This volume brings together nineteen studies by foremost experts in the period of Herod and Augustus, and highlights recent progress in elucidating the phenomenon of Herod the Great in the context of the Roman imperial order inaugurated by Augustus. They illuminate Herod's pre-eminent role in the Augustan client network and his remarkable energies, expressed in an extensive building programme which has left substantial remains. The literary records of Herod's life and times, primarily by Josephus, are critically examined here in relation to the documentary and archaeological evidence.