Herodian says that Martialis ' brother had been executed a few days earlier by Caracalla on an unproven charge ; Cassius Dio, on the other hand, says that Martialis was resentful at not being promoted to the rank of centurion.

He was not from Italy, for he says the Alps were bigger than anything “ in our part of the world .” ( 2. 11. 8 ) It has been suggested that Herodian was from Alexandria since he placed such a large emphasis on Caracalla's massacre of this city and its inhabitants.

After their joint suicide in 30 BCE, Octavian assumed control of the Roman Empire and granted Herod free rein over Jericho, as part of the new Herodian domain.

The success of mass-conversions is however questionable, as most groups retained their tribal separations and mostly turned Hellenistic or Christian, with Edomites perhaps being the only exception to merge into the Jewish society under Herodian dinasty and in the following period of Jewish-Roman Wars.

In regards to Cassius Dio, both he and Herodian admittedly make many errors in their histories.

Dio is credited as the expert when it comes to the senate ; however, Herodian challenges Dio on his description of the people's reaction to the proclamation of Septimius Severus as their new emperor.

Marcus Julius Alexander was the first husband of the Herodian Princess Berenice.

Marcus Julius Alexander was the first husband of Herodian Princess Berenice.

While the author of the Historia Augusta drew from Herodian, he also censured him for bias, and Herodian was by no means Zosimus ’ first choice.

Herodian places the date of the split occurred in 197, though there is no evidence of this distinction being formalised in inscriptions until after the death of Severus in 211.

Between 41 and 44 CE, Iudaea regained its nominal autonomy, when Herod Agrippa was made King of the Jews by the emperor Claudius, thus in a sense restoring the Herodian Dynasty, though there is no indication Iudaea ceased to be a Roman province simply because it no longer had a prefect.

In the second book, Herodian states that his intention was to “ narrate only the most important and conclusive … actions separately and in chronological order .” ( 2. 15. 7 ) Because of this, Herodian sometimes consolidates a large number of events into a single reference or two.

It was ruled by Herodian descendants also when Judea itself became a Roman Province in 6 CE, up until the death of Agrippa II in the year 92.

Humphrey had become lord of Toron sometime before 1140, when he married the daughter of Renier Brus, lord of Banias ( the Herodian city of Caesarea Philippi ).

He mentions, “ My aim is to write a systematic account of the events within a period of seventy years, covering the reigns of several emperors, of which I have personal experience .” ( 2. 15. 7 ) This reaffirms the notion that Herodian was about 70 years of age when this was written and that the actions did indeed occur during his lifetime.

I had a personal share in some of these events during my imperial and public service .” ( 1. 2. 5 ) It has been suggested that Herodian was a senator due to his knowledge of the senatus consultum tacitum, which was a secret declaration by the senate when they chose the emperors Pupienus and Balbinus.

Of Herodian, Photius wrote “ he neither exaggerates with hyperbole nor omits anything essential ; in short, in all the virtues of historiography there are few men who are his superior .” Zosimus used him as a source as did John of Antioch when writing his World Chronicle.

He is usually known as Herodian except when there is a danger of confusion with the historian also named Herodian.

He was living in or near Jerusalem when Christ's miraculous birth and the Herodian massacre occurred.

Rachel Bar-Nathan has argued from similarities between pottery finds at Qumran and at the Hasmonean and Herodian palaces of Jericho that Qumran should be seen as part of the Jordan valley context rather than as an isolated site.

Some scholars have postulated that Abellio is the same name as Apollo, who in Crete and elsewhere was called Abelios ( Greek ), and by the Italians and some Dorians Apello, and that the deity is the same as the Gallic Apollo mentioned by Caesar, and also the same as the Belis or Belenus mentioned by Tertullian and Herodian.

One notion is that Herodian must have finished writing around 240, which would have made him about 70.

If Herodian did attend the games of Commodus, he must have been at least 14 at the time, which is to say that he was born in 178 at the latest.

Herodian mentions, “ I have written a history of the events following the death of Marcus which I saw and heard in my lifetime.

However, it is also stated that news of this was leaked by some senators, and it certainly would not have remained a secret for the entirety of Herodian ’ s lifetime.

Still yet, Herodian could have been an apparitor, a scribe or an attendant to the emperor.

This would be suiting, for he would have had access to senatorial documents, traveled extensively, and been knowledgeable in the field of fiscal affairs, which Herodian repetitively stressed in his history.

Most likely, Herodian is writing for an eastern audience, for he often explains different Roman customs and beliefs that would have seemed foreign to Easterners.

Herodian has long been criticized for a lack of historical accuracy, but recent studies have tended to side with him, legitimizing his historical facts.

Some works by lesser-known figures are known to have been reattributed to Herodian, presumably in order to increase the prestige of the works.

The excavations have uncovered 7. 5 dunnams, about 5 % of the site, revealing a typical Jewish city featuring ritual baths, Herodian lamps, limestone cups and thousands of Hasmonean coins.

It is possible that, to gain adherents, the Herodian party may have been in the habit of representing that the establishment of a Herodian Dynasty would be favourable to the realization of the theocracy ; and this in turn may account for pseudo Tertullian's ( Adversis Omnes Haereses

Joanna must have been one of the eyewitnesses available to Luke as a source for his Herodian material.

Herodian wrote " this stone is worshipped as though it were sent from heaven ; on it there are some small projecting pieces and markings that are pointed out, which the people would like to believe are a rough picture of the sun, because this is how they see them ".

Despite qualified support for Antipas from Herodian family members in Rome, who favoured direct Roman rule of Judea but considered Antipas preferable to his brother, Augustus largely confirmed the division of territory set out by Herod in his final will.

He refers to the Sadducees, Jewish High Priests of the time, Pharisees and Essenes, the Herodian Temple, Quirinius ' census and the Zealots, and to such figures as Pontius Pilate, Herod the Great, Agrippa I and Agrippa II, John the Baptist, James the brother of Jesus, and a centuries-long disputed reference to Jesus ( for more see Josephus on Jesus ).

* the unique copy of a Greek grammatical text composed by Herodian for the emperor Marcus Aurelius in the 2nd century, preserved in the Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Vienna

The principal surviving literary sources are Dio Cassius ( a contemporary and sometimes first-hand observer, but for this reign, only transmitted in fragments and abbreviations ), Herodian and the Historia Augusta ( untrustworthy for its character as a work of literature rather than history, with elements of fiction embedded within its biographies ; in the case of Commodus, it may well be embroidering upon what the author found in reasonably good contemporary sources ).

Caracalla was succeeded by his Praetorian Guard Prefect, Macrinus, who ( according to Herodian ) was most probably responsible for having the emperor assassinated.

* Resources > Second Temple and Talmudic Era > Herod and the Herodian Dynasty The Jewish History Resource Center — Project of the Dinur Center for Research in Jewish History, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

His witty, abusive style appears for example in this quote by Herodian, who however was mainly interested in its linguistic aspects ( many of the extant verses were preserved for us by lexicographers and grammarians interested in rare words ):

The Kingdom had survived for 103 years before yielding to the Herodian Dynasty in 37 BCE.

He still makes use of some recognized sources – Herodian up to 238, and probably Dexippus in the later books, for the entire imperial period the Enmannsche Kaisergeschichte – but the biographies are increasingly tracts of invention in which occasional nuggets of fact are embedded.

The diplomacy and artful politics of Antipater produced the Herodian dynasty ; he paved the way for the rise of his son Herod the Great, who married the Hasmonean princess Mariamne, endeared himself to Rome, and usurped the Judean throne to become king of Judea under Roman influence.

In short, unless an inscription is discovered, Herodian ’ s place of birth will never be known for certain.

Herodian records that he requested re-enforcements from emperor Septimius Severus, perhaps to undertake punishment raids in Scotland or for a military expedition led by the emperor himself.