The Date of Herod

The Date of Herod's Death: The Errors Corrected

by Murrell Selden 11/15/95 (Revised 12/16/98,11/28/99, 12/01/99, 12/03/99, 12/22/99)

Introduction

There has been considerable confusion among scholars as to the date of the death of Herod the Great. However, this writer believes the matter to be simple. This writer tries to find the date, assuming the traditional date of Shebat 2 for his death. The chief problem has been in finding the correct year. This writer uses the reference information from Antiquities of the Jews by Josephus [as translated by William Whiston, Library of Congress Catalog Number 60-15405, ISBN 0-8254-2951-X (cl) & ISBN 0-8254-2952-8 (pb)].

Establishing the Regnal Years for Herod the Great

My anchor for dating the regnal years for Herod the Great is a well known date, the battle for the Roman Empire at Actium. At this time there was a major earthquake, and it was in the life of Josephus. Here is what Josephus tells us at page 320, Book XV, Chapter V, Section 2, as follows:

"2. At this time it was that the fight happened at Actium, between Octavius Caesar and Anthony in the seventh year of the reign of Herod; and then it was also that there was as earthquake in Judea, such a one as had not happened at any other time...."

Roman history tells us that the date of the decisive battle was September 2nd of 31 B. C., a date which will live in infamy (in reference to another date which is well known in our day, the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor). In any case, it is a very firm anchor date from secular history. Elsewhere in Josephus, there is a narrative of how Herod had come to the aid of Mark Antony in the Spring of 31 B. C.

Table on the Reign of Herod: Based Upon the Above Statement Year, B. C.	Regnal Years Period	Year, B. C.	Regnal Years Period
37	1	18	20
36	2	17	21
35	3	16	22
34	4	15	23
33	5	14	24
32	6	13	25
31 war at Actium	7 anchor year	12	26
30	8	11	27
29	9	10	28
28	10	9	29
27	11	8	30
26	12	7	31
25	13	6	32
24	14	5	33
23	15	4	34 common error
22	16	3	35
21	17	2	36
20	18	1 B. C. Herod died	37 since king by Rome
19	19	1 A. D. did not reign	38 died last year
Observe please this statement from Book XVII, Chapter VIII, Section 1, by Josephus as follows: "When he had done those things, he died, the fifth day after he had caused Antipater to be slain; having reigned, since he procured Antigonus to be slain, thirty-four years; but since he had been declared king by the Romans, thirty-seven."

Problem with the Chart

There is a problem, however! In Book XVII, Chapter XIV, and at the end of paragraph 5, it says this: “And thus did this man receive the kingdom, having obtained it on the hundred and eighty-fourth Olympiad, when Caius Domitus Calvinus was consul the second time, and Caius Asinius Polli [the first time.]” The 184^th Olympiad began on July 1^st in 44 B. C. E., and it ended four year later in 40 B. C. E. [Year B. C. E. = 780- (number of Olympiad x 4)]. Later, Chapter XVI of Book XIV in paragraph 4. says, “This destruction befell the city of Jerusalem when Marcus Agrippa and Caninius Gallus were conuls in Rome, on the hundred and eighty-fifth Olympiad, on the third month, on the solemnity of the fast, as if a periodical revolution of calamities had returned since that which befell the Jews under Pompey; for the Jews were taken by him on the same day, and this was after twenty-seven years’ time.” The 184^th Olympiad ended in 36 B. C. E.

Was Josephus saying that in 37 B. C. E., he began ruling over the Jews after having been made king by the Romans 3 years before in 40 B. C. E. So, when he said that it was the seventh year of his reign (since actually ruling over the Jews) in 31 B. C. E, he meant that he was king by the Romans officially in 37 B. C. E. (though he procured the kingship from the Romans earlier). Further, he was speaking about his first kingship by the Romans. His second kingship began in 31 B. C. E. and ended in 1 B. C. E.

Confirming Evidence from Eclipses of the Moon

Now, as noted at Book XVII, Chapter VI, Section 4, of Josephus, there was an eclipse of the moon. The report said that Herod killed a person named Matthias and deprived another Matthias of the high priest position. It was a date of a fast before the death of Herod, and there was a lunar eclipse reported. So, when was this lunar eclipse? To answer that question, one needs to know that lunar eclipses happen only when there is a full moon and as many times as three in a year (if one at the start, one at the mid-year, and one at the end of the year period). Here are some lunar eclipses near the times suggested for Herod's death as follows: Year of Lunar Eclipse	1st Calc. Eclipse That Year	2nd Eclipse That Year	3rd Eclipse That Year
4 B. C. (or B. C. E.)	03/13, 00:39 GMT, partial, Adar 14-15	09/05, 11:02 GMT, partial, Tishri 14-15	none
3 B. C.	no partial or total	no partial or total	none
2 B. C.	01/20, 11:33 GMT, partial, Tebbeth 14-15	7/17, 04:56 GMT, partial, Tammuz 14-15	none
1 B. C.	1/10, 22:57 GMT, total, JD 1721066.5, Tebeth 14-15	7/5, 08:29 GMT, total, JD 1721243.5, Tammuz 14-15	12/29, 14:27 GMT,partial, JD 1721420.5, Tebbeth 14-15
1 A. D. (or C. E.)	6/24, 09:14 GMT, partial, Tammuz 14-15	no partial or total	none
2 A. D.	05/15, 4:07 GMT, partial, Iyyar 14-15	11/08, 22:25 GMT, partial, Heshvan 14-15	none

The eclipse of 1/10 in 1 B. C. is listed as eclipse number 1,860 in Theodor Oppolozer's "Canon of Eclipses" (Dover, New York, 1962). That eclipse, according to John Pratt (Ph. D. in astronomy), was listed as total for 51 minutes near midnight and centered over 15 degrees east longitude (which is perfect for having been viewed in Jerusalem). An eclipse was listed for 7/5, but it was over the Pacific ocean and not viewable in Jerusalem. John Pratt prefers the eclipse (as the one for the one just before the death of Herod) Oppolzer #1,862 of 12/29. John Pratt has written a book, to be available in the year 2000 about midyear on his viewpoint on the matter of Herod's death (in 1 A. D. rather than 1 B. C.).

NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center calculations of lunar eclipses were found at:

http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/phase/phasecat.html.

The rest of the lunar eclipses were taken from those same calculations.

I was looking for an eclipse of the moon early in 1 B. C. E. (when I believe that Herod died). The obvious pick is the lunar eclipse of January 10th in 1 B. C. E. Further, there was a fast in the month of Tebeth on the 10th of the sacred calendar. It was on the 10^th day of Tebeth (the 10^th month) that Nebuchadnezzar began his siege against the city of Jerusalem. (His siege was completed 18 months later on Tammuz 9).

There were four annual fasts and a special year end fast (Adar 14-15) of the Jews as follows:

Tammuz 9	Fast of the 4th Month	Part of June or July
Ab 10	Fast of the 5th Month	Part of July or August
Tishri 15	Fast of the7th Month	Part of September or October
Tebbeth 10	Fast of the 10th Month	Part of December or January
Adar 14, 15	Fast of the 12^th Month	Part of Feburary or March

Only on the fasts of Tishri 15 and Adar 15 was about a full moon. I don’t know how long these fasts lasted, so some of the others might have lasted through a full moon or been rescheduled due to events. But, it was many months from Shebat. It appears that Josephus was referring to a fast in Tebbeth or Adar (the only one which could be near Shebat). But, Shebat (the 11^th month) is just before Adar. If it were Adar 15 in 4 B. C. E. that the lunar eclipse of Josephus happened, then the tradition that Herod died on Shebat 2 would be in error.

The translator of the works of Josephus perhaps believed that the lunar eclipse was on a Passover. So, to check this out, I estimated the Passover dates for the relevant years as follows:

Passovers Near the Birth of Jesus: 4 B.C.E. Through 1 B.C.E. Passover Year	Julian Day Number	Date (Nisan 14)
4 B. C. E.	1,720,061.3 calc value	4/10 of 4 B. C.
3 B. C. E.	1,720,415.66	3/30 of 3 B. C.
2 B. C. E.	1,720,799.56	4/18 of 2 B. C.
1 B. C. E.	1,721,153.93	4/6 of 1 B. C.

Note that none of the above dates for the Passover matches a lunar eclipse date in the previous chart for lunar eclipses near the time period.

Traditional Date for the Death of Herod the Great

Shebat 2 is the traditional Jewish date for the death of Herod. Using a calendar computer program, I estimated Shebat 2 as probably January 26 in 1 B. C. E. That was Julian Day Number 1,721,082.56 (calc).

Conclusion

Based upon the writings of Josephus (which appear to be mostly accurate), the anchor date of the war between Antony and Octavius Caesar, and calculations of relevant lunar events, it appears that Herod the Great died in 1 B. C. E. (not 4 B. C. E. ) Though 4 B. C. E. has been favored, because it has a lunar eclipse on a fast day. But, an analysis of what Josephus said about Herod’s kingships ( http://people.ce.mediaone.net/murrellg/46years.html) indicates the error in the thinking.

Also, as we are aware that Jesus was in his 30th year when he was baptized (and the date of his baptism is closely known from the reign of Tiberius Caesar), it cannot be that 4 B. C. E. was the date of the death of Herod (if Jesus was actually 30).

However, the fast of Tishri 15 is directly on the partial eclipse of September 5th in 4 B. C. E., and the fast of Adar 15 in 4 B. C. E. is directly on the partial eclipse of March 13 in 4 B. C. E. These fasts are after the 11^th month of Shebat (though tradition could be in error). Another point in favor of them is that these September 5^thand March 13^th lunar eclipses were likely visible in Jerusalem. However, they fall in the wrong year when Josephus is properly understood.

I conclude the the death of Herod occurred after the first eclipse of the moon in 1 B. C. E., so it was perhaps a rescheduled fast for Tebbeth 10 on the 14^th or 15^th of the Jewish month.