of Matthew and Gospel of Luke differ substantially from each other, and are considered to have been written independently. However, some consistent elements are evidently derived from a common early tradition: Jesus was born under the Judean king Herod the Great (Matthew 2:1f; Luke 1:5 vs Luke 2:1f) in Bethlehem (Matthew 2:5f; Luke 2:4.15) prior to his parents moving to Nazareth (Matthew 2:22f), or before their return to Nazareth (Luke 2:39). Jesus' parents Mary and Joseph were betrothed (Matthew 1:18–20; Luke 1:27; 2:5). His birth was a virgin birth conceived by the Holy Spirit. Angels announced Jesus' birth, his name, his role as the Messiah (being a descendant of King David and the son of God), and his mission to save his people from sin (Matthew 1:21; Luke 1:77; 2:11, 30). Thus both Luke and Matthew independently associate Jesus' birth with the reign of Herod the Great. Matthew furthermore implies that Jesus was up to two years old when Herod reportedly ordered the Massacre of the Innocents, that is, the murder of all boys in Bethlehem up to the age of two (Matthew 2:16). Most scholarship concerning the date of Herod's death follows Emil Schürer's calculations published in 1896, which revised a traditional death date of 1 BC to 4 BC. Two of Herod's sons, Archelaus and Philip the Tetrarch, dated their rule from 4 BC, though Archelaus apparently held royal authority during Herod's lifetime. Philip's reign would last for 37 years, until his death in the traditionally accepted 20th year of Tiberius (AD 34), which implies his accession as 4 BC. In 1998, Beyer published that the oldest manuscripts of Josephus’s Antiquities have the death of Philip in the 22nd year not the 20th, of Tiberius. In the British Library, there is not a single manuscript prior to AD 1544 that has the traditionally accepted 20th year of Tiberius for the death of Philip. This evidence removes the main obstacle for a later date of 1 BC for the death of Herod. A list of the oldest manuscripts is found in p. 91 “Josephus Re-examined”, D. Beyer. Some other scholars also support the traditional date of 1 BC for Herod's death. Filmer and Steinmann, for example, propose that Herod died in 1 BC, and that his heirs backdated their reigns to 4 or 3 BC to assert an overlapping with Herod's rule and bolster their own legitimacy. In Josephus'