HERO 



HERODAS 



Hero. In Greek legend, priestess 

 of Aphrodite at Sestos, on the shore 

 of the Hellespont opposite Abydos. 

 See Leander. 



Hero OF ALEXANDRIA. Alex- 

 andrian mathematician. His exact 

 date is unknown, but his reputation 

 has survived for several memorable 

 discoveries in mathematics and 

 science. His most remarkable dis- 

 covery was that of the well-known 

 formula for the area of a triangle 

 in terms of its sides and the semi- 

 perimeter. It is also certain that 

 he knew elementary trigonometry 

 and the solution of quadratic 

 equations in algebra. 



Hero was responsible for a 

 number of mechanical inventions, 

 the chief of which is the fountain 

 that bears his name. This was an 

 automatic fountain working by 

 means of air pressure. He is also 

 credited with the description of a 

 small stationary steam-engine. The 

 fragments that remain of his works 

 place him as being the leading 

 scientist of his age. 



Herod (74-4 B.C.). King of 

 Judaea, called the Great. The son 

 of Antipater and grandson of 

 Antipas, governor of Idumaea, he 

 was appointed ruler of Galilee at the 

 age of 25, and afterwards of Coele- 

 syria. When Palestine was invaded 

 by the Parthians to restore Anti- 

 gonus to the throne of his father 

 Aristobulus, Herod escaped to 

 Rome, where Antony and Octavian, 

 with the sanction of the senate, 

 made him king of Judaea. He 

 returned to Palestine in 39 B.C. and 

 captured Jerusalem in 37, in which 

 year he married Mariamne, the 

 Asmonean princess, as his second 

 wife. His first difficulties were with 

 the hostile Sadducean and Phari- 

 saic parties, and throughout his 

 reign (37-4) he was opposed by the 

 enmity of his wife's family. After 

 the battle of Actium (31 ) Herod was 

 confirmed in his position and terri- 

 tory by Octavian, whom he 

 visited at Rhodes,, expecting to 

 be executed owing to the help he 

 gave Antony. From that time 

 on he governed Palestine on behalf 

 of Rome. 



Herod built fortresses, estab- 

 lished new towns, rebuilt the temple 

 at Jerusalem, organized games, 

 and encouraged Greek writers and 

 teachers to settle in his kingdom. 

 His brother Pheroras and his 

 sister Salome plotted against his 

 sons by Mariamne, which led 

 Herod to have them assassinated. 

 Mariamne he had put to death 

 owing to jealousy. His last years 

 were embittered by family feuds 

 and plots arising out of the enthu- 

 siasm of the people Tor the Asmo- 

 nean house. His eldest son, Anti- 

 pater, he had put to' death ten days 



before his own death. The story of 

 his massacre of the innocents is 

 generally discredited nowadays. 

 The picture of Herod as an in- 

 human monster as given by the 

 biassed Jewish historian, Josephus, 

 ia also open to serious criticism. 

 See Life and Times of Herod the 

 Great, W. Willett, 1860; Antiquities 

 of the Jews, F. Josephus, rev. 

 trans. A. R. Shilleto, 1898; The 

 Jewish People in the Time of Jesus 

 Christ, E. Schurer, Eng. trans. 

 1890 ; The History of Herod, J. 

 Vickers, rev. ed. 1901. 



Herod. Tragedy written by 

 Stephen Phillips and produced 

 Oct. 31, 1900, at Her Majesty's. 

 The play deals with the murder of 

 Mariamne's brother Aristobulus by 

 order of Herod, with the successful 

 plot formed by Herod's mother and 

 sister to bring about the exe- 

 cution of Mariamne, and with 

 Herod's unavailing grief and re- 

 morse for her death. Beerbohm 

 Tree played Herod, and Maud 

 Jeffries Mariamne. 



Herod Agrippa I (d. A.D. 44). 

 Son of Aristobulus and Berenice 

 and grandson of Herod the Great. 

 He was made king by Caligula and 

 governor of Judaea and Samaria by 

 Claudius. See Agrippa. 



Herod Agrippa II (d. 100 A.D.). 

 Son of Herod Agrippa I. He was 

 the last of the Herodians (q.v.). 

 Paul appeared before him in A.D. 

 60. See Agrippa. 



Herod Antipas. Son of Herod 

 the Great by Malthace, a Samari- 

 tan. By his father's will he was 

 made tetrarch or governor of 

 Galilee and Peraea. He built for 

 his capital a city on the Sea of 

 Galilee which, to ingratiate him- 



self with the Roman emperor, he 

 called Tiberias. His first wife was a 

 daughter of Aretas, an Arabian 

 prince called in 2 Cor. 11 king of 

 Damascus ; but, becoming en- 

 amoured of Herodias (q.v.), wife of 

 his half-brother Herod Philip, a pri- 

 vate citizen in Rome, he divorced 

 his own wife and married her. By 

 Herodias he had a daughter, Salome. 

 Antipas was denounced by John the 

 Baptist (q.v.), who was first im- 

 prisoned and then, at the instigation 

 of Herodias and Salome, executed. 

 Jesus was examined before Herod, 

 whose conduct on this occasion led 

 to his reconciliation with Pilate. 

 Defeated in battle by Aretas, A.D. 

 36, Antipas went to Rome c. 38-40, 

 at the instance of Herodias, to 

 secure the title of king, but was 

 accused of treason and condemned 

 by Caligula to perpetual banish- 

 ment to Lugdunum (Lyons), 

 whither Herodias accompanied 

 him. He died in exile. See Matt. 

 14 ; Mark 6 and 8 ; Luke 3, 13, and 

 23 ; Antiquities of the Jews, xviii, 

 6 and 7, F. Josephus, rev. trans. 

 A. R. Shilleto, 1898. 



Herodas OR HERONDAS (3rd 

 cent. B.C.). Greek writer of mim- 

 iambi, i.e. mimes or humorous 

 sketches written in iambic metre. 

 He was a native of Cos and a 

 younger contemporary of Theo- 

 critus. In 1890 an Egyptian papy- 

 rus was found at Fayum, contain- 

 ing six of his mimes in a more or 

 less perfect state. These short, 

 dramatic pieces are written in the 

 Ionic dialect and in the scazon, or 

 " halting " iambic metre, in which 

 a spondee (two long syllables) 

 takes the place of an iambus 

 (short and long syllable) in the 



Herod Antipas. S. John the Baptist bound by order of the Governor of Galilee 



Fresco by Andrea del Sarto, in the cloister of the Scalzo, Florence 



