ABSTRACT
Conflicting origins for Herod were designed by the Roman, Christian, and Jewish communities to meet differing needs. On the Roman side, Strabo (ca. 64 bce to after 23 ce) describes Herod as a “native of the country” who “slinked into the priesthood” (Geog. 16.2.46), an obvious error. From a Christian point of view, Justin (Dialogue with Trypho 52) claims Ashkelon is the birthplace of Antipater, Herod’s father, and Eusebius (Church History, 1.6) preserves a calumny (citing Julius Africanus, who was born in Jerusalem ca. 160) that Herod’s grandfather Antipas was a Gentile slave who had served in the Temple of Apollo in Ashkelon; a little later (1.7.24) Eusebius says, correctly, “Herod . . . had no drop of Israelitish blood.” Despite the extended analysis of the evidence by Kokkinos, there is still doubt whether “the origins of his dynasty have been rediscovered” (Kokkinos 1998, 100–39, here 139). We simply cannot say where precisely Herod was born or where his family was located, since the later accounts are for the most part tendentious, made from whole cloth. We find the discussion of Ashkelon’s coinage (Kokkinos 1998, 128–36) a case of clutching at straws (Marshak 2015, 231; Rocca 2008, 127; Ariel & Fontanille 2012, 93; Kushnir-Stein 1999, 198).
