Herodias

In the stark landscape of the Dead Sea, a basalt citadel crowns a remote hill, its towering walls and ornate arches framing a world of desert, vineyards, and distant cities. From a high balcony, the tetrarch Herod Antipas watches the sunrise, his thoughts drifting over Galilee’s towns and the restless plains below, while political pressures mount from Rome, rival brothers, and uneasy Jewish subjects.

His personal life is equally tangled: a repudiated Arab bride, Herodias, and the looming presence of her father’s tribe, camped on the shore with spears and flickering fires. As Antipas weighs whether to court Arab allies or seek Parthian support, a strange, half‑sleeping figure named Mannaeus appears after a mysterious voice echoes from the depths, hinting at secret machinations that could reshape his fragile rule.