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An ailing King Herod is carried off by servants in a 17th century German engraving. The first-century Jewish historian Josephus records that Herod, who ruled Judea from 40 B.C.E. to 4 C.E., spent his last months in miserable suffering. He was melancholic, had trouble breathing, itched uncontrollably and his privates were infected with worms. Many would call it a fitting end for the ruthless monarch, who was widely hated by his Jewish subjects. But what exactly did Herod die of? In the accompanying article, author Nikos Kokkinos, with the help of a London physician, tries to solve this medical mystery.