Combat Profile
Massacre of the Innocents
unleash devastating retaliatory strikes against perceived threats, eliminating entire populations to ensure no rival can challenge your rule.
Paranoid Tyranny
all enemies take increased damage when they are outnumbered or isolated, as your fear-driven madness warps the battlefield around you.
Paranoia; murdered his own wife (Mariamne) and three of his sons
Augustus Caesar allegedly quipped: “It is better to be Herod’s pig than Herod’s son” (a pun: hus = pig, huios = son in Greek — Herod, as a nominal Jew, wouldn’t eat pork but would kill his children). He was a brilliant builder: the Temple expansion, Masada, Caesarea Maritima, Herodium. But he was consumed by paranoia. He executed his wife Mariamne, her mother, and three of his own sons. The Massacre of the Innocents (Matt 2:16-18) fits his character perfectly — though it’s recorded only in Matthew, not in Josephus. He died of a gruesome disease (~4 BC) and ordered that prominent Jews be executed at his death so the nation would mourn (the order was not carried out). The Holy Family’s flight to Egypt was to escape him.
1 min read
Matthew 2:1-18; Josephus, *Antiquities of the Jews*
