|Herod the Great| Born: c. 74 BC Died: 4 BC Location of death:
Jerusalem, Palestine Cause of death: unspecified Remains:
Buried, Herodium, Jerusalem, Israel Race or Ethnicity: White
Sexual orientation: Straight Nationality: Ancient Rome Executive
summary: Roman Ruler of Palestine Herod the Great, the son of
Antipater, who supported Hyrcanus II against Aristobulus II with
the aid first of the Nabataean Arabs and then of Rome. The
family seems to have been of Idumaean origin, so that its
members were liable to the reproach of being half-Jews or even
foreigners. Justin Martyr has a tradition that they were
originally Philistines of Ascalon, and on the other hand
Nicolaus of Damascus asserted that Herod, his royal patron, was
descended from the Jews who first returned from the Babylonian
Captivity. The tradition and the assertion are in all
probability equally fictitious and proceed respectively from the
foes and the friends of the Herodian dynasty. Antipas (or
Antipater), the father of Antipater, had been govern