In the year 4 BCE, possibly on this date of a partial lunar eclipse, the brutal Roman administrator over Judea named Herod the Great died. (Modern researchers believe Herod died of kidney failure, but his widespread illnesses included genital gangrene.) A brief period of chaos following his death led a number of Jewish Messianic claimants to rise up against Herod's son and successor Herod Archelaus.
One of these was a slave of Herod's named Simon of Peraea, who seized the diadem from his master's body, proclaimed himself king, and commenced a spree of looting and firestarting. He was quickly killed by the Romans. A robber-king of sorts named Judas, son of Hezekiah (the father was also a renowned criminal, earlier captured by Herod) stormed a palace armory and armed a band of fighters who were also soon put down by the Romans.
The most successful movement against the younger Herod was led by a former shepherd named Athronges, whose rebellion endured through two years of countryside guerilla attacks on imperial troops.
Of course, Herod the Great also plays a role in the story of another Messiah claimant, Jesus of Nazareth. In the Book of Matthew, Herod is said to have responded to the prophecy that a rival had been born to his official title "King of the Jews", by having all boys killed in Bethlehem who were under age 2. Contemporary scholarship casts doubt on this event, for which there is no other record: also, Jesus was almost certainly born well after Herod had died in 4 BCE.
