Herod the Great was elected "King of the Jews" by the Roman Senate.

[kangarooistan]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herod_the_Great Herod the Great was
elected "King of the Jews" by the Roman Senate.[13] , Herod's family
had converted to Judaism,[15] When John Hyrcanus conquered the region
of Idumaea in 140–130 BCE, he required all Idumaeans to obey Jewish
law or to leave; most Idumaeans thus converted to Judaism,[16] While
King Herod publicly identified himself as a Jew and was considered as
such by some,[17] this religious identification was undermined by the
decadent lifestyle of the Herodians,[18]
Herod later executed several members of his own family, including his
wife Mariamne
Herod the Great appears in the Gospel according to Matthew (Ch. 2),
which describes an event known as the Massacre of the Innocents.From
Josephus' descriptions, some medical experts propose that Herod had
chronic kidney disease complicated by Fournier's gangrene.[40] Modern
scholars agree he suffered throughout his lifetime from depression and
paranoia.[41] More recently, others report that the visible worms and
putrefaction described in his final days are likely to have been
scabies; the disease might have accounted for both his death and
psychiatric symptoms.[42] Similar symptoms attended the death of his
grandson Agrippa I in CE 44.

Josephus also stated that Herod was so concerned that no one would
mourn his death, that he commanded a large group of distinguished men
to come to Jericho, and he gave order that they should be killed at
the time of his death so that the displays of grief that he craved
would take place [43].