Herod Ior Herod the Great (c. 72 – 4 or 1 BCE) was a Roman Jewish client king of the Herodian kingdom of Judea. He is known for his colossal building projects. Among these works are the rebuilding of the Second Temple in Jerusalem and the expansion of its base—the Western Wall being part of it. Many of the crucial details of his life are recorded in the works of the 1st century CE Roman–Jewish historian Josephus.
Despite Herod's successes, including forging a new aristocracy, he has been criticized by various historians. Some consider his reign to have been tyrannical.9][
Herod the Great is described in the Christian Bible as the coordinator of the Massacre of the Innocents. Most other New Testament references to 'Herod' are either to his son Herod Antipas (such as the events leading to the executions of John the Baptist and Jesus of Nazareth in Matthew 14), or his grandson Herod Agrippa (in Acts 12). Upon Herod's death, the Romans divided his kingdom among three of his sons and his sister: his son Herod Antipas received the tetrarchy of Galilee and Peraea.