Herod: The Man Who Had to Be King (2012 Shulewitz), novel

Yehuda Shulewitz, Herod: The Man Who Had to Be King (Jerusalem: Penina Press, 2007).

Abstract

"Herod -- The Man Who Had to be King, is the story of the conflict between Herod, Rome and the Jewish people. It is the story of a conflict that takes the reader from the Land of Israel and Jerusalem to the bustle of Rome and the wide, colorful thoroughfares of Alexandria, from Syria to the heart of the Parthian empire, to Babylonia and Antioch. It presents a vast panorama of the Mediterranean region of some two thousand years ago, bringing to life the great Sages, the High Priest and the Temple service, Antony and Cleopatra, Cassius and Sextus Caesar, Alexandra, the proud Hasmonean and her children, Aristobulus, and Antigonus, another Hasmonean and contender for the throne of Judea and a bitter enemy of Herod. The peaceful Jewish farmers meanwhile tend their fields, living under the heavy burden of Roman taxation. And Herod is always there – the devoted family man of malevolent moods for whom no challenge is too great or bloody to reach his goal: He had to be King."--Publisher description.