King Herod: A Persecuted Persecutor: A Case Study in Psychohistory and Psychobiography (Studia Judaica 36) (Studia Judaica)

The enigma of King Herod as a cruel bloodthirsty tyrant on the one hand, and a great builder on the other is discussed in a systematic modern historical and psychological study. It seeks to unravel the contradictory historic mystery of the man and his deeds. After A. Schalit's König Herodes , this study is a new comprehensive, pioneering study on the intriguing personality of Herod, also using the insights of psychology. Herod's mental state reached an acute level, consistent with the DSM-IV diagnosis for "Paranoid Personality Disorder". He grew up with an ambiguous identity and suffered from feelings of inferiority. Haunted by persecutory delusions, he executed almost any suspect of treason, including his wife and three sons. The Hebrew original text was Winner of the Ya'acov Bahat Prize for Non-Fiction Hebrew Literature for 2006. Frontmatter 1 Table of Contents 5 Foreword 11 Preface 17 Acknowledgments 19 Introduction 21 Chapter 1. Residues of Childhood in the Late Hasmonaean Period (73/72–63 BCE) 38 Chapter 2. Adolescence in the Shadow of the Roman Conquest (63–42 BCE) 54 Chapter 3. From the Utmost Depths to the Conquest of Jerusalem (41–37 BCE) 77 Chapter 4. Herod in the First Year of His Reign (37 BCE) 104 Chapter 5. Roots and Ramifications of the Hasmonaean Trauma (37–34 BCE) 121 Chapter 6. Cleopatra VII’s Influence on Relations between Herod and Antony (34–31 BCE) 146 Chapter 7. Elimination of Herod’s Hasmonaean Family Members (30–28 BCE) 175 Chapter 8. Construction and Prosperity in the Shadow of Oppression (27–10 BCE) 201 Chapter 9. Herod’s Address in Preparation for the Building of the Holy Temple (22/23 BCE) 233 Chapter 10. Hidden Motivations for Building the Holy Temple: “Rivalry” with the Hasmonaeans and a Desire to Flaunt His Grandeur 245 Chapter 11. Return to Daily Reality amid New Tensions (18–14 BCE) 264 Chapter 12. A Turn for the Worse at Home and Continued Activity Abroad (14–10 BCE) 279 Chapter 13. Further Deterioration in Herod’s Mental State and Worsening Relations with his Hasmonaean Sons (10–9 BCE) 301 Chapter 14. A Downward Spiral at Home and Abroad (9–7 BCE) 325 Chapter 15. Lead-Up to the Great Explosion (8–7 BCE) 345 Chapter 16. The Tragic End of Alexander and Aristobulus (7 BCE) 360 Chapter 17. Antipater’s Subversion in the Royal Court of Jerusalem (7–5 BCE) 373 Chapter 18. The Bitter Fate of Antipater 392 Chapter 19. Descent into Oblivion (4 BCE) 404 Chapter 20. Post-Mortem 425 Afterword 430 Backmatter 444 Biographical note: Aryeh Kasher, University of Tel-Aviv, Israel;Eliezer Witztum, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel