Josephus on Herod’s Death
For those non-specialists who have been reading about the discovery of Herod’s tomb, I thought I would provide here the account of Herod’s funeral found in Antiquities of the Jews by Josephus. Josephus was a Jewish historian during the first century CE. The text presented here is taken from Book 17, Chapter 8, Section 3. The full text can be found in numerous online sources, including the Christian Classics Ethereal Library run by Calvin College.
Josephus writes:
After this was over, they prepared for [Herod’s] funeral, 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.
By the way, for those of you who might be worried about the ethics of reproducing such a large chunk of text here, I should point out that the Josphus translation that is widely available on the Internet is the translation by William Whiston. Because it was produced in the early 18th century, the copyright has now expired, which means it is legal to reprint the translation.