became sufficiently powerful to threaten Hyrcanus and the sanhedrim, 45. He gained the favour of Antony, and thus maintained himself amid the tempests which, after the assassination of Caesar, 44, shook the Roman world, powerful as the party opposed to him were: that party, however, at last, in lieu of the ill-fated Hyrcanus, the only surviving son of Aristobulus, placed Antigonus at their head, and, assisted by the Parthians, then flourishing in power, seated him on the throne, 39. Herod having fled to Rome, not only met with a gracious reception at the hands of the triumviri, but was by them appointed king. Fourth period under the Herodians, B. C. 39 to A. D. 70. Herod the Great, B. C. 39 to A. D. 1. put himself in possession of Jerusalem and all Judaea, B. C. 37, and confirmed his power by marrying Mariamne of the house of the Maccabees. Notwithstanding his severity shown to the party of Antigonus, and the house of the Maccabees, the total extinction of which Herod deemed necessary for his own safety; yet so greatly did the wasted country stand in need of peace, that for that very reason his reign may be said to have been a happy one. Availing himself of the liberality of Augustus, whose favour he contrived to obtain after the defeat of Anthony, B.C. 31, Herod gradually increased the extent of his kingdom, which at last comprised Judaea, Samaria, Galilee, and beyond the Jordan, Peraea, Ituraea, and Trachonitis, (that is to say, the whole of Palestine,) together with Idumaea; from these countries he derived his income without being obliged to pay any tribute. The deference consequently shown by Herod to Rome, was but the effect of a natural policy, and his conduct in that respect could be objected to him only by bigoted Jews. To his whole family, rather than to himself individually, are to be attributed the executions which took place among its members; happy had it been if the sword had smitten none but the guilty and spared the innocent. In the last year but one of his reign is placed the birth of Christ (according to the usually adopted computation, made in the sixth century by Dionysius Exiguus. But the more accurate calculations of modern chronologists show that the real date of the Saviour's birth was probably four years earlier).--According to his will, with some few alterations made by Augustus, his kingdom was divided among his three surviving sons; Archelaus, as ethnarch, receiving the greater moiety, Judaea, Samaria, and Idumaea; the two others, as tetrarchs, Philip a part of Galilee and Trachonitis, Antipas the other part of Galilee, and Peraea, together with Ituraea; subsequently to which division, the various parts did not, in consequence, all share the same fate.--Archelaus, by misgovernment, soon lost his portion, A. D. 6; Judaea and Samaria were consequently annexed as a Roman province