Historians have long had before them the thesis that the history of Palestine in the first century CE is shaped by two decisive events, the succession crisis following the death of Herod and the resulting civil war half a century later. It is also the case, of course, that there were a number of intervening factors: the political vacuum that followed the death of Herod; a sequence of inept or vicious procurators and governors; and the fraternal rivalry of the Herodians. In this introduction I will note some of the work that has discussed the years between Herod's death and the civil war, but will not try to weigh the alternative arguments in any sociological balance; that would be possible only in a book that seeks to bring alternative theories to bear on the discussion of various historians regarding this period in Palestinian society.

What I propose to show is how a sociologist might continue the investigation of Palestinian society on the thesis that the death of Herod and the crisis of succession were of paramount importance for the course of Israel's history. The inquiry here, however, is socio-logical. That is, I want to show how an attentive sociologist might raise certain questions about some of the details of Herod's household and regime. By paying attention to certain details, and by following some of the conventions of the sociologist's craft, it should be possible to examine certain aspects of Palestinian society that are less obvious, perhaps, than the distribution of power and wealth and more elusive than overt social conflict between factions and groups.