Rome and Jerusalem: Public building and the economy

While Roman influences on Herod, possibly not unconnected with his personal relationships with Augustus and Agrippa, have been recognized in a number of fields, including the political, military, and cultural, little has been done in comparing the economic policies of the King to those of his patrons. This paper deals with one particular aspect of this issue. It is demonstrated that Herod's building policies, one of the best-known and most often explored aspects of his reign, were deeply influenced by those of Augustus and Agrippa; the emphasis is laid on the economic side of these building activities with special reference to the rebuilding of the Temple of Jerusalem and the employment of large numbers of men in it. Next, the economic aspect of Augustus' large building and restoration projects are reviewed, and their importance in providing more or less permanent employment for great numbers of people as well as contributing to the growth of the economy and to the general prosperity is assessed, and then an attempt is made to compare these achievements with those of Herod. Once the similarity between the two cases is accepted, the Roman and Judaean evidence may reciprocally be complemented. While we lack such sustained reports on Augustan building as we can find in Josephus, Judaea of course is short of the wealth of epigraphic information that can be obtained about Rome. Though this is not a quantitative study, available figures and previous attempts at quantification are adduced in order to form informed guesses about the orders of magnitude involved. In conclusion it will be asked whether these policies of Herod had a comparable influence on his relations with (the silent masses of ) his people as had those of the Princeps on his relations with the Roman plebs.