An old and bloodthirsty tyrant hears from a group of magi of the birth of the Messiah, the new king of the Jews. He vengefully sends his soldiers to Bethlehem with orders to kill all the baby boys in the city and therefore preserve the tyrant’s throne. For most of the Western World, this is Herod the Great, an icon of cruelty and evil, the epitome of a tyrant. But is this really all of him, and is this all we can know about him? Because of his status within Christian communities as the