An Israeli archaeologist on Tuesday said he has found the tomb of King Herod, the legendary builder of ancient Jerusalem and the Holy Land - a potentially major discovery that capped a 35-year quest for the researcher.

This is a major find indeed if it is confirmed. According to the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus was born during the reign of Herod and the gospel also says that Herod ordered the slaughter of every boy aged two years or less in an attempt to snuff out Jesus' life. By then, however, Jesus and his parents had moved to Egypt.

Herod is a very significant figure in the history of the Jews and the Jewish nation. Herod ruled the Roman province of Judea, corresponding roughly to the old Jewish kingdom of Judah. The Romans did not rule Judea directly until after Herod's death. Herod was a very brutal king, not hesitating to have executed even some of his own sons when he thought they were plotting to dethrone him. Caesar Augustus then remarked that it was better to be Herod's pigs than his sons. Herod ordered several major building projects in Jerusalem and Judah, many of which survive today.

The Herod whose tomb is claimed found is not the same man who refused to judge the grown Jesus and sent him back to Pontius Pilate. That was Herod Antipas, son of the Herod referenced in the find.