The Fall of Herod

King John Herkenes looted David's tomb and took three thousand talents of silver to use as a bribe to get the Seleucid King Antiochus VII to raise his siege of Jerusalem. This information sparked a long-standing interest in Herod to explore the tomb himself, hoping to utilize the remaining wealth. He didn't find any money but found valuable gold furnishings and other precious items which he seized. His daring venture was met with a frightful incident. Two of his guards were killed by a sudden burst of flame that surged towards those entering,. or so it was reported. Josephus tells this Indiana Jones style story in his book Antiquities of the Jews. So here we learn that