rod's task was to preserve peace in the land thus intrusted to him and
to guard the eastern border of the empire against its Parthian foes. This
task he faithfully performed.

III. His Building Activity. The spirit and policy of Augustus were
clearly reflected in Herod's court and kingdom. When his position was
firmly established, Herod devoted himself to magnificent building
enterprises. In Antioch, Athens, and Rhodes, he reared great public
buildings. Jerusalem, his capital, was provided with a theatre and
amphitheatre, and other buildings that characterize the Graeco-Roman
cities of the period. The two crowning achievements of Herod's reign were
the rebuilding of Samaria and Caesarea, as its port on the Mediterranean
coast. Both of these cities were renamed in honor of his patron Augustus.
On the acropolis of Samaria he built a huge Roman temple, the foundations
of which have recently been uncovered by the American excavators. The city
itself was encircled by a colonnade, over a mile long, consisting of
pillars sixteen feet in height. Caesarea, like Samaria, was adorned with
magnificent public buildings, including a temple, a theatre, a palace, and
an amphitheatre. The great breakwater two hundred feet wide that ran out
into the open sea was one of the greatest achievements of that building
age. By these acts Herod won still further the favor of Augustus and the
admiration of the Eastern world.

IV. His Attitude toward His Subjects. The peace which Herod brought to
Palestine was won at the point of the sword. The fear which he felt for
his subjects was surpassed only by the fear which he inspired in them. He
was unscrupulous and merciless in cutting down all possible rivals. The
treacherous murder of Aristobulus III, the grandson of Hyrcanus, and last
of all the murder of the inoffensive and maimed Hyrcanus, are among the
darkest deeds in Herod's bloody reign. The power of the sanhedrin, the
Jewish national representative body, was almost completely crushed.
Following the policy of Augustus, Herod developed a complex system of
spies, or espionage, so that, like an Oriental tyrant, he ruled his
subjects by means of two armies, the spies who watched in secret and the
soldiers who guarded them openly. His lavish building enterprises led him
to load his people with an almost intolerable burden of taxation, and yet
for the common people Herod's reign was one of comparative peace and
prosperity. At last they were delivered