What year did Herod die, and what year was Jesus Born?

There is still controversy about the year of the death of Herod, and that of the year in which Jesus was born! With this religious festive season coming upon us shortly, most Christians including scholars have no Idea on the dating, it is all guess work to suit the biblical narrative.

The Two main dating standards, such as the (Latin) Georgian AD, BC, meaning “Anno Domini Nostri Jesu Christi”, which translates to “in the year of our Lord Jesus Christ.” For BC, the Latin equivalent was initially “Ante Christum Natum” (ACN), meaning “before the birth of Christ”. This term was used before the widespread adoption of the AD system. Later, in the 17th century, the French Jesuit theologian Denis Pétau (Dionysius Petavius in Latin) popularized the usage “ante Christum” (Latin for “Before Christ”) to mark years prior to AD. So, while there isn’t a single, universally accepted Latin term for BC, “Ante Christum Natum” (ACN) and “ante Christum” were both used to denote the period before the birth of Christ. BCE and CE CE stands for “common (or current) era”, while BCE stands for “before the common (or current) era”. These abbreviations have a shorter history than BC and AD, although they still date from at least the early 1700s. They have been in frequent use by Jewish academics for more than 100 years, but became more widespread in the later part of the 20th century, replacing BC/AD in a number of fields, notably science and academia.

There is still controversy of what year Herod the Great die, with dates ranging from 1 BCE, 2 BCE, 4 BCE, and 6 BCE. With as many scholars, choosing the traditional year 1 BCE, as there are for Scholars selecting the years 4 or 6 BCE.

Whereas the traditional birth of Jesus since the year 525 was 1 AD. It is only in the last few centuries that we see the dating of Herod’s death, and the birth of Jesus, shifting to suit Christian text on the massacre or slaughter of the innocent!

Herod’s massacre was “an event for which there exists not a shred of corroborating evidence in any chronicle or history of the time, whether Jewish, Christian, or Roman.”—Reza Aslan.