[About the death of Herod the Great]. / Acerca de la muerte del rey Herodes el Grande.

Herod the Great was the founder of a dynasty that reigned on Judea for several generations. His birth date is estimated on year 73 AC and died at 70 years old. Descriptions of the final disease of Herod were obtained from the classical chronicles of Flavius Josephus, "The Jewish war" and "Jewish Antiquities". A medical explanation for his death is attempted. A parasitism caused by Schistosoma haematobium is suggested as the etiology for chronic renal failure (edema, halitosis and orthopnea) and a "gangrene of genitalia that engendered worms" in the words of Josephus. This would be explained by the formation of genital and urinary fistulae, observed in such disease. The asseveration that Herod was "attacked by black bilis" is also discussed, based on the concepts of the Hippocratic medicine of that time.

[The fall of the Jericho walls]. / La caída de las murallas de Jericó (comentario de la hipótesis médica de Biggs-Hulse).

Archeologic and medical evidence and biblical texts were analyzed in search of support for the hypothesis that the fall of Jerico walls might have been related to an epidemic caused by Schistozoma hematobium. There is evidence of the presence of Balinus trunctus, a snail acting as an intermediary host, but not of the disease itself. However, the hypothesis could still be tenable if all inhabitants left the city, which is suggested by all available evidence. The text in Re 2: 19-22 may not be taken as literary evidence of infection by the agent under discussion.