If there is a villain in the Nativity story it is surely Herod, the monarch who supposedly slaughtered thousands of infants and toddlers to exterminate his rival, the baby Jesus. Adam Kolman Marshak, author of The Many Faces of Herod the Great, said that his religious credentials were equally tenuous: “His grandfather had converted, and thus many saw him as not fully Jewish. There already was a king of the Jews and so, over the next three years, Herod fought a brutal campaign against Antigonus, the last Hasmonean king from the older royal line.
Author: @NatGeo
Published at: 2025-12-15 00:00:00
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