Monuments and Madness

Herod the Great ushered in a new era of building activity as fortresses, palaces, and roads were constructed with technological innovation and in stupendous proportion. However, his paranoia and obsession to retain power at all costs caused much intrigue in the royal palace. Incensed that Herod had appointed his close acquaintance, Hananel, to the high priesthood instead of her own son Aristobulus III, Alexandra, Herod's mother-in-law, appealed to Cleopatra of Egypt and Mark Antony. But it was not long before Herod had the newly appointed Aristobulus drowned in a pool at Jericho and, after exonerating himself before Cleopatra and Mark Antony, also managed to arrange for the death of the boy's mother, Alexandra. Further suspicions drove him to have his wife, Miriamne, and later their two sons, Aristobulus and Alexander, killed. It is within this historical setting that Jesus Christ was born.