 Some scholars support the traditional date of 1 BCE for Herod's death.Filmer and Steinmann, for example, propose that Herod died in 1 BCE, and that his heirs backdated their reigns to 4 or 3 BCE to assert an overlapping with Herod's rule, and bolster their own legitimacy.In Josephus' account, Herod's death was preceded by a lunar eclipse and followed by Passover.