Herod I, 37-4 B.C.,
was so paranoid about threats to his power that he not only had the infants of
Bethlehem killed when Jesus was born, but he murdered all former rulers, his
wife, and two sons as well. Augustus supposedly remarked, "It is better to be
Herod's pig than his son."
Herod restored the Temple and built fortresses and other structures, paid for
by heavy taxes.
The irregularities in the edges of this coin show where it was broken from a
strip of coins.
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