SHORTLY after the death of the well-known author Zora Neale Hurston (1891-1960), a trunk-load of her personal papers were consigned to a bonfire. A friend, noticing the smoke, hosed down the bonfire, extracting the charred manuscript of this revisionist novel. Previously rejected for publication, it has now been edited by Deborah G. Plant, asterisks marking passages that could not be recovered.
Hurston’s purpose was to restore the reputation of the Idumaean Herod the Great from both the libel of St Matthew’s Gospel concerning the murder of the Innocents and “the poisoned source” of Flavius Josephus, and set Herod in his rightful place in Jewish history — a popular king, fine soldier and administrator, and great builder.
In her very detailed and somewhat breathless reassessment, Hurston begins with Antipater’s appointment of his son Herod as Governor of Galilee, then his being terrorised by the much feared bandit Hezekiah, whom Herod unexpectedly defeats and slaughters. Because under Jewish law Hezekiah should have been brought alive before the Sanhedrin for sentence, enemies of Antipater and his sons persuade the aged Asamonaean priest Hyrcanus to summon Herod before the Sanhedrin on a charge of murder — a plot that spectacularly fails.
Later, Herod marches on Jerusalem to execute Hyrcanus, but desists at his father’s request. Without any consultation, Hyrcanus announces that his granddaughter Mariamne is betrothed to the unhappily married Herod.
There follows further plotting against Herod, involving the weak and disloyal Hyrcanus, which leads to the poisoning of Herod’s beloved father and does not stop when Antony becomes master of the eastern empire after the assassination of Julius Caesar. Throughout, Herod shows himself a masterful diplomat, even resisting the wiles of Cleopatra.
The threat to Herod continues with the attack of the Parthians on Jerusalem and the plotting of the Asamonaean Antigonus to regain the throne of his ancestors. Herod is forced to flee Jerusalem for Idumaea with the women, children, and the elderly, and, en route, engages triumphantly in “the most savagely fought battle in the history of the world” on the mound that will become Herodium. This marks a decisive point in Herod’s career as he now set out for Rome, where, having again during a brief stop in Alexandria resisted the charms of Cleopatra, he is proclaimed King of Judaea by the Senate.
On his return home, he lifts the siege of Masada, where his family and others have sought refuge, passionately consummates his marriage with Mariamne, and, after a long five months, captures Jerusalem and has Antigonus delivered to Antony, who swiftly beheads him, in Rome.
Once more, Cleopatra on an unwanted visit to Herod fails to seduce him, a visit that leads to the deadly hostility of his hitherto devoted wife, who attempts his murder. After the drowning of Mariamne’s brother, Aristobulus — heir to the Asamonaeans — Cleopatra persuades Antony to have Herod tried for his murder. He is easily acquitted, his love for his wife is shattered, and Mariamne is tried and executed. The tragedy is heartbreaking.
Much of the end of the novel has been lost. Snippets that remain include the building of Herodium, the introduction of the Egyptian Mariamne, whose father Herod made high priest, his designation by Caesar as Herod Magnus, the start of his massive building projects that would include Caesarea and the magnificent third temple at Jerusalem, and the plotting of two of his sons who saw themselves as Asamonaeans.
A final note from one of the author’s letters records that, after 37 years on the throne, Herod “died peacefully in his bed and was borne to his tomb in splendour”. What a story!
Canon Anthony Phillips is a former headmaster of The King’s School, Canterbury.
The Life of Herod the Great
Zora Neale Hurston
HarperCollins £20
(978-0-00-873278-3)
Church Times Bookshop £18
