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Nature, but it also gives it its danger and its ugliness too, because it means that people believe that they must possess it absolutely. and that's jerusalem's tragedy. >> the british are half a world away, but their fascination with jerusalem only begins with king richard. it will be 725 years before they will get another chance to stake a claim to the holy city. jerusalem is the universal city, the chosen city, the holy city. that's its blessing, but it also gives it its danger and its

Herod the great has -- jerusalem. >> cleopatra wants jerusalem under egyptian control because it gives her another kind of a gateway to the east. she's able to trade with them. >> all of these trade routes coming in from the far east go down into what is now modern syria, modern lebanon and israel, and they all kind of meet together. so if you want to take goods either east or west, jerusalem is an incredibly important place to be. >> but above all, jerusalem, of course, was part of judaea, and judaea had once been part of egypt back in the third century b.c. so cleopatra viewed the territory ...

Heaps of corpses lying around the city. the slaughter of a lot of innocent civilians, you know, men, women, children. >> herod's harshest actions are saved for the royal family. >> there is a political tradition that when you take a city, you would take the king, and you would allow them to live. you would exile them. herod the great, however, isn't your typical noble king. he's ruthless, and he's paranoid. and so when he takes the city, he begins executing all of his potential rivals, including the former hasmonean leader. >> hyrcanus, the hasmonean ruler, is miriamne's uncle. but herod only ...

60 feet, 80-feet higher. that is what herod builds. >> he created the jerusalem we know, today, which we call the temple mount, in english, which the muslims call -- the dome with the rock and the mosque are built on herod's sacred precinct. >> herod has spent his life building up his kingdom. but the final days of his rule will threaten to tear it all down. cookies and breyers. that's like getting two desserts! wait... do we have to thank our moms twice? i don't know... (laughs) breyers. 100% grade a milk and cream, and loaded with delicious cookie pieces. better starts with breyers.

Owe to him the monuments of palestine. >> prior to king herod, jerusalem was small, cramped, underdeveloped. >> basically, he knocks it all down, and he starts again. he builds these extraordinary palaces, canals, fountains, fortresses. >> but herod focuses most on one massive undertaking. >> herod the great wants to try to appease the people in jerusalem. and he knew that, regardless of how many different structures he built, it was the temple in jerusalem that was the most important building to his people. so, herod wants to put his stamp on the center of judaism and