A trained anthropologist and writer, Zora Neale Hurston worked on a novel about Herod the Great for much of her life. Planned as a companion to her 1939 book Moses, Man of the Mountain, it was unpublished when she died in 1960. The manuscript, part of the Hurston archive at the University of Florida, has now at last been released in a comprehensive edition that includes commentary from editor (and Hurston biographer), Deborah G. Plant and excerpts from letters Hurston wrote to friends and family as she researched the novel.
The Life of Herod the Great tells the story of the Judean king who lived during the first century B.C.E. and may be best remembered as the man responsible for the building of the Second Temple in Jerusalem. He is also sometimes said to have ordered the execution of all male children in Bethlehem who were 2 years or younger, although many historians do not believe this event occurred.
Hurston did not either. Her novel begins with Herod as a young man assuming the governorship of Galilee under the direction of his father, Antipater. Hurston’s Herod is not only a canny political mind and brilliant strategist, but also a thoughtful man, drawn to the philosophy of the Essenes—a Jewish sect whose piety and devotion to peacemaking had much in common with early Christianity. Herod was ruthless to his enemies, but fiercely devoted to his family and loyal to the Roman leaders who controlled all the Judean kingdoms. His visits to Cleopatra, Marc Antony and Caesar in Rome are the highlights of Hurston’s novel; her familiarity with the political and spiritual workings of the Roman Empire makes this a thought-provoking read.
Hurston died before The Life of Herod the Great was finished, and though the novel is cohesive, there are some gaps in the narrative. Herod’s first wife, Doris, and their baby son, Antipater, disappear from the book early on, and there are a few undeveloped plot points that the reader imagines Hurston would have tidied up if the novel had been completed in her lifetime. However, there is much here for any reader to enjoy, whether they are fans of Huston’s fiction or eager for a deep dive into a subject rarely seen outside religious texts or histories.
Read our Q&A with Deborah G. Plant about The Life of Herod the Great.
