Herod the Great executed three sons, changed his will in his last days, and died five days after the last execution; Augustus split his kingdom among the survivors

Josephus says Herod had his sons Alexander and Aristobulus taken to Sebaste and strangled, and their bodies carried at night to the family tomb at Alexandrium. His son Antipater was later held in chains for plotting against him. Letters from Rome said Augustus left Antipater's fate to Herod. Herod, in great pain, called for an apple and a knife and tried to stab himself; his cousin held his hand. The palace cried out as if the king had died, and Antipater, in chains, tried to bribe his jailer. Herod had him killed. He changed his will once more: Archelaus would be king, Antipas tetrarch of Galilee and Perea, Philip tetrarch of the north-east, his sister Salome three towns and 500,000 drachmae, and Augustus ten million drachmae. Herod died five days after Antipater. Archelaus buried him at Herodium with a golden bier, a diadem and the army in procession. Antipas went to Rome to dispute the will. Augustus made Archelaus ethnarch of half the kingdom, not king, and gave the rest to Antipas and Philip. In the tenth year of his rule Augustus banished Archelaus to Vienne in Gaul and took his money. In 2007 Ehud Netzer of the Hebrew University identified Herod's tomb at Herodium; some scholars question the identification^†.