The Life of Herod the Great: A Novel

by Zora Neale Hurston; Deborah G. Plant

Zora Neale Hurston's unpublished novel revealing the historical Herod the Great—not the demon the Bible makes him out to be but a religious and philosophical man who lived a life of adventure.

In the 1950s, after the publication of Moses, Man of the Mountain, Zora Neale Hurston set out to write a novel that would set the record straight about one of history's most maligned figures. If Hurston's Moses challenges the Old Testament version of the ancient Hebrew leader by suggesting that Moses was actually an Egyptian, Hurston's Herod challenges the New Testament version of the tyrant who supposedly ordered the deaths of many children in order to save the Christ-child, as recorded in the book of Matthew, by suggesting that he was actually a forerunner of Christ.

From the peaks of triumph to the depths of human misery, the historical Herod "seemed to have been singled out by some deity and especially endowed to attract the zigzag lightning of fate." The intimate friend of both Marc Antony and Julius Caesar, Herod lived in times of war and expansion, where political assassinations and bribery were commonplace as the old world gave way to the new. Breaking his legacy out of a single paragraph in the Bible and into the vivid, breathing world he lived in, Hurston's unfinished manuscript brings a full person with an adventurous life into view for the first time.

Scholar and literary critic Deborah Plant brings this bold, spirited novel to readers for the first time with a new introduction and editorial additions that demonstrate Hurston's point about how reimagining figures from the past addresses the troubles we experience today.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Historical, Classics, Audiobook, Mythology, Literature

1 pages, Audio CD

First published January 7, 2025

Reviews

[Andre(Read-A-Lot) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Apparently this was sort of a reclamation project for the incomparable Zora Neale Hurston. She found the biblical history of Herod so distasteful, she decided to reclaim and restore Herod to a more accurate depiction creating a well rounded and complex King. Of course she has to do this through fictionalization, to great effect. The novel presents us with a man, who by all accounts, even the negative ones, was considered shrewd, brave and intelligent. Ms. Hurston gives depth and breadth to her Herod, but she often writes in historical “biblical” language, in an effort to imbue authenticity. I think that choice slows the novel down and keeps it from becoming great. With that aside, it is still a fantastic tale told with style and if you’re one for historical fiction you will definitely enjoy this work.

[Nicole · Rating 5 out of 5]

Despite being penned decades ago, Zora Neale Hurston's unfinished novel, The Life of Herod the Great, feels remarkably timely. In an era where we're increasingly aware of the importance of nuance over caricature, Hurston's reimagining of this infamous biblical figure is a breath of fresh air. Drawing on extensive research, Hurston crafts a multidimensional and complex Herod – a philosophical man, a cultural leader, and even a forerunner of Christ. This thought-provoking novel challenges readers to reconsider the life and legacy of a figure often reduced to simplistic villainy. Dive in for a fascinating, surprisingly relevant exploration of one of history's most maligned characters.

[Raymond · Rating 4 out of 5]

The biblical reference to Herod the Great is limited to one chapter in the Book of Matthew about Herod's order of the Massacre of the Innocents, his response to hearing about the birth of Jesus. We only know about this (which many historians do not believe happened) and nothing else about his life. In the late 1940s and into the 1950s, the author and anthropologist Zora Neale Hurston researched and wrote this novel about Herod the Great. She was working on it until she passed away in 1960 and it was never published until 65 years after her death. We almost lost this work to history when some of Zora's papers were burned, including pages and sections from this manuscript. We owe a debt of gratitude to Patrick DuVal for saving this document and others from the nick of time.

In this novel, Hurston writes about the historical Herod instead of the folklore Herod. She writes about a figure who should be admired and revered not feared (unless you were his enemy). We learn about his leadership style, his looks, his relationships with women, his affinity to the Essenes, his infrastructure legacy, and so much more.

In a 1953 letter to Burroughs Mitchell, editor of Scribner's, Hurston said "The story, his actual life, has EVERYTHING" and she was SO RIGHT! I am utterly fascinated by this book because it significantly expands my knowledge about Herod the Great. I learned so much that I had no idea about. I did not know he was contemporaries with Cleopatra and Marc Antony. I love reading about antiquity, the various leaders, how they governed, and their messiness, etc. In quintessential Zora fashion, she humanized everyone, showing their flaws, especially members of Herod's biological family and his in-laws. There were times I laughed out loud when reading some of the back and forth between the characters and it made me ask, how much of this happened in real life.

Hurston's work has now inspired me to read more information about Herod the Great to see what the historical record has to say about this mostly unknown figure's life.

[Candice Hale]

DNF:

Soooo, I hate I had to stop reading this one by THEE Zora Neale Hurston. BUT the extensive use of historical language proved to be a significant drawback for me, causing me not to enjoy what I was reading. While I appreciate historical fiction, the heavy focus on discussions about power, conflicts, and past events became tiresome. Consequently, I was unable to develop a strong emotional connection with any of the characters.

[Yari · Rating 5 out of 5]

This retelling challenges us to reimagine our traditional view of a complex and conflicting character. Written as a historical fiction novel, Zora Neale Hurston demonstrates the complex character of a forward thinking king who brought greatness to the Judean Kingdom.

Intermingling historical context of the times and characters she paints a world that immediately draws the reader in and reveals the complexity of the culture that drives the decisions of the characters.

With this text Plant reintroduces us to the genius and versatility of Hurston's writing and ability to bring great characters to life. This is a must read for historical fiction readers who appreciate great character and world building.

This book was provided as an eARC was by the publisher Amistad via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Octavia · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was such an Honor to read this final novel by Ms. Zora Neale Hurston. To think, it was a novel the World may not have ever had the opportunity of indulging into for a pleasurable Historical Journey, nearly being lost in a fire.

Honestly, I found myself pondering of how the publication of this novel happened more than 60 years after her death a great deal. Her life story is Amazing yet her Ending is so very Different. This is another flawless creation from her. If you have read her previous Blessings, you will understand readers' LOVE ❤️ for her.

One of my Favorite quotes inside:
"But, silence has many personalities."

* I recommend everyone to read all Literary Work from this Beautiful Angel. 🥀

[Zach Carter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Right up my alley - beautiful writing that really brought history to life. Impressed with the scope of the work, and the upfront explanation for the importance of its correction of the historical record. But it being a novel really helped in lightening the academic nature of the project. Admittedly, if you're not too familiar with ancient Rome and the Caesars (and the biblical history of Judea and Samaria), this may be daunting and confusing. But as someone who's spent a lot of time reading and studying it, I jumped right in and had a lot of fun.

[Lorie]

The facts surrounding Herod in the intro and the end of the book are of the charts 5🌟s. It’s mind blowing that because the name is so vilified that most won’t even take a second glance. However, what you learn is mind blowing. No spoilers just, who knew??????wow!

[Sophia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having been written in the 1950s, I wasn't sure if I was going to enjoy the writing style of The Life of Herod the Great very much. The fact that it was never fully finished by the author before her passing didn't help, either. Against my expectations going in, I ended up liking this book very much!

Some things that I especially appreciated were ties to other, separate historical figures and events, the charismatic and confident character of Herod himself, and the beautiful and attention-grabbing writing as a whole. Filled with political intrigue, thrilling battles, rich dialogue, and beautiful descriptions, The Life of Herod the Great was an entertaining read.

But although I do like the writing for the most part, in some sections it can become stiff and technical. I attribute this to the book being a product of its time, as I have this same issue with many other books from its era. Although this wasn't detrimental to the reading experience for me, it definitely made it a bit hard for my attention to be kept as I was reading. It didn't help that the point of view would sometimes hop from character to character, which did make it difficult to keep up with what was going on from time to time which led to some re-reading on my part.

All in all, reading this book was a very enjoyable experience and I'm thankful that I was able to read it!

[Katy Wheatley · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God. It's sharp, funny, smart and brilliantly written. Without it books like The Color Purple would simply not exist and we would be all the poorer for it.

This book however, is one for the die hard fans, completists and academics of her work. It was incomplete at the time of her death and has been published with some letters she wrote about her research and summaries of what was to come. That's the stuff that's really interesting to me, but the actual book itself I found hard work. It's clear that there was a huge amount of academic research that got done and condensing all of that into the form of a novel is hard work and for me, not very successful here. What characterisation there is is boiled down to simple sentences stating mood or intention and the compression of character and the necessity of editing down a huge, historical timeline leaves me feeling short changed and like we are constantly rushing from set piece to set piece. There are also, for a historical novel, occasionally jarring modern analogies which don't help. For me, this feels like a draft of something that had she had time, could have been a really powerful work.

[Jac Filer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was excited to receive an ARC of this book. As a student of New Testament history and a fan of first century fiction, I think Herod is a compelling figure whose story would serve a novel well.
This book does some things very well, and others not so well. As a caveat I recognize that this work is a product of a different era of writing and was salvaged and completed only more recently.
First, the good. The author does a great service to Herod's military, political, and civic genius, qualities that even his detractors acknowledge he possessed. She also depicts Herod's maturation as a leader and strategist by showing how expediency and past injuries increasingly temper his idealism over time without equally subjugation his virtue.
When the action was moving it kept me turning pages. Unfortunately, expository breaks routinely interrupted the flow of the story, either to gloss over the passage of time or to interject historical facts that should have been beyond the scope of the narrative. In these passages I felt like I was reading a history textbook instead of a novel.
The author is also openly critical of the sparse New Testament account of Herod, and suggests that it is an outright fabrication. Going further, she challenges the historicity of the Biblical text itself, ascribing to it a far later date than majority scholarship does.
Both the preface (which itself seems out of place in a novel) and the end commentary rehash this point seemingly as an apology for excluding the slaughter of innocents from the book.
First, no apology is needed, since the story ends before this particular event, and appropriately so given the tone and objective of the text. Still it is not hard to reconcile an unembellished accountofthis event (which the math suggests involved the killing of maybe a dozen children, not thousands) with both the Herod of history and the Herod of this tale.
Overall, while a far from perfect work, and of a different sort than current writing conventions would produce, the good very much outweighs the bad. If you enjoy ancient historical fiction full of lively characters and political intrigue, this book is worth reading.

[Sonja · Rating 3 out of 5]

A historical novel about the life and battles of Herod the Great who was the King of Judea in the first century BCE, Zora Neale Hurston spent the last 10 years of her life trying to publish this book. The manuscript with burnt edges was found among her things that were being thrown out after her death (in poverty in Florida). She meant it to be a continuation of Moses, Man of the Mountain.
I am not sure why this book was so important to her. She was interested in telling the real story of Herod—he did not murder babies upon hearing about the birth of Jesus. He did save 500 innocent virgins from certain death or from being handed over to an enemy for slavery. He was involved in helping the Jews at Masada. He was a friend to Mark Antony and was suspicious of Cleopatra. And he brought peace to the area under his rule. However he participated in many battles and killed many people. But that was the way of life among the politicians and leaders at the time.
The book was difficult to read and seemed like a biography. Zora Neale Hurston made up whole conversations and depicted scenes that were considered fictional. She did a great job portraying this ruler and his context. But I still wonder why this figure and this book was important to her.

[Andrea · Rating 1 out of 5]

If you’re looking at this book because you loved Their Eyes Were Watching God, don’t be fooled. This is not Hurston at her best. I’d guess that some greedy publishers or agents made a grab for the reading public knowing that ZNH was a popular writer, but this book should not have seen the light of day. It reads like a very rough draft that she didn’t have a chance to go over. She’s undoubtedly rolling over in her grave.

[Rachel Brand · Rating 5 out of 5]

I see the vision here and I am bummed no publishers did when Dr. Hurston was querying it. it's amazing

[Enya · Rating 1 out of 5]

this is why we shouldn't publish a dead author's unfinished work

[Mysia · Rating 4 out of 5]

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 (3.5/5)

The Life of Herod the Great is a fascinating and ambitious look at one of history’s most infamous figures, reexamined through Zora Neale Hurston’s sharp historical lens. Her writing is immersive, bringing Herod’s world to life with rich detail and political intrigue. However, as an unfinished manuscript, the narrative feels somewhat disjointed at times, and the editorial additions, while informative, can disrupt the flow. Still, it’s an essential read for Hurston enthusiasts and those interested in historical reinterpretations.

Would I recommend it? Yes—especially if you love history with a fresh perspective. But go in knowing it’s more of an academic curiosity than a fully polished novel.

[Gaby · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a solid 3 stars. Mainly because the pacing of the story was all over the place, and it was both boring and entertaining.

I didn't know much about Herod before reading this book. Of course, I can't say I know much more now, because if I'm honest, I disassociated a lot while trying to finish this book. What I knew was that he was somehow one of the evil guys from the Bible, and surprise, surprise, it seems he actually didn't kill a bunch of babies, who would have thought?

It was interesting to see how he was besties with Mark Anthony and a contemporary of Augustus, it's always a treat to see more of Ancient Rome from the POV of an outsider.

[Annalise Dottinger · Rating 3 out of 5]

“And Herod the Great, like all other figures of history, can only be understood against the background and customs of his times.”

A historical retelling of “Herod the Great” written in a fictional narrative style has an incredible story itself: an unfinished manuscript, “The Life of Herod the Great” was rejected multiple times by editors, rescued from a fire, and then published over 50 years after it was created.

Like any story, I believe your enjoyment is influenced by your end goal. Although I’m known for unironically “choosing books based on their covers,” my hope was to add context to my understanding of the time period that was a precursor for Christ. Through careful research, Hurston absolutely did her job. I also appreciated the way her homage to Herod challenged my Catholic grasp of who he was as a historically villainous figure. After reading the evident pattern of those who tried to tear Herod down, not unlike the Sanhedrin’s treatment toward Jesus, I can understand why he’s been written as evil in most accounts.

The main reason for three stars comes from my own perception before starting the book. One being that I expected this to read similarly to “The Red Tent,” which is very palatable to modern readers, however I now respect Hurston’s fidelity to antiquity. Despite numerous pages dedicated to detailing military strategy or outlining who ruled over what regions, seeing the depth of the human condition played out kept me interested.

This book is for anyone that wants to: win biblical geography trivia questions, give up their favorite reality TV show and exchange it for equal drama in an ancient setting, or see the life of “Herod the Great” from a rewritten angle.

[Shahara’Tova · Rating 4 out of 5]

What little I knew about the biblical figure, Herod the Great, was that he was a tyrant who ordered the slaughter of innocent children. Hurston’s historical fiction offering re-imagines Herod the Great with broad strokes of reinvention and perhaps a bit of wishful thinking. Herod is both treasured by his people and resented by a small group of elders. I’m not a bible scholar, but I really said multiple times while reading “it must be two Herods because who is Hurston talking about?” But, that’s the beauty of historical fiction. This book is full of the rich history of Judea, and it made me want to research more about the landscape during antiquity and the history of conflicts during the period, including between Palestine and Israel. It wouldn’t be a Hurston novel if there weren’t also a good dose of messiness. This book has strenuous familial relationships and power struggles that are as violent and cunning as any modern-day offering that tracks government coups, the rise and fall of kings and dictators, and the all-consuming nature of power (ALL SHADE).

The introduction of the book was a bit dense, and it slowed the pace of reading down so much that I didn’t think I would get to the actual story. However, I’m glad that I stuck with the book because Hurston’s gift of language helps deliver the necessary historical background while still engaging the reader with her creative portrayal of HER Herod. Although there are portions of the text that are missing or edited because of the state of the recovered transcripts, there are no major disruptions that impede the reader from following the story. Toward the end of the book, I wondered if Hurston left Herod unfinished because she wasn’t sure where to go with such a creative rewriting of Herod the Great, or if she simply lost interest and moved on to other projects. We will likely never know the answer to that, but I appreciate historians and archivists like Deborah Plant who work tirelessly to ensure that these gems are not lost to history.

Do we need to publish every unfinished work an author has, posthumously? No, but I did enjoy this read, and now I want to learn more about the many figures introduced in the book and this period. If I could change one thing about my experience, I would do a hybrid, immersive reading with the audiobook. Blair Underwood and Robin Miles
do the narration, and it would have helped to hear the pronunciations of the names and places in the book.

[Apple · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5/5 for me. The absolute average this rating scale can give.

One has to consider that this is an unfinished fictionalized biography from the 1950s, which does mean that it didn't get the polish that it would have probably gotten if it had been finished and that I regard this rather overly flattering depiction of Harod the Great as the fiction novel it is in the first place. I do not mean that I regard the life and accomplishments as completely made up, but as the afterword says, there has been significant archeological findings and likely a good amount of research regarding the life of Herod the Great since the penning of this novel. While his military and political achievements that are depicted are most likely real, as they were likely well documented at their time (the Romans loved their documentation), I do take the overly virtuous depicition of Herod with a grain of salt. Especially since his alledged kind of virtue and morals seem to fit decently well with the virtues of the time this novel was penned. His biggest flaws were being too in love with his wife, who was too weak to not become the puppet of her ambitious mother and being friends with a bisexual Roman (which was not Harod's short-coming, after all, he was just such a good friend and swore his friendship that, while detesting the act of laying with another man, could look past that for his good friend).

So yeah, generally not a bad book, but due to the circumstances of when it was written and the fact it never got fully finished, it has its shortcomings.

[Marian · Rating 1 out of 5]

The last line of the preface, "It is vain to reason on very ancient facts from very modern concepts," was such a banger that I took it at face value. I thought I would love this.

I...did not. Perhaps it's the obviously unfinished state of the book. Or maybe Hurston got so wrapped into "redeeming" Herod that she bought into her own fabricated romance. In the first chapter alone, we're met with a Herod so "perfectly proportioned" (her description in the preface), so beautiful, so popular, so instantly beloved that he's walked straight out of the Gary Stu handbook.

The narrative device of bickering old men bitterly bitching the story to us doesn't help. Nor do the meandering shifts into flashbacks without preamble.

This one is kind of a mess; hard to tell if it would have pulled itself out if its narrative hypocritical rut had it been properly finished and polished.

[Onyeka · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is my first historical novel; I’m not sure if I’m a fan. Zora Neale Hurston grew up Southern Baptist, with lots of questions. This was her attempt to answer some of them.

In this novel, she challenges the erroneous retelling of the biblical massacre of first-borns, which is the premise of Christianity (aka Jesus born in a stable in Jerusalem), and instead depicts Herod’s 37 year reign as the result of his popularity and success. She humanises him as a man who was loved and adored by many, and well as in love himself. His marriage to Mariamne rivals that of Antony & Cleopatra, and their demise is as tragic as a Shakespearean tale.

[Shannan Harper · Rating 3 out of 5]

Growing up as the daughter of a preacher, we were always taught the Bible version of King Herod. Now because of my gender, I was always in trouble for asking questions growing up. I always wondered if that portrayal was his real life. Although this book does not necessarily answer that, it does give a different viewpoint into what his life might have been life. Although i did struggle with some parts and aspects of this book, it did seen to get more enjoyable and exciting at about 75% of the way through. I especially enjoyed the commentary at the end.

I received a copy of the book via The publisher for a tour by Hear Our Voices and am voluntarily leaving an honest review of my own thoughts and opinions

[Chyanne Diaries]

A DNF for me. I’m not a fan of this type of genre and I can’t force myself to read this no matter how much I love Zora. On to the next.

[Daniel Kukwa · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm sorry but this is unreadable. Sub-Shakespearean, Pseudo-Homeric declamations strangling an already tiresome tell-don't-show exhibition of...I can't honestly call it a story. Why some people think historical figures all speak to each other as if they're on a stage with a stick up their behind never fails to puzzle me. What a waste of epic material.

[Vidumavi · Rating 3 out of 5]

[AUDIOBOOK]

Let's start with the fact that I knew absolutely nothing about Herod the Great or the writer coming into this book. I think this man was mentioned on HBO Rome once and that's it. Apparently he is one of the big baddies in the Bible, but I've never read it so I wouldn't really know. I also did not know that Zor Neale Hurston was a respected author of historical figures before getting into this, nor that this final book was only a rough draft by her hands.

Not knowing any of these things makes the book a little flat. Herod is often described as a genius, a man amongst men, great and just. A complete 180 when compared to the public opinion. I've listened to the audiobook, so no clue if the sources actually point either way, so I can't say who's right (and can we ever really do so with historical figures?).

One major gripe I did have with the presented narrative was how misogynistic it was. Every woman of note is a slut. Cleopatra is a slut, and Mark Antony a simp we should pity for dancing to her every whim. Meriamne is a stupid slut, and Herod had been way to kind to her. Alexandra was a scheming slut. For someone who wants to redeem Herod, the author sure has an opinion of the women in his life (his first wife also does not get a great edit). This might be time, the author died in the 60's, but it's jarring to modern audience.

As is the way the story is told. It's written as a novel, rather than cold facts. Words are literally put in people's mouths, and that's fine to tell a story. But it's very dry, and the language can feel archaic.

Also, the audiobook narrator sounds like the guy from Fire Emblem : Three Houses every chapter start and that took me out every time. Pick it up as a book if you want to read it and leave the audiobook on the shelf.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is an interesting read, because Hurston goes against what we think of when we think of Herod because what we know comes from his enemies, and is far from the truth. And it fills me with admiration that she was down on her luck (to put it mildly) and yet devoting her time to the project of righting the wrongs done to this ancient historical figure by correcting the record. It seems the more she learned, the more she admired Herod, so that the book morphed from history to biography and finally to a novel. I only wish she had lived to see it published.

In case you don't know the back story yet: Hurston worked on this for years and years, despite the lack of interest from her publisher (or any other). She died in poverty and they were burning her papers when a friend happened to see the smoke and saved them with a garden hose. So this manuscript survived in a partially-burned state and eventually a Hurston scholar was able to get it published. It's not finished, but there's enough there to enjoy the read. It's a funny mix of palace gossip and history, but it worked for me. I wouldn't say it's my favorite among Hurston's works, but it's worth checking out, for sure. Everything she wrote is worth reading, if you ask me, and that's why I was glad Dr. Plant could make this scholarly edition.

I am so excited that I got to read this book so soon after it came out. Can't afford to be buying brand new hardcover books, so I was delighted the library came through for me not even a week after the book published. I love the public libraries!

[Rebecca Beard · Rating 1 out of 5]

I know this is an unfinished work and it was interesting to see its reconstruction. However, it was a form of purely unenjoyable revisionist history. Throughout the narrative it never seemed that Herod truly struggled or had any flaws, which made it hard to see him as this paragon of virtue with zero troubles. The total absence of the story of his slaughter of children at the birth of Jesus also seems like an odd omission. Again, unfinished work, so maybe there was a plan to address these things.

[Linnea · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's hard to rate unfinished novels, but ZNH clearly did a lot of work in the research and writing of this and I greatly enjoyed large parts of it. Herod is presented as a complex and exacting character, sometimes unlikable, but much more nuanced than our Judeo-Christian histories ever present him. While I did find my attention wandering at times and the unfinished/lost nature of the novel means that some significant events are missing, this book was really thought-provoking, funny, and a good read.

[Danalisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. Interesting and I liked the audio narration. I’m not rating it higher because it feels a little too unbelievable for me based on such a prominent biblical figure. But I find the author’s undertaking ambitious and admirable.