Herod the Great

Rome's client king of Judea at the time of Jesus' birth. When the magi sought the newborn 'king of the Jews,' he was disturbed and, after they failed to report back, ordered the massacre of all boys in Bethlehem two years old and under. Warned in a dream, Joseph fled with Mary and Jesus to Egypt until Herod's death. A great builder who expanded the Temple, he was infamous for paranoid cruelty even within his own family.