Fearing the fulfillment of an Old Testament prophecy of the birth of a new King of the Jews who would take his place, Herod ordered the massacre of all children under the age of two in Bethlehem, according to Matthew, 2-16. Given that the story only appears in one of four canonical gospels, few scholars believe it reflects a real, historical event.
But why not? Herod was a bastard, according to all accounts. And people in power -- and as we were recently reminded, deranged American gun owners -- are willing and able to kill children, and motives are rarely ascribed to such tragedies. The world was no less brutal in the early 14th Century and it will be just as cruel of a place if we make it to the 24th Century.
This piece by Giotto -- which inspired Peter Paul Rubens' painting of the same theme and probably Picasso's Guernica -- tells us more than we need to know about violence against children. Women clutch their babies to their bosoms to protect them. One of numerous henchman prepares to stab a baby which he holds up by one arm. The ground is littered with the bodies of dead children. Even the two buildings in the background seem to lean back in horror at the terrifying scene.
A true story? Maybe not. But it's chilling to note that the population of Bethlehem, now part of the embattled West Bank, was probably about a thousand at the time Herod lived, according to historians. The number of children killed, some say, would have been 20, or the same number of children killed at Sandy Hook.
An interesting piece of art, yes, but more importantly, a reminder from 700 years ago that we have spent far too long mourning for our murdered young.