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On the coastline
of modern Israel,

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in the ruins of an ancient city...

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a team of investigators
prepares to head underground.

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Okay, I think I'm set.

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At the bottom of this shaft...

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could lie clues to the truth...

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Oh, wow.

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...about one of
the Bible's biggest villains.

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Oh, this is pretty wild.

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King Herod.

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What's happening down there?

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Watch Online Movies and Series for FREE
www.osdb.link/lm

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The stories in the Bible

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are famous across the world.

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The New Testament tells
the life story of Jesus Christ.

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It's a story spanning the Middle East,

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containing drama, miracles, and danger.

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And at its start,

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is one of the most villainous
characters of the Bible.

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King Herod, the ruler of Judea.

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The Bible tells how shortly
after the birth of Jesus,

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Herod rages at the prophecy
of a new-born King of the Jews.

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Anxious to keep power,

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he orders his soldiers to kill
every child under the age of 2.

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It is known as
the Massacre of the Innocents.

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When you have someone like Herod,

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murder can be part of politics.
Absolutely.

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But while the Bible portrays him

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as a diabolical villain,

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history books refer to him
as Herod the Great.

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Today, archaeologists and historians

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across the region are
making fresh discoveries...

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Oh, wow. Interesting.

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...and exploring new depths

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to reveal the truth about King Herod.

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On the coast of modern Israel
lies the ancient port of Caesarea,

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once a great city in
Herod's kingdom of Judea.

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King Herod built this metropolis
in the first century BCE.

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Remarkably,
giant structures still survive.

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Marine geoarchaeologist Beverly Goodman
has spent her career exploring them.

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Caesarea, to me,

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it's just-- it's home.
It's a place that's...

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become such a part of me

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over my career and over my life,

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and the amount of time that I've spent
thinking about the place...

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I guess it might be called
an obsession. 

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Today, Beverly and her team

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are on a mission
to discover the true extent

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of this city in its prime

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and what the architecture
Herod left behind

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might reveal about the true character
of the infamous king.

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They start with Herod's palace
and one of its grandest features.

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This
is the pool of Herod's palace.

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This is part of a palace complex
that would've been his residence

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at the time that he built the whole city.

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The palace sits right on the edge

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of the modern shoreline.

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More than 2,000 years of time and tide

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have taken their toll
on this 100-foot long pool,

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but signs of its original grandeur remain.

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It's about 45 thick.

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Giant slabs of dressed stone
lie beneath the surface.

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-Okay, 250 in length there.
- Yep.

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Here, can you get a photograph?

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And there are
bases of huge columns

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that may have supported upper stories.

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We have column, column, column,
in a line here.

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A column base.

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Let's get this cleared out.

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The archaeologists make a start

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on clearing some of the tons
of debris filling this pool.

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But far more work is needed
to explore all corners of this site.

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Even in this state,
through the silt and seaweed,

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Beverly glimpses architectural splendor.

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You can picture
this pleasure pool,

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with gardens, with all of the luxuries

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that you would expect from someone
that has the status of Herod.

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[narrator] This pool was once
covered by exquisite mosaics.

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It stretched 115 feet long
and 60 feet wide.

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Around it stood fine pillars
and containers for exotic plants,

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and the walls of a magnificent villa
that rose two stories high.

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It was the jewel in the crown
of Herod's brainchild,

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Caesarea Maritima.

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A major city with a theater,

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a hippodrome, and a busy port.

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When I think about how quickly
the city was originally built...

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...honestly, it seems outrageous, really,

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because the entire project
was more or less inaugurated

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in about two decades,

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which might sound like a lot,
but it really isn't

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when you consider the scale of the city.

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At Caesarea, Herod embarked

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on a grand project
unlike anything else in Judea.

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What drove him to build on such a scale?

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A clue could lie
in King Herod's surprising family history.

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150 miles south of Caesarea,
in modern-day Jordan,

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lies the ancient city of Petra.

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2,000 years ago, at the time of Herod,

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this was the capital of the Nabataeans,
neighbors of the Judeans,

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and a people that controlled trade routes

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through the desert.

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Sami al-Hasanat has guided people around

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Petra's world-famous rock-cut architecture
for over 30 years.

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Petra is, is my world.

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And I'm part of it.

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Sami counts himself
as related to the Nabataeans.

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Something he shares with Herod.

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Herod wasn't a Judean.

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His father was a nobleman from Idumea,

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a people who had converted to Judaism.

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And on his mother's side,

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he was descended
from Petra's royal family.

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His mother was a Nabataean princess.

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Her name was Cypros.

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Neither of his parents
were from Judea originally.

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Sami wants to explore the city
that Herod spent time in as a boy,

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to uncover the roots
of Herod's great ambitions.

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This is the very heart of the real Petra

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and the true Nabataean architecture.

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[narrator] Many of Petra's
rock-cut structures

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are tombs for the city's elite.

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Early Western explorers
labeled this one the Urn Tomb,

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after the magnificent carvings
on its façade.

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These remarkable structures
are a testament

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to the wealth of Petra's rulers.

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We can see that there
are holes on both sides.

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They are opposite to each other.

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That's to show that
there was another level

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or another story on top of it.

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And if you see how all the lines
of the chiseling,

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scratching the sandstone walls,

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they plastered all the interior part

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and painted it with fresco
as permanent colors.

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Herod's parents' marriage

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helped to cement relations
between neighboring peoples.

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So, when a father marries

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a princess from another tribe
or another kingdom,

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it is for political reasons,
for social reasons,

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to establish connections,

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healthy and useful connections

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at the same time with the neighbors.

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Herod's father
used these connections

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to earn himself the role of advisor

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to the Judean royal household.

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Then, when Herod was just 10 years old,

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the rise of a new people
changed the course of his life.

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In 63 BCE, Rome conquered Judea,

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and went on to appoint
Herod's father as ruler

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in all but name.

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Herod helped to run part of Judea,

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but disaster struck when he turned 30

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and a jealous rival poisoned his father.

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This was a perilous moment for Herod.

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Like his father, he wasn't popular.

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His family background made him
an outsider to many Judeans,

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even though he was Jewish by religion.

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What legitimizes a leader
is the support of his people.

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Therefore, when you think of a person

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born in Nabatea, for example,

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has ethnic origins
from this part of the world,

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then you might not be accepted.

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Herod was viewed
as merely a puppet of Rome.

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How did he survive to outdo his father

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and become not just a Roman official
but King Herod the Great?

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At his height,
King Herod had palaces across Judea,

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including one on the
spectacular hilltop of Masada.

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Its steep sides make it
the perfect stronghold,

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and its location in southern Judea
beside the Dead Sea

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was especially significant to Herod.

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Masada is towards
the very corner of Judea,

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a junction between Idumea and Nabatea.

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Basically, this was his homeland.

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That was his place of support,

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and he felt, I think, more
secure in that environment.

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Archaeologist Guy Stiebel
investigates the life of Herod

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through the thousands of objects

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he's excavated at the palace
on top of Masada.

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He wants to explore how an outsider rose

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to the position of King of Judea.

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This coin is well dated
to the time of Herod the Great.

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Coinage was the way to symbolize

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him being the king of Judea,
king of the Jews.

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Herod's connection with Masada

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dates back to a time before he was king.

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When Masada was home to a small fort.

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In 40 BCE,
an army raised by Judean rebels

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laid siege to Jerusalem,

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determined to throw off
their Roman overlords

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and Herod's family.

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Herod retreated with his followers

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to the stronghold of Masada,

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and then he raced on to Rome.

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Herod threw himself at
the mercy of the Senate

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and was made king with
the backing of his friend

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Marc Anthony.

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But, in 31 BCE, Herod lost
his powerful sponsor,

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when Marc Antony was defeated by his rival
the mighty Octavian,

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00:12:03,200 --> 00:12:05,320
who became the first Roman Emperor,

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-Caesar Augustus.

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Herod had been a loyal servant
of the Roman state,

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and, in return, was made king.

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Now, his fate was in the hands of one man.

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How would Herod endear himself
to Caesar Augustus,

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and keep his throne in Judea?

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Back in Caesarea,

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Beverly and her team believe
Herod's monuments could hold clues

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to how he remained an ally of Rome.

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Herod is definitely
known as a great builder.

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In fact, much of
the archaeological remains

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that you find from that period, in fact,

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almost all of them that
managed to last are his doing.

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They head into the bowels
of Caesarea's most recognizable structure.

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00:13:06,040 --> 00:13:07,640
The Roman Theater.

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00:13:08,720 --> 00:13:10,080
We're under the stage right now.

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This is sort of the green room.

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One of these tunnels
is undocumented,

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and Beverly wants to find out
where it goes

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and what it was for.

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This end, we don't
actually know where it goes out.

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What I wanna do is document this,
go in, photograph, scan the whole thing,

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get to the end, and see
how much further we have

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until we'd actually get to the ocean.

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The passage is only two feet wide

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with barely enough room to turn around.

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I think it does,
I think it connects.

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So, this part of the channel
that we're able to get into

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is about 40 feet.

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We can see at the end
that there's a continuation

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to the next part of it through here.

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Okay. This is gonna be tight.

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-Let's see here.

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Real light.

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The tunnel gets even narrower...

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Feeling
a little claustrophobic.

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00:14:08,680 --> 00:14:10,320
You alright?

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00:14:10,400 --> 00:14:12,400
...as they approach the end.

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00:14:13,960 --> 00:14:16,600
Oh wow,
that is actually real light.

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00:14:16,680 --> 00:14:18,680
What do you see?

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00:14:18,760 --> 00:14:20,480
There's a channel here that goes up.

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00:14:20,560 --> 00:14:22,400
I mean, it's open to the surface.

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So it'll be draining
something from the surface?

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It's clear
the tunnel wasn't for people,

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but for water.

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Part of a system that drained it
from the Roman street above

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into underground channels like this one.

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00:14:37,560 --> 00:14:41,040
The tunnel was most likely
for drainage and plumbing,

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so this looks a lot like other
areas of water infrastructure,

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00:14:45,920 --> 00:14:47,520
whether it's the aqueduct channels

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or other channels throughout Caesarea.

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This is super useful information

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00:14:53,400 --> 00:14:56,400
for us that we can use
to continue forward.

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Herod's Caesarea was Roman in its scale

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and in its public buildings,

254
00:15:03,920 --> 00:15:05,680
like the theater and hippodrome.

255
00:15:07,200 --> 00:15:10,560
But, Beverly's work reveals
that Herod's new-build project

256
00:15:10,640 --> 00:15:13,040
was not just mimicking the Roman look.

257
00:15:14,520 --> 00:15:16,960
He had built a place to be lived in.

258
00:15:17,040 --> 00:15:21,520
A working Roman city
right down to its plumbing and sewers.

259
00:15:22,320 --> 00:15:23,640
Herod sort of had

260
00:15:23,720 --> 00:15:26,000
this prefab Roman city idea.

261
00:15:26,080 --> 00:15:28,120
So, he made sure that the city had

262
00:15:28,200 --> 00:15:31,040
all of the standard features
of a Roman city.

263
00:15:32,360 --> 00:15:34,200
Beverly believes Herod's drive

264
00:15:34,280 --> 00:15:38,120
to expand Judean infrastructure
on a Roman model

265
00:15:38,200 --> 00:15:41,920
was part of a master plan
targeted at the Roman Emperor,

266
00:15:42,000 --> 00:15:43,920
Caesar Augustus.

267
00:15:45,040 --> 00:15:48,240
Herod named Caesarea
after Caesar Augustus.

268
00:15:48,320 --> 00:15:50,320
He wanted to create a tribute to him.

269
00:15:50,400 --> 00:15:52,840
So, the city that has a theater
and has a hippodrome

270
00:15:52,920 --> 00:15:55,080
and has a palace and has a harbor,

271
00:15:55,160 --> 00:15:58,720
all of these fingerprints of Rome

272
00:15:58,800 --> 00:16:01,160
in honor of Caesar Augustus.

273
00:16:02,760 --> 00:16:05,640
Rome had put Herod in power.

274
00:16:05,720 --> 00:16:10,080
Without Caesar Augustus' support,
he could lose his throne.

275
00:16:10,960 --> 00:16:15,280
Writers at the time said that
Herod's pandering to Rome was so great,

276
00:16:16,680 --> 00:16:19,640
that he even defiled
the Temple in Jerusalem.

277
00:16:25,320 --> 00:16:27,120
In his capital city,

278
00:16:27,200 --> 00:16:30,400
Herod expanded the mount around the Temple

279
00:16:30,480 --> 00:16:33,480
with thousands of giant limestone blocks.

280
00:16:34,720 --> 00:16:37,880
He covered the innermost shrine with gold,

281
00:16:37,960 --> 00:16:41,280
carried out by trained priests
instead of craftsmen,

282
00:16:41,360 --> 00:16:43,360
to preserve the shrine's sanctity.

283
00:16:44,400 --> 00:16:48,800
But later accounts say he also
broke sacred Jewish law,

284
00:16:48,880 --> 00:16:53,760
by placing a Roman imperial eagle
over a temple gateway.

285
00:16:53,840 --> 00:16:57,480
Enraged, Jewish citizens
cut down the eagle

286
00:16:58,360 --> 00:17:02,240
and Herod had them burnt alive
in his Jericho amphitheater.

287
00:17:07,800 --> 00:17:11,640
The story shows Herod
stamping out threats to his power

288
00:17:11,720 --> 00:17:14,680
just as violently as the Bible's infamous

289
00:17:14,760 --> 00:17:16,360
Massacre of the Innocents.

290
00:17:17,600 --> 00:17:20,360
And although he was meant
to be an observant Jew,

291
00:17:20,440 --> 00:17:22,560
Beverly thinks his motives for renovating

292
00:17:22,640 --> 00:17:24,640
the Temple weren't wholly pure.

293
00:17:26,120 --> 00:17:29,040
Herod is building a Roman temple

294
00:17:29,120 --> 00:17:30,880
for Caesar Augustus,

295
00:17:30,960 --> 00:17:35,000
at the same time that he's
building a temple for the Jews.

296
00:17:35,560 --> 00:17:37,760
So, having the two different temples

297
00:17:37,840 --> 00:17:41,320
was also a way that Herod could
be king in both of those realms.

298
00:17:43,240 --> 00:17:45,880
Herod was a sharp political operator

299
00:17:45,960 --> 00:17:49,080
who also built great
things for his people.

300
00:17:49,800 --> 00:17:54,320
So, why did his name become a byword
for the ultimate villain?

301
00:17:59,440 --> 00:18:01,800
The hilltop palace of Masada

302
00:18:01,880 --> 00:18:04,720
is a great source of Herodian finds.

303
00:18:07,080 --> 00:18:10,920
At Guy's laboratory,
he scours the stores for clues

304
00:18:11,000 --> 00:18:14,800
that could reveal what Herod did
with all the power of a king,

305
00:18:14,880 --> 00:18:18,800
now that he had Judea under his control.

306
00:18:19,880 --> 00:18:22,320
One of the nice things about Masada

307
00:18:22,400 --> 00:18:24,520
is that you don't need to imagine.

308
00:18:24,600 --> 00:18:25,840
You see the artifacts.

309
00:18:25,920 --> 00:18:28,600
And one of the finest example

310
00:18:28,680 --> 00:18:32,280
of the contribution
of King Herod the Great

311
00:18:32,360 --> 00:18:34,600
is actually the introduction
of new materials

312
00:18:34,680 --> 00:18:36,080
and new technologies.

313
00:18:36,160 --> 00:18:39,080
You can see here stone tiles
that we call them in Latin,

314
00:18:39,160 --> 00:18:42,040
opus sectile, a technique of flooring

315
00:18:42,120 --> 00:18:45,200
that is typical to that period
of time, the time of Augustus.

316
00:18:45,280 --> 00:18:48,880
But, you find it in Judea
only in the palaces of Herod.

317
00:18:50,960 --> 00:18:52,320
This luxury tiling

318
00:18:52,400 --> 00:18:56,040
was not something reserved
for a small inner sanctum.

319
00:18:56,960 --> 00:18:59,320
It covered the floor of a large bathhouse.

320
00:19:01,560 --> 00:19:02,840
Herod even made sure

321
00:19:02,920 --> 00:19:05,040
this expensive tiling
was of a unique design.

322
00:19:08,440 --> 00:19:10,560
What is really interesting

323
00:19:10,640 --> 00:19:13,520
is that this triangle
is typical only to Herod.

324
00:19:13,600 --> 00:19:19,000
So, this is like a marker
that may identify it with Herod.

325
00:19:19,880 --> 00:19:22,240
Herod imported Roman engineering

326
00:19:22,320 --> 00:19:24,360
as well as Roman style.

327
00:19:24,800 --> 00:19:26,280
If I turn it over,

328
00:19:26,360 --> 00:19:29,080
you can actually see the binding material.

329
00:19:29,160 --> 00:19:32,920
And this is actually cement,
what we call opus caementicium.

330
00:19:33,000 --> 00:19:36,280
This is the first time we have, in Judea,

331
00:19:36,360 --> 00:19:39,760
this Italian or Roman innovation.

332
00:19:39,840 --> 00:19:42,320
And it was brought from Naples

333
00:19:42,400 --> 00:19:46,080
and allowed people
to do nearly everything.

334
00:19:48,240 --> 00:19:50,840
The Romans were master builders.

335
00:19:51,640 --> 00:19:54,600
This was the start of an age of emperors,

336
00:19:54,680 --> 00:19:57,680
that would see incredible
luxury and architecture

337
00:19:58,600 --> 00:20:01,720
in grand imperial villas across Italy.

338
00:20:04,800 --> 00:20:07,800
Herod created a palace
to rival any of them,

339
00:20:08,760 --> 00:20:12,960
bringing the latest building innovations
to the harshest of environments.

340
00:20:15,080 --> 00:20:20,840
It's amazing. Herod was so up-to-date
with the new technologies,

341
00:20:20,920 --> 00:20:24,880
and he was the first ambassador
to bring this tradition over.

342
00:20:25,880 --> 00:20:29,960
We have a spa in the middle of the desert.

343
00:20:30,040 --> 00:20:33,120
And again, we are in the Judean desert.

344
00:20:33,200 --> 00:20:34,960
It's scorching hot.

345
00:20:35,040 --> 00:20:37,760
And still, you have three bathhouses.

346
00:20:39,160 --> 00:20:40,720
Masada was once witness

347
00:20:40,800 --> 00:20:44,800
to a desperately dangerous time
in Herod's rise to power.

348
00:20:45,400 --> 00:20:48,680
Now, it was a symbol
of comfort and opulence,

349
00:20:48,760 --> 00:20:51,560
advertising a total command of his realm.

350
00:20:53,120 --> 00:20:55,360
He created something new,

351
00:20:55,440 --> 00:20:58,160
created an island of paradise,

352
00:20:58,240 --> 00:21:01,200
and I think this is
another fine demonstration

353
00:21:01,280 --> 00:21:02,880
of the ability of Herod,

354
00:21:02,960 --> 00:21:05,720
of harnessing and using architecture

355
00:21:05,800 --> 00:21:08,520
to make a political statement.
"I am the king."

356
00:21:10,640 --> 00:21:13,760
Herod was lord of all he surveyed.

357
00:21:13,840 --> 00:21:16,200
His palaces were as fine as any king's.

358
00:21:17,280 --> 00:21:20,440
How much more ambitious
would his buildings get?

359
00:21:23,680 --> 00:21:25,720
In Caesarea,

360
00:21:28,320 --> 00:21:30,920
Beverly prepares to head underground,

361
00:21:31,000 --> 00:21:34,480
on her mission to chart more
of Herod's grandest creation.

362
00:21:36,560 --> 00:21:40,160
There is an opening to a well
buried here in the undergrowth.

363
00:21:41,600 --> 00:21:44,480
This would've been
in the original city.

364
00:21:44,560 --> 00:21:47,880
So 2,000 years ago, this area was built up

365
00:21:47,960 --> 00:21:50,680
with all of the Roman features,
with the hippodrome,

366
00:21:50,760 --> 00:21:52,280
with the temple, with the harbor.

367
00:21:53,680 --> 00:21:55,520
Beverly plans to climb down

368
00:21:55,600 --> 00:21:58,440
more than 30 feet, into the past

369
00:21:58,520 --> 00:22:00,800
to the very roots of Caesarea.

370
00:22:01,360 --> 00:22:03,800
She's looking for evidence
in the structure,

371
00:22:03,880 --> 00:22:06,200
and the undisturbed soil at the bottom,

372
00:22:06,280 --> 00:22:09,440
that might date this well
to Herod's reign.

373
00:22:09,520 --> 00:22:11,000
There's always this excitement,

374
00:22:11,080 --> 00:22:13,960
this anticipation, this hope also.

375
00:22:14,040 --> 00:22:17,120
We don't really know the period
of time it's gonna get us to,

376
00:22:17,200 --> 00:22:19,840
but we should be seeing
the entire 2,000 years

377
00:22:19,920 --> 00:22:21,800
of history of Caesarea in this well.

378
00:22:23,080 --> 00:22:25,160
Okay, I think I'm set.

379
00:22:25,240 --> 00:22:27,640
I will bring you the oxygen sensor,

380
00:22:27,720 --> 00:22:29,880
and you check the oxygen level.

381
00:22:31,840 --> 00:22:34,160
There are multiple
dangers in Beverly's way.

382
00:22:35,120 --> 00:22:38,080
She will need to measure
air quality as she descends

383
00:22:38,160 --> 00:22:41,880
to ensure there is enough
oxygen for her to breathe.

384
00:22:42,600 --> 00:22:45,360
The well, it's a bit deep, okay?

385
00:22:45,440 --> 00:22:48,800
If the rope is not reaching
to the ground, talk to me.

386
00:22:49,480 --> 00:22:53,200
And she also doesn't know
how safe the ground is at the bottom.

387
00:22:58,440 --> 00:23:00,000
Again?

388
00:23:00,080 --> 00:23:01,520
In Caesarea,

389
00:23:01,600 --> 00:23:03,640
Beverly nears the bottom of the shaft

390
00:23:03,720 --> 00:23:07,000
in her search for more of
Herod the Great's city.

391
00:23:09,480 --> 00:23:11,000
It's cooler down here.

392
00:23:11,080 --> 00:23:13,000
The air that has settled in the well

393
00:23:13,080 --> 00:23:16,720
contain dangerous levels
of gases such as methane.

394
00:23:17,800 --> 00:23:19,800
-What's happening down there?
-Wait a second.

395
00:23:19,880 --> 00:23:22,080
Everything good?
What is the oxygen level?

396
00:23:22,160 --> 00:23:23,800
Oxygen's fine.

397
00:23:29,320 --> 00:23:31,320
Inch by inch,

398
00:23:31,400 --> 00:23:34,840
Beverly finally makes it down
with rope to spare.

399
00:23:38,720 --> 00:23:42,840
She begins testing the depth
of the deposits at her feet.

400
00:23:42,920 --> 00:23:44,840
So here,
I think we're hitting wood.

401
00:23:44,920 --> 00:23:47,760
-See, you hear that dull sound?

402
00:23:47,840 --> 00:23:50,040
When we hit stone,
it should ping a little.

403
00:23:50,120 --> 00:23:52,680
-Oh, that might be stone.

404
00:23:52,760 --> 00:23:54,760
So we're at some kind of bottom,

405
00:23:54,840 --> 00:23:57,280
so I'ma go ahead and take
a sample from there.

406
00:23:58,920 --> 00:24:02,400
Trying to take a core of the sediment

407
00:24:02,480 --> 00:24:04,960
that has built up inside the well.

408
00:24:05,800 --> 00:24:08,200
This'll be in part to kinda
get some dates on it.

409
00:24:11,160 --> 00:24:14,360
Then, checking
the walls of the well itself,

410
00:24:14,440 --> 00:24:16,440
she spots something.

411
00:24:16,520 --> 00:24:18,920
Oh wow. This is pretty wild.

412
00:24:19,000 --> 00:24:21,240
So, we do have this gap.

413
00:24:22,360 --> 00:24:23,760
In ancient masonry

414
00:24:23,840 --> 00:24:25,600
that has dozens of tons of stone

415
00:24:25,680 --> 00:24:28,160
pressing down on it from above,

416
00:24:28,240 --> 00:24:31,760
there is a horizontal gap
going all the way around the well.

417
00:24:33,200 --> 00:24:35,320
Question is whether
this is a building gap,

418
00:24:35,400 --> 00:24:37,320
which is kinda doubtful,

419
00:24:37,400 --> 00:24:38,840
or it could be if we've got an earthquake

420
00:24:38,920 --> 00:24:43,360
that caused this to shift down like that.

421
00:24:43,440 --> 00:24:46,960
Here, we've got some pretty amazing layers

422
00:24:47,040 --> 00:24:52,040
that I'm guessing this probably represents
a slightly earlier phase of building.

423
00:24:55,000 --> 00:24:57,160
It's as though
the entire bottom section

424
00:24:57,240 --> 00:25:00,240
of the well structure
has dropped three inches.

425
00:25:10,440 --> 00:25:13,240
-Nice job.
-Oh, that was fun!

426
00:25:13,320 --> 00:25:16,320
Wow! Well...

427
00:25:18,720 --> 00:25:21,520
That was amazing.
That was absolutely amazing.

428
00:25:22,840 --> 00:25:24,960
The team bags up the samples

429
00:25:25,040 --> 00:25:28,520
and will analyze them to date
the loose soil filling the well.

430
00:25:29,920 --> 00:25:31,960
For Beverly, the biggest finding

431
00:25:32,040 --> 00:25:35,320
is the structural damage
at the bottom of the well.

432
00:25:35,400 --> 00:25:37,400
It's a little bit curious

433
00:25:37,480 --> 00:25:40,600
because you can see the changes
in the building types.

434
00:25:40,680 --> 00:25:42,960
So, the top is the most recent.

435
00:25:43,040 --> 00:25:45,080
And then, you've got another sequence

436
00:25:45,160 --> 00:25:47,600
where the shape of
the stones changes a bit.

437
00:25:47,680 --> 00:25:50,040
And then, the stones get much bigger,

438
00:25:50,120 --> 00:25:54,440
which is sort of a calling card
of some of the earliest phases.

439
00:25:55,520 --> 00:25:58,480
The layers of
grander, larger stone blocks

440
00:25:58,560 --> 00:26:01,240
correspond to Herod's city-building.

441
00:26:01,840 --> 00:26:05,760
Beverly is looking for the beginnings
of Herod's Caesarea,

442
00:26:05,840 --> 00:26:08,800
but she has stumbled across
signs of a strange event

443
00:26:08,880 --> 00:26:11,120
that happened after
the city's construction.

444
00:26:12,040 --> 00:26:14,400
Archaeologically speaking,
we have a lot of work.

445
00:26:14,480 --> 00:26:18,280
That we're gonna have a lot
of layers and a lot of history

446
00:26:18,360 --> 00:26:21,840
to be able to investigate as
we excavate in that same area.

447
00:26:22,760 --> 00:26:25,440
The bizarre gaps
in the Herodian layers

448
00:26:25,520 --> 00:26:28,200
suggest a huge natural disaster.

449
00:26:28,280 --> 00:26:31,880
What did this mean for
Herod's grand mega-project?

450
00:26:34,760 --> 00:26:36,720
The drop at the bottom of the well

451
00:26:36,800 --> 00:26:40,720
reminds Beverly of another
puzzling feature at Caesarea.

452
00:26:40,800 --> 00:26:43,320
Its steep beach.

453
00:26:43,400 --> 00:26:48,240
This area is right between
the hippodrome and the harbor,

454
00:26:48,320 --> 00:26:50,360
and there's this entire complex

455
00:26:50,440 --> 00:26:53,960
that was used for warehouses.
It became stores.

456
00:26:54,040 --> 00:26:56,160
But, one of the theories
is that this is actually

457
00:26:56,240 --> 00:26:58,480
the area of the original ship sheds.

458
00:27:00,000 --> 00:27:02,440
Ancient ships
were hauled out of the sea

459
00:27:02,520 --> 00:27:04,080
when not in use,

460
00:27:04,160 --> 00:27:07,720
and dragged up long shallow
beaches into ship-sheds.

461
00:27:07,800 --> 00:27:09,280
The sheds protected the vessels

462
00:27:09,360 --> 00:27:12,000
from wood-eating pests in the water.

463
00:27:12,080 --> 00:27:14,440
But, how in the world
did they get the boats

464
00:27:14,520 --> 00:27:17,160
from there, all the way up to here,

465
00:27:17,240 --> 00:27:18,920
if we have a cliff here today?

466
00:27:19,720 --> 00:27:23,360
You can see really clearly
how short this beach is

467
00:27:23,440 --> 00:27:26,920
and how much further down
the sea level is.

468
00:27:27,000 --> 00:27:31,360
So, this is a very difficult
distance to take ships up.

469
00:27:32,800 --> 00:27:36,720
Lifting 30-feet-long boats
so abruptly out of the water

470
00:27:36,800 --> 00:27:38,800
and over the step in the beach

471
00:27:38,880 --> 00:27:41,520
would have been almost
impossible for their crews.

472
00:27:45,080 --> 00:27:47,720
To understand what might be going on...

473
00:27:47,800 --> 00:27:49,720
Notebook secured.

474
00:27:51,200 --> 00:27:53,200
...Beverly heads into the water.

475
00:27:54,800 --> 00:27:56,720
One of the main
goals of my research

476
00:27:56,800 --> 00:27:58,920
is surveying and tracking different points

477
00:27:59,000 --> 00:28:01,280
along the coast and finding evidence

478
00:28:01,360 --> 00:28:03,920
for where the coastline was in the past.

479
00:28:08,800 --> 00:28:11,120
Beverly and her colleague Jeremy

480
00:28:11,200 --> 00:28:12,840
descend into the choppy waves.

481
00:28:14,600 --> 00:28:18,800
The pair struggle with the low visibility
as they head out from the coast.

482
00:28:20,960 --> 00:28:23,240
But they quickly begin
finding what look like

483
00:28:23,320 --> 00:28:26,560
man-made blocks along the sea floor.

484
00:28:31,360 --> 00:28:33,920
300 feet
off the shore of Caesarea,

485
00:28:35,160 --> 00:28:37,240
Beverly and Jeremy are finding signs

486
00:28:37,320 --> 00:28:39,720
of submerged ancient buildings.

487
00:28:42,480 --> 00:28:44,120
Then, instantly recognizable

488
00:28:44,200 --> 00:28:46,880
as they loom out of the murky water...

489
00:28:49,560 --> 00:28:51,240
stone columns.

490
00:28:53,280 --> 00:28:55,880
Beverly and her colleague take photographs

491
00:28:56,920 --> 00:28:58,680
and log the dimensions,

492
00:29:00,360 --> 00:29:02,360
before heading back to the surface.

493
00:29:03,560 --> 00:29:05,520
The columns are solid evidence

494
00:29:05,600 --> 00:29:08,640
that this area, well away
from the current shoreline,

495
00:29:08,720 --> 00:29:10,320
was once dry land.

496
00:29:11,680 --> 00:29:14,840
We were able to see
the extension of some of these features

497
00:29:14,920 --> 00:29:19,040
at least 75 meters, 100 meters
off of the shore today.

498
00:29:20,400 --> 00:29:24,160
Their findings under water
leave no doubt in Beverly's mind.

499
00:29:25,200 --> 00:29:28,400
There's no way that area
could've been underwater.

500
00:29:28,480 --> 00:29:30,480
There's nothing there
that's part of a harbor.

501
00:29:32,240 --> 00:29:34,280
She believes such a huge change

502
00:29:34,360 --> 00:29:35,920
to the city's coastline

503
00:29:36,000 --> 00:29:39,000
hints at an enormously destructive force.

504
00:29:39,720 --> 00:29:44,600
It could be something
caused by a rapid event, like a tsunami.

505
00:29:44,680 --> 00:29:47,160
Or it could be something
that's a slow process,

506
00:29:47,240 --> 00:29:49,600
but most likely it's a combination
of all of these things.

507
00:29:50,000 --> 00:29:53,640
One of the things that we've learned
over the past two decades

508
00:29:53,720 --> 00:29:58,680
is the extent and the magnitude
that a tsunami can change a coastline.

509
00:30:01,040 --> 00:30:03,240
A tsunami could've been powerful enough

510
00:30:03,320 --> 00:30:05,240
to create drops in the coastline

511
00:30:05,320 --> 00:30:08,080
and break underground
structures like the well.

512
00:30:09,760 --> 00:30:13,080
Beverly's discoveries
support a radical new take,

513
00:30:13,160 --> 00:30:16,720
depicting a Caesarea
that was very different in Herod's day.

514
00:30:18,200 --> 00:30:20,000
If what we're seeing is true,

515
00:30:20,080 --> 00:30:23,280
and the coastline of Caesarea
is this much bigger,

516
00:30:23,360 --> 00:30:25,160
it means that there's a lot of areas

517
00:30:25,240 --> 00:30:29,000
that are now lost
or only partially preserved.

518
00:30:29,080 --> 00:30:30,440
But more importantly, it means

519
00:30:30,520 --> 00:30:32,720
that the city itself
looked very different.

520
00:30:32,800 --> 00:30:36,920
That there were huge areas
that were between,

521
00:30:37,000 --> 00:30:39,280
say, the hippodrome and the water,

522
00:30:39,360 --> 00:30:42,200
and next to the harbor,
and near the palace,

523
00:30:42,280 --> 00:30:45,960
and entire areas of Caesarea
that have been lost to the waves.

524
00:30:48,720 --> 00:30:51,760
Beverly's work has revealed
that in Herod's age,

525
00:30:51,840 --> 00:30:53,920
the city was much larger than today.

526
00:30:55,440 --> 00:30:57,400
Next to the hippodrome,

527
00:30:57,480 --> 00:31:00,600
the land stretched 300 feet
further out to sea,

528
00:31:02,080 --> 00:31:04,840
creating easy access to the ship sheds

529
00:31:05,720 --> 00:31:08,200
and space for more buildings.

530
00:31:08,640 --> 00:31:11,680
Overall, Caesarea may
have been twice as big

531
00:31:11,760 --> 00:31:13,200
as previously thought.

532
00:31:13,720 --> 00:31:16,040
And the port's three huge basins

533
00:31:16,120 --> 00:31:19,320
stretching for one and a half
million square feet

534
00:31:19,400 --> 00:31:22,160
may have been built within
the ancient shoreline

535
00:31:22,760 --> 00:31:26,480
making it one of the biggest
ports in the Roman empire.

536
00:31:32,880 --> 00:31:35,480
Beverly returns to the ship sheds

537
00:31:35,560 --> 00:31:38,600
and finds her new data completely changes

538
00:31:38,680 --> 00:31:40,160
how she sees Herod's city.

539
00:31:41,400 --> 00:31:43,360
If we have more coastline,

540
00:31:43,440 --> 00:31:46,000
then we actually can have
the right distance

541
00:31:46,080 --> 00:31:48,800
and the right slope
to make it more realistic

542
00:31:48,880 --> 00:31:50,720
that these were used as ship sheds.

543
00:31:52,080 --> 00:31:53,760
This place that has helped Beverly

544
00:31:53,840 --> 00:31:56,360
to understand the true extent of Caesarea

545
00:31:57,440 --> 00:32:00,600
was where she began her career
over 20 years ago.

546
00:32:02,480 --> 00:32:05,080
This place is where I would say

547
00:32:05,160 --> 00:32:07,480
I was born as an archaeologist.

548
00:32:07,560 --> 00:32:10,160
This is actually the place

549
00:32:10,240 --> 00:32:13,360
where I worked on, as a student,

550
00:32:13,440 --> 00:32:16,280
as a volunteer in
my first excavation ever.

551
00:32:16,360 --> 00:32:19,120
At the time, I didn't realize
what the significance was.

552
00:32:21,200 --> 00:32:23,520
For nearly 2,000 years,

553
00:32:23,600 --> 00:32:28,120
Herod's greatest architectural legacy
lay half-hidden by the waves.

554
00:32:30,120 --> 00:32:31,880
With this new information,

555
00:32:31,960 --> 00:32:35,320
the scale and ambition of
Herod's incredible mega-project

556
00:32:36,080 --> 00:32:38,080
becomes all the more impressive.

557
00:32:39,240 --> 00:32:44,720
Creating a huge deep-water port
where no natural bay existed.

558
00:32:48,480 --> 00:32:52,640
Herod had his engineers dig a huge hole
down to the bedrock

559
00:32:52,720 --> 00:32:55,560
large enough to hold
a few hundred jumbo jets.

560
00:32:57,800 --> 00:33:00,520
They built a huge ring
of wood and concrete

561
00:33:00,600 --> 00:33:03,120
to support a solid pier and breakwater...

562
00:33:04,320 --> 00:33:06,440
before they finally let in the sea.

563
00:33:09,080 --> 00:33:11,880
Herod likely built a military dock,

564
00:33:11,960 --> 00:33:15,800
where Roman battleships laid
ready to police his port.

565
00:33:17,640 --> 00:33:21,480
And he erected a grand temple
dedicated to Augustus and Rome

566
00:33:22,280 --> 00:33:27,240
to prove his loyalty to the empire
and cement his power in the region.

567
00:33:32,280 --> 00:33:35,720
When Herod completed the port in 15 BCE,

568
00:33:36,480 --> 00:33:39,840
he had control of all trade
in and out of Judea.

569
00:33:41,960 --> 00:33:45,400
The taxes that it generated
earned him staggering wealth.

570
00:33:47,880 --> 00:33:49,880
What could bring him down?

571
00:33:55,520 --> 00:33:58,280
The arid hilltop palace at Masada

572
00:33:59,080 --> 00:34:01,080
has preserved a treasure trove of objects

573
00:34:01,160 --> 00:34:03,160
belonging to Herod the Great.

574
00:34:04,800 --> 00:34:06,800
Guy believes some of these items

575
00:34:06,880 --> 00:34:10,280
could shed light on the level
of decadence and opulence

576
00:34:10,360 --> 00:34:12,560
reached by Herod's luxury living.

577
00:34:15,480 --> 00:34:18,880
This particular amphora
held more than just wine.

578
00:34:19,800 --> 00:34:21,880
Here, you can see here

579
00:34:21,960 --> 00:34:24,400
the inscription of an M,

580
00:34:24,480 --> 00:34:27,120
which stands for Mala, Mala Cumana,

581
00:34:27,200 --> 00:34:29,280
which are apples from Cumae,

582
00:34:29,360 --> 00:34:32,600
in south Italy, north of Naples.

583
00:34:33,240 --> 00:34:35,440
And you can see here the beta.

584
00:34:35,520 --> 00:34:38,040
The B stands for basileus.

585
00:34:38,120 --> 00:34:40,320
In Greek, it's "king."

586
00:34:40,400 --> 00:34:42,120
So, this is a shipment

587
00:34:42,560 --> 00:34:46,440
of several dozens of apples from Cumae.

588
00:34:47,680 --> 00:34:50,800
Picked only at
midnight on a full moon,

589
00:34:50,880 --> 00:34:53,720
then shipped for 1,500 miles,

590
00:34:53,800 --> 00:34:56,800
these were considered the
finest apples money could buy.

591
00:34:58,080 --> 00:35:00,880
The apples were conserved

592
00:35:00,960 --> 00:35:04,720
in wine with honey and spices--

593
00:35:04,800 --> 00:35:10,000
And my lip's becoming wet,
just describing how marvelous it was.

594
00:35:12,080 --> 00:35:14,840
Expensive imported
delicacies like this

595
00:35:14,920 --> 00:35:16,960
would've graced the table of even

596
00:35:17,040 --> 00:35:20,040
the most esteemed guests
at Herod's hilltop oasis.

597
00:35:21,800 --> 00:35:24,880
So, just imagine we can actually

598
00:35:24,960 --> 00:35:28,240
demonstrate that the table
of King Herod the Great

599
00:35:28,320 --> 00:35:31,480
contained the best dessert
in the Roman world.

600
00:35:31,560 --> 00:35:35,120
It was imported from Italy
all the way to Masada.

601
00:35:35,200 --> 00:35:38,880
And that's one example
of how prestigious life were

602
00:35:38,960 --> 00:35:42,160
and why it was good to be the king,
as Mel Brooks once said.

603
00:35:43,360 --> 00:35:47,520
While Herod was importing
Roman architecture, culture, and cuisine,

604
00:35:49,120 --> 00:35:53,680
he made sure plenty of his great wealth
flowed in the other direction.

605
00:35:53,760 --> 00:35:56,240
He never forgot who was in charge.

606
00:35:57,160 --> 00:36:00,200
From a Roman point of view, he developed

607
00:36:00,280 --> 00:36:03,320
the eastern corner of the Mediterranean,

608
00:36:03,800 --> 00:36:06,440
building the harbor,
controlling the highways

609
00:36:06,520 --> 00:36:09,600
that brought all the goods
from the east and from the south.

610
00:36:09,680 --> 00:36:12,120
So, economy flourished.

611
00:36:12,200 --> 00:36:13,640
He was paying taxes,

612
00:36:13,720 --> 00:36:17,600
but he was also using his
money to boost Augustus,

613
00:36:18,240 --> 00:36:22,480
to build Temple Caesarea
to honor Augustus,

614
00:36:22,560 --> 00:36:25,040
and elsewhere throughout Judea.

615
00:36:26,520 --> 00:36:28,920
Herod had his kingdom under control.

616
00:36:30,280 --> 00:36:33,800
But, the calculation and ruthlessness
that got him to power

617
00:36:33,880 --> 00:36:36,720
descended into paranoia and horror

618
00:36:37,440 --> 00:36:39,120
in his old age.

619
00:36:41,160 --> 00:36:43,160
In the Bible's stories,

620
00:36:43,240 --> 00:36:45,720
Herod orders the murder
of his subject's children.

621
00:36:47,160 --> 00:36:49,920
In reality, he killed his own.

622
00:36:52,360 --> 00:36:55,520
Convinced his own sons
were plotting against him,

623
00:36:55,600 --> 00:36:58,360
the elderly Herod
charged them with treason

624
00:36:58,440 --> 00:37:00,440
and sentenced them to death.

625
00:37:02,920 --> 00:37:06,920
He ordered high-ranking Judeans
to be killed following his death,

626
00:37:07,760 --> 00:37:10,760
to make it look like his people
were mourning for him.

627
00:37:14,040 --> 00:37:17,160
Herod would not be chosen
to be the father of the year.

628
00:37:19,400 --> 00:37:22,960
Augustus was quoted dozens
of years thereafter,

629
00:37:23,040 --> 00:37:24,680
translated into English,

630
00:37:24,760 --> 00:37:28,320
"One would be better off
being the pig of Herod

631
00:37:28,400 --> 00:37:30,560
rather than being one of his sons."

632
00:37:33,120 --> 00:37:35,320
When Herod did die,

633
00:37:35,400 --> 00:37:39,480
a military procession marched his body
from Jericho to Jerusalem,

634
00:37:40,400 --> 00:37:43,040
but the national mourning was muted.

635
00:37:47,200 --> 00:37:51,480
With Herod gone,
the true authority in Judea was revealed.

636
00:37:52,480 --> 00:37:56,240
Augustus stepped in
to split up Herod's kingdom.

637
00:37:56,320 --> 00:38:00,280
And eventually, Rome assumed
direct control of it all.

638
00:38:02,040 --> 00:38:05,120
If the real power always lay with Rome,

639
00:38:05,200 --> 00:38:07,640
why is Herod painted
as the ultimate villain

640
00:38:07,720 --> 00:38:09,080
in the Bible?

641
00:38:13,000 --> 00:38:14,480
At Caesarea,

642
00:38:15,560 --> 00:38:18,760
Beverly heads inland
to explore the parts of the city

643
00:38:18,840 --> 00:38:21,240
that survived a devastating tsunami.

644
00:38:22,080 --> 00:38:24,760
She's at the Temple of Augustus
to search for evidence

645
00:38:24,840 --> 00:38:28,000
of what became of Herod's city
and his legacy,

646
00:38:28,080 --> 00:38:30,760
after the bible's
greatest villain was gone.

647
00:38:31,760 --> 00:38:34,640
One of the most significant buildings

648
00:38:34,720 --> 00:38:37,040
that Herod built was the temple.

649
00:38:37,120 --> 00:38:39,720
According to the descriptions
of this temple,

650
00:38:39,800 --> 00:38:42,280
it was entirely grandiose.

651
00:38:42,360 --> 00:38:44,640
It had massive columns.

652
00:38:44,720 --> 00:38:48,360
So, we know that, in fact,
there was a very, very large

653
00:38:48,440 --> 00:38:50,440
and impressive temple that stood here.

654
00:38:51,080 --> 00:38:53,640
Now, the site is merely ruins,

655
00:38:53,720 --> 00:38:56,320
but Beverly believes there
is still a lot to learn

656
00:38:56,400 --> 00:38:57,720
from what remains.

657
00:38:58,440 --> 00:39:01,240
One of the ways
that the different phases of building

658
00:39:01,320 --> 00:39:04,040
can tell us about
what happened in the past

659
00:39:04,120 --> 00:39:07,240
is not only the buildings themselves
and the shape and the stones,

660
00:39:07,320 --> 00:39:10,800
but also even the material that
was used to stick them together.

661
00:39:10,880 --> 00:39:14,720
We can actually see
the heavy amounts of shell.

662
00:39:14,800 --> 00:39:18,640
And research has shown
that these specific species,

663
00:39:18,720 --> 00:39:21,200
we actually know that
they're from offshore,

664
00:39:21,280 --> 00:39:23,720
and they're brought to
the coastline during tsunamis.

665
00:39:25,000 --> 00:39:27,160
[narrator] Materials carried by tsunamis,

666
00:39:27,240 --> 00:39:30,040
like the seashells,
are mixed in with this cement.

667
00:39:31,320 --> 00:39:34,440
It means the wall was built
after the tsunami,

668
00:39:34,520 --> 00:39:35,880
and long after Herod.

669
00:39:36,880 --> 00:39:40,440
This isn't Herod's temple,
but a much later structure.

670
00:39:41,440 --> 00:39:43,160
Within the cement,

671
00:39:43,240 --> 00:39:46,760
we have a story of the history
of this coastline.

672
00:39:48,760 --> 00:39:50,560
With games at the hippodrome,

673
00:39:50,640 --> 00:39:52,920
and public bathhouses and theater,

674
00:39:53,000 --> 00:39:56,240
Herod had created an ideal of Roman life.

675
00:39:56,320 --> 00:39:58,240
But it wasn't to last.

676
00:39:59,800 --> 00:40:03,480
On the 13th of December, 115 CE,

677
00:40:04,000 --> 00:40:07,280
a catastrophic tsunami
devastated the city.

678
00:40:10,920 --> 00:40:14,760
Further inland,
it seems Herod's architectural legacy

679
00:40:14,840 --> 00:40:16,520
suffered a different attack.

680
00:40:17,400 --> 00:40:20,400
This large structure
covers the original temple,

681
00:40:21,800 --> 00:40:24,360
completely overwriting
Herod's grand homage

682
00:40:24,440 --> 00:40:26,040
to Caesar Augustus.

683
00:40:26,880 --> 00:40:31,000
This large wall is actually part
of the foundations of a church

684
00:40:31,080 --> 00:40:35,520
that was built on top of the foundations
of the Roman temple.

685
00:40:37,600 --> 00:40:41,080
In the centuries after
the supposed Massacre of the Innocents,

686
00:40:42,160 --> 00:40:44,000
when the Bible claims

687
00:40:44,080 --> 00:40:45,520
Herod tried to kill the infant Jesus,

688
00:40:47,920 --> 00:40:50,280
Christianity grew and became established.

689
00:40:52,280 --> 00:40:56,960
In 313 CE,
Rome's first Christian emperor

690
00:40:57,040 --> 00:41:00,560
made the religion legal
and revolutionized the empire.

691
00:41:03,200 --> 00:41:05,920
Once this place is established
with the temple,

692
00:41:06,000 --> 00:41:09,680
it basically becomes
the holy place of Caesarea.

693
00:41:09,760 --> 00:41:12,880
So, after Rome becomes Christian,

694
00:41:12,960 --> 00:41:16,920
the temple is dismantled
and a church is built.

695
00:41:20,440 --> 00:41:22,360
[narrator] This was a land Herod the Great

696
00:41:22,440 --> 00:41:24,800
once ruled with an iron fist,

697
00:41:26,120 --> 00:41:29,320
and the Gospel writers drew on
the memory of his violent reign

698
00:41:29,400 --> 00:41:31,920
to create drama in their storytelling.

699
00:41:32,920 --> 00:41:34,560
If you see the way Christianity

700
00:41:34,640 --> 00:41:38,680
look at Herod as
the murderer of the innocent,

701
00:41:38,760 --> 00:41:43,080
it was a natural linkage, him being

702
00:41:43,160 --> 00:41:45,360
not always very popular, to say the least.

703
00:41:45,440 --> 00:41:47,320
Not inside and not outside.

704
00:41:49,080 --> 00:41:50,560
Herod had been one of Rome's

705
00:41:50,640 --> 00:41:52,720
most loyal and effective servants.

706
00:41:54,160 --> 00:41:57,120
But, for the empire's 50 million citizens,

707
00:41:57,200 --> 00:42:01,440
the Christian gospel turned him into
a two-dimensional character.

708
00:42:02,640 --> 00:42:05,640
A necessary villain in
Christ's origin story.

709
00:42:07,440 --> 00:42:08,800
At the end of the day,

710
00:42:08,880 --> 00:42:12,960
I think it's more to do
with the newly born religion,

711
00:42:13,040 --> 00:42:16,520
Christianity, creating a mythology,

712
00:42:16,600 --> 00:42:19,880
choosing, if you like,
the ultimate villain,

713
00:42:19,960 --> 00:42:22,280
which is Herod, putting that together.

714
00:42:22,360 --> 00:42:25,480
Hence the tradition we're familiar with.

715
00:42:27,800 --> 00:42:29,680
[narrator] Now, across the region,

716
00:42:30,440 --> 00:42:33,160
new archaeological discoveries
reveal the truth

717
00:42:33,880 --> 00:42:36,640
behind the title of Herod the Great.

718
00:42:38,040 --> 00:42:41,400
We love great heroes,
and we love great villains.

719
00:42:42,400 --> 00:42:45,640
His ability, his pragmatism,

720
00:42:45,720 --> 00:42:47,360
and the fact that he was a juggler,

721
00:42:47,440 --> 00:42:49,720
the fact that he managed to overcome

722
00:42:49,800 --> 00:42:52,720
all those obstacles, inside and outside.

723
00:42:53,520 --> 00:42:55,800
Someone referred to him, in ancient times,

724
00:42:56,920 --> 00:43:00,360
as a fox and a lion in one person.

725
00:43:00,440 --> 00:43:02,480
And you may decide which is which.

726
00:43:05,080 --> 00:43:07,520
He defeated local opposition

727
00:43:08,760 --> 00:43:10,680
and juggled his nation's interests

728
00:43:10,760 --> 00:43:13,000
at the edges of a conquering superpower.

729
00:43:15,160 --> 00:43:18,160
He built vast temples
and incredible palaces,

730
00:43:19,120 --> 00:43:21,600
and transformed the cultural landscape

731
00:43:22,760 --> 00:43:25,240
by championing Roman arts and games.

732
00:43:26,320 --> 00:43:29,320
He established a huge port
to increase trade,

733
00:43:30,400 --> 00:43:33,400
and his kingdom flourished
under his control.

734
00:43:34,960 --> 00:43:37,800
But, he also ruled with ruthless violence,

735
00:43:37,880 --> 00:43:40,560
immortalized in the stories of the Bible.

736
00:43:42,000 --> 00:43:43,840
The legends of Herod's cruelty

737
00:43:43,920 --> 00:43:46,800
have outlasted even
his grandest monuments,

738
00:43:47,840 --> 00:43:49,720
obscuring his legacy,

739
00:43:49,800 --> 00:43:51,560
and leaving one of the most complex

740
00:43:51,640 --> 00:43:53,560
and successful rulers of his time

741
00:43:55,840 --> 00:43:59,800
to be remembered as the villain
in someone else's story.

741
00:44:00,305 --> 00:45:00,617
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