26 Facts About One of History’s Greatest Villains, Herod the Great

26 Facts About One of History’s Greatest Villains, Herod the Great

Natasha sheldon - February 26, 2019

26 Facts About One of History’s Greatest Villains, Herod the Great
French medieval manuscript showing Herod the Great and his wives.Wikimedia Commons. Public Domain

6. In all, Herod married ten times.

Mariamne and Doris aside, Herod married ten times, which produced plenty of children to make up for the ones he murdered. The names of two of his wives are lost. 28 BC was a bumper year for wives as Herod married a Samarian woman named Malthace and a Jerusalem woman, Cleopatra. Herod’s final batch of wives, Pallas, Phaedra, and Elpis came in 16 BC and produced him only daughters. However, shortly after Mariamne’s death, Herod married another Mariamne, the daughter of Simon, a priest. Mariamne II had a son, also named before Herod divorced her in 6 BC. Out of all Herod’s children from Malthace and Cleopatra, three of the boys, Antipas, Archelaus and Philip managed to survive their father and inherit his Kingdom.

Advertisement