EkKiac 6 /(f'yrtC {Ant. xviii, 8, 4) and Agrippa the Great, in con- tradistinction to Helcias, the keeper of the sacred treas- ure (Ant. XX, 11, 1), and to Agrippa H. The title "Agrippa the Great" is confirmed by coins, on which he is styled MEFAS (Eckhel, Doct.' Num. Vet. lii, 492; Akerman, Num. Chron. ix, 23), and so, says Ewald, "it may similarly have been given upon the coins of Her- od, and from this the origin of the surname may have been derived" {Geschichte, iv, 473, note). There are, however, no coins of Herod I with the title rp-eat. It is best to suppose that the title in Josephus is merely a distinguishing epithet, and not meant to express great- ness of character or achievements.