King Herod the Great is one of Jewish History’s most controversial kings. On the throne of Judea for almost four decades, his rule coincided with the rise of the Roman Empire and the ubiquitous might of Rome. Although he was born an Idumean, he married a descendant of the Hasmonean dynasty, and assumed the monarchy with Roman support, along with reluctant Jewish support.

In the second of this two-part lecture series examining Herod and his era, Rabbi Dunner reveals the life story of Herod himself. Simultaneously reviled and celebrated in his own lifetime, Herod was a despot whose paranoia and thirst for power resulted in a murderous rollercoaster reign of violence and intrigue.