The divine right of kings by order of the Almighty
to give and to take ... life as in all other exchanges
of property. And so did Herod the Great, father to
Herod Antipas. One the possessor of the rites of kingship
the other scheming to inherit the right to rule. Herod
wrote Josephus, had his most cherished royal wife
put to death believing the slander that besmirched her
and in death mourned the woman he loved, the very
woman who loathed him as the murderer of her
Hasmonean grandfather, whose throne he usurped
of Caesar's favour. In time his sons of Mariamne's
issue accused of treachery were also executed
their offspring Herod's living treasury. A commoner
wife gave Herod a son whose features were despised
by all of Judea in the knowledge he had conspired to
succeed to the throne through deceit and malevolence
more than content to accede to Rome's command in
the crucifixion of a Jew who scorned him as a 'fox'.
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