Herod n : king of Judea who (according to the New Testament) tried to kill Jesus by ordering the death of all children under age two in Bethlehem (73-4 BC) [syn: Herod the Great]

Herod was the name used by several kings belonging to the Herodian Dynasty of Roman Iudaea Province:

• Herod the Great (c. 74-4 BC), king of Judea who reconstructed the Second Temple in Jerusalem and was described in the Gospel of Matthew as ordering the "Massacre of the Innocents"
• Herod Archelaus (23 BC-c. AD 18), ethnarch of Samaria, Judea, and Idumea
• Herod Antipas (20 BC-c. AD 40), tetrarch of Galilee and Peraea, who was described in the New Testament as ordering John the Baptist's death and as mocking Jesus
• Herod Agrippa I (c. 10 BC-AD 44), king of Judea, called "Herod" in the Acts of the Apostles
• Herod Philip I, father of Salome
• Herod Philip II (4 BC-AD 34), tetrarch of Ituraea and Trachonitis
• Herod of Chalcis, also known as Herod III, king of Chalcis (AD 41-48)
• Herod Agrippa II (AD 27-100), tetrarch of Chalcis who was described in Acts of the Apostles as "King Agrippa" before whom Paul of Tarsus defended himself

Other

• Herod (band), the name of a heavy metal band from the United States
• Herod, a thoroughbred racehorse
• A herred is an administrative area in Denmark and Norway