Herod's death

Very short because the burial rites of the old king often took a long time.
As will be shown 29 days is to short.
That invalidates the 4BC and March 5BC eclipses.
Very long because a country never is long without a ruler.
That invalidates the 4-6 BC eclipses.

1b. Timeline from the eclipse to death

A lunar eclipse the night after Matthias was burnt alive
But Herod deprived this Matthias of the high priesthood, and burnt the other Matthias, who had raised the sedition, with his companions, alive. And that very night there was an eclipse of the moon.

Antiquities of the Jews 17.6.4

All quotes below in this section are taken from “The Wars of the Jews, Book 1, chapter 33”

2. There also now happened to him, among his other calamities, a certain popular sedition. There were two men of learning in the city [Jerusalem,] who were thought the most skillful in the laws of their country, and were on that account had in very great esteem all over the nation; they were, the one Judas, the son of Sepphoris, and the other Mattbias, the son of Margalus.
…
Now the king had put up a golden eagle over the great gate of the temple, which these learned men exhorted them to cut down;
3. … they therefore let themselves down from the top of the temple with thick cords, and this at midday, and while a great number of people were in the temple, and cut down that golden eagle with axes.
4. At this the king … thought they deserved to be punished as impious persons. … and ordered those that had let themselves down, together with their Rabbins, to be burnt alive
The two sets of quotes are describing the same events. Sedition followed by burning alive Matthias and others.
The most important part to note is that on the same day they died there was lunar eclipse. All events described below happen after that eclipse. That can be used to determine how long after the eclipse Herod the Great died.
5. But now Herod's distemper greatly increased upon him after a severe manner, and this by God's judgment upon him for his sins; for a fire glowed in him slowly,
People claimed this rapid increase of sickness was God punishing Herod for burning those people. That also shows Herod lived after the eclipse.
Remedies - 7 days
His physicians then tried “one remedy after another.”
Those remedies weren’t tried until Herod got more sick after the eclipse. 1 day.
Remedies take some time before the effect becomes noticeable. I would say at least 1 day per remedy. 6 days.
.A total of 7 days seems reasonable.
Bath at Callirrhoe - 6 days
“he went over Jordan, and made use of those hot baths at Callirrhoe”
This 25 mile trip likely took a 1 day to prepare and transport.
The therapy in the baths likely took 2 or 3 days.
“And here the physicians thought proper to bathe his whole body in warm oil” (after the baths failed) - 1 day
“6. He then returned back and came to Jericho,” 1 day.
Capturing prominent Jews from all over his kingdom - 7 days
6. He then returned back and came to Jericho, in such a melancholy state of body as almost threatened him with present death, when he proceeded to attempt a horrid wickedness; for he got together the most illustrious men of the whole Jewish nation, out of every village, into a place called the Hippodrome, and there shut them in. He then called for his sister Salome, and her husband Alexas, and made this speech to them: "I know well enough that the Jews will keep a festival upon my death however, it is in my power to be mourned for on other accounts, and to have a splendid funeral, if you will but be subservient to my commands. Do you but take care to send soldiers to encompass these men that are now in custody, and slay them immediately upon my death, and then all Judea, and every family of them, will weep at it, whether they will or no."
The duration of this quote spans the whole time from Herod ordering to capture prominent Jews from all over his kingdom, until they were actually captured and in his custody.
The most distant cities were 130 miles away. That’s at least a 6 day roundtrip.
Add to that a little time to capture the Jews and most likely Herod’s speech was the day after the last Jew arrived. That’s at least 1 day extra.
Permission from Rome to execute his son Antipater - 3 days
7. These were the commands he gave them; when there came letters from his ambassadors at Rome, whereby information was given that Acme was put to death at Caesar's command, and that Antipater was condemned to die;
It’s unknown how long after his return from capturing the Jews the letters arrived. Let’s say 1 day
When Antipater heard Herod did a failed suicide attempt, he tried to bribe himself out of jail. Herod was told about that and had him executed.
2 days?
Herod died 5 days after his son Antipater - 5 days
8. So Herod, having survived the slaughter of his son five days,

Herod lived at least 7 + 6 + 7 + 3 + 5 = 28 days after the eclipse.

That adds up to 7 February, 1BC

2. Errors in the (copies of) manuscripts of Josephus?

2a. 20, 22, who cares?

In modern copies of “Antiquities of the Jews” we read Herod’s successor Philip ruled 37 years and died in the 20th year of Tiberius.

34AD - 37 = 4BC (no year zero)

If died in the 22nd year the his rule began in 1BC.

The above is part of the reason Herod’s death was dated 4BC. Not so much was know about that period of time but Tiberius was solidly anchored in history.

2b. Scribal error - older (Latin) copies show 22 instead of 20

In 1629 Joseph Scaliger published a study in which he concluded Herod died in 1BC, because an even older Latin version of “Antiquities of the Jews” has 22nd year of Tiberius.

After a thorough search in the British Library and Library of Congress, David Beyer publishes a paper 1996. He wrote that the 1481AD and 1517AD copies of the Latin version indeed all have 22nd year of Tiberius.

He also found that all printed editions prior to 1544 also read 22nd.

On top of that he found another 31 editions that also have 22nd.

3 Herod’s funeral

3a. Background info

After this was over, they prepared for his funeral,

Preparation for the funeral started after Herod died. I’ll start with three lengthy quotes for the needed context. The important parts are in bold.

it being Archelaus's care that the procession to his father's sepulcher should be very sumptuous. Accordingly, he brought out all his ornaments to adorn the pomp of the funeral. The body was carried upon a golden bier, embroidered with very precious stones of great variety, and it was covered over with purple, as well as the body itself; he had a diadem upon his head, and above it a crown of gold: he also had a scepter in his right hand. About the bier were his sons and his numerous relations; next to these was the soldiery, distinguished according to their several countries and denominations; and they were put into the following order: First of all went his guards, then the band of Thracians, and after them the Germans; and next the band of Galatians, every one in their habiliments of war; and behind these marched the whole army in the same manner as they used to go out to war, and as they used to be put in array by their muster-masters and centurions; these were followed by five hundred of his domestics carrying spices. So they went eight furlongs to Herodium; for there by his own command he was to be buried. And thus did Herod end his life.

Antiquities of the Jews 17.8.3

9. So there was an acclamation made to Archelaus, to congratulate him upon his advancement; and the soldiers, with the multitude, went round about in troops, and promised him their good-will, and besides, prayed God to bless his government. After this, they betook themselves to prepare for the king's funeral; and Archelaus omitted nothing of magnificence therein, but brought out all the royal ornaments to augment the pomp of the deceased. There was a bier all of gold, embroidered with precious stones, and a purple bed of various contexture, with the dead body upon it, covered with purple; and a diadem was put upon his head, and a crown of gold above it, and a secptre in his right hand; and near to the bier were Herod's sons, and a multitude of his kindred; next to which came his guards, and the regiment of Thracians, the Germans. also and Gauls, all accounted as if they were going to war; but the rest of the army went foremost, armed, and following their captains and officers in a regular manner; after whom five hundred of his domestic servants and freed-men followed, with sweet spices in their hands: and the body was carried two hundred furlongs, to Herodium, where he had given order to be buried. And this shall suffice for the conclusion of the life of Herod.

Wars of The Jews, 1.33.9

This is what eyewitness Nicolas of Damascus wrote about the procession:

“The body was carried upon a golden bier, embroidered with very precious stones of great variety, and it was covered over with purple, as was the body itself: he had a diadem upon his head, and above it a crown of gold; he had also a sceptre in his right hand. About the bier were his sons and his numerous relations; next to these the soldiers, distinguished according to their several countries and denominations; and they were put in the following order: first of all went his guards, then the band of Thracians, after them the Germans, next the band of Galatians, every one in their habiliments of war; and behind these marched the whole army, in the same manner as they used to go out to war, and as they used to be put in array by their muster-masters and centurions; these were followed by five hundred of his domestics, carrying spices.”

It’s clear that the preparation of the funeral of that magnitude would have taken several days.

3b. Preparation

Royal ornaments were brought to Jericho from his palace in Jerusalem.
The body was likely embalmed with honey. That took some time.

But Aristobulus had no enjoyment of what he hoped for from the power that was given him by Cesar; for those of Pompey's party prevented it, and destroyed him by poison; and those of Caesar's party buried him. His dead body also lay, for a good while, embalmed in honey, till Antony afterward sent it to Judea, and caused him to be buried in the royal sepulcher.

Antiquities of the Jews 14.7.4

It took 500 people to carry the spices to treat the body during the trip to his final resting place. That must have taken some time to prepare.
The armies present needed to be informed, likely needed some time to prepare for the trip. Then the trip itself. Needless to say they needed time after they arrived because you can be sure all their clothing, armor and weapons where spotless. For the occasion the soldier even took a bath :-)

Surely all of the things above were done simultaneously and with the greatest possible speed. But I think it’s abundantly clear for a funeral with such great pomp, it wasn’t a rush job and must have taken days.

4 days minimum I would say.

3c. The procession

I’ll start with the quotes in bold I started this section with.

So they went eight furlongs to Herodium

the body was carried two hundred furlongs, to Herodium

The total distance to his final resting place was 200 furlongs. But a funeral moved at a very slow pace and did just 8 furlongs, 1 mile, a day. That means the procession took about 25 days!

At eight stadia or furlongs a-day, as here, Herod's funeral, conducted to Herodium, which lay at the distance from Jericho, where he died, of 200 stadia or furlongs, Of the War, B. 1. ch. 33. sect. 9, must have taken up no less than twenty-five days.

The Complete works of Josephus Flavius, page 932

After the body arrived a lengthy ceremony followed before the actual burial.

Herod was Jew, and it was customary for Jews to mourn 30 days. Num 20:29; Deut 34:8

Sure, that was mostly after the person was buried. Ordinary people got buried the same day.

But the indications are Herod was (almost) the full 30 days above the ground. And more.

25 days for the procession and a total of 5 days for preparation would be exactly 30 days. It was a Roman custom to put their leaders on display for 7 days. Jewish customs also knew a 7 day mourning period for close relatives. Numbers 19:14. Usually that overlapped with the 30 days; but considering the extreme pomp of Herod’s funeral it’s likely he was displayed 7 days after he arrived. With that Jewish and Roman customs were blended.

Please don’t ask me about the state of the body after 37 days….

We now have a total of 37 (funeral) + 28 (eclipse until death) = 65 days.

4. Between the funeral and Passover

3. Now, upon the approach of that feast of unleavened bread, which the law of their fathers had appointed for the Jews at this time, which feast is called the Passover

Antiquities of the Jews, 17,9,3

All of the above happened before Passover.

He also ascribed to him the releasing of the prisoners that were in the hippodrome, and many other things, that either had been certainly done by him, or were believed to be done, and easily might be believed to have been done, because they were of such a nature as to be usually done by young men, and by such as, out of a desire of ruling, seize upon the government too soon.

Antiquities of the Jews, 17,9,5

The “many other things” are to much to quote. They involve several court hearings, freeing many of Herod’s prisoners, many promotions for officers, etc.
Adding an extra 7 days to the 65 days is likely very conservative.

That brings the total to 72 days since the eclipse

5. A second look at the eclipse table

This time I removed a years without an eclipse.

5 BC March 23. Total eclipse.
Central at 8:30 pm

29 days between the eclipse and Passover.

5 BC September 15. Total eclipse.

Central at 10:30 pm

7 months between eclipse and Passover.

4 BC March 13. Partial eclipse.
Central at 2:20 am
29 days between the eclipse and Passover.

1 BC January 10. Total eclipse.
Central at 1:00 am
85 days between the eclipse and Passover.

Even if we assume a huge margin of error in my calculations and halve the 72 days we get 36 days. So the 2 eclipses with 29 day period are proven impossible for that reason. Those dates being distant from the earlier calculated 1 BC makes them even more unlikely.

That leaves us with:

5 BC September 15. Total eclipse.

Central at 10:30 pm

7 months between eclipse and Passover.

1 BC January 10. Total eclipse.
Central at 1:00 am
85 days between the eclipse and Passover.

5 BC September 15:

This date is to distant from 1 BC because that would mean Philip replaced Herod after 4 years. 4 years without a ruler is very unlikely.

Around that time of the year it's very hot in Jericho, so it would be much more logical for the deadly ill Herod to be in the much cooler Jerusalem. Mid winter it was to cold in Jerusalem, but much better in Jericho. Jericho was Herod's winter palace. So temperature is an other reason this date isn't logical

That leaves just one candidate:

1 BC January 10. Total eclipse.
Central at 1:00 am
85 days between the eclipse and Passover.

That fits very well for three reasons:

Close to the calculated 72 days.
It’s 1 BC like calculated on the page ‘Tiberius & Philip’.
The land wasn’t without an official ruler for a long time.

5. Herod died around…

Herod died around 28 days after the eclipse. That puts his death on around:

7 February 1BC.

(Adar 15 - Full moon)

People with a medical background have studied the symptoms of Herod’s fatal illness.

It started with an kidney infection that cause internal ganggreen. Later that progressed to ‘Forniers Gangrene’.

Internal gangrene. Gangrene affecting one or more of your organs, most commonly your intestines, gallbladder or appendix, is called internal gangrene. This type of gangrene occurs when blood flow to an internal organ is blocked — for example, when your intestines bulge through a weakened area of muscle in your abdomen (hernia) and become twisted. Internal gangrene often causes a fever and severe pain. Left untreated, internal gangrene can be fatal. Fournier's gangrene. Fournier's gangrene is an uncommon type of gangrene that involves the genital organs. Men are more often affected, but women can develop this type of gangrene as well. Fournier's gangrene usually arises due to an infection in the genital area or urinary tract and causes genital pain, tenderness, redness and swelling.

A cruel king, that met a cruel end….