The Days of Our Loves, Herod Style

If you like those soap opera type stories of dysfunctional families or maybe royal palace intrigue, you need look no further than the New Testament, the histories of Josephus, and the lives of the Herod Family.

Herod the Great was the patriarch of this particular and peculiar family and, as you may recall, he ruled Palestine from about 36 BCE to 4 BCE. History records that he was, quite literally, an evil genius. He was a great builder who was responsible for rebuilding the temple of Jerusalem, the fortress at Masada, and many other colossal projects. He was a savvy business man and a partner of Cleopatra in a business venture that extracted tar from the natural tar pits near the Dead Sea and used it to create a sort of primitive asphalt which they sold…