_The primary source of information about King Herod, other than the New Testament, is Josephus, a Jewish historian of the first century. From him we learn the following:

1. Herod died shortly after a lunar eclipse, but before Passover
2. Herod reigned 37 years from his appointment to the kingship (by Marc Antony).
3. Herod reigned 34 years from his actual accession after deposing his predecessor Antigonus.

_A recent study by William Filmer, "The Chronology of the Reign of Herod the Great," published in Oxford’s Journal of Theological Studies, October, 1966, argues persuasively that the actual dates beginning Herod’s 37 and 34 years were 39 and 36 B.C., and that Josephus used an accession year reckoning (so the initial year was an "accession year," and "year one" was the next year). These conclusions are consistent only with accepting the 9 January 1 B.C. eclipse as the one mentioned as just preceding Herod’s death and are equally valid whether Josephus used Nisan or Tishri regnal years.

_Filmer augments his thesis with evidence respecting Herod’s age, deducing that Herod would have been (as Josephus stipulated) about 70 years old in 1 B.C., and a suggestion that 2 Shebat, listed in the first century Jewish text Megillat Ta’anit as a celebrated day, marked the day of Herod’s death. Filmer’s conclusions are now widely accepted.