HERODIAN

PRONUNCIATION: (huh-ROH-dee-uhn) Listen to pronunciation

MEANING: adjective:
1. Cruel; tyrannical.
2. Pompous or bombastic.

ETYMOLOGY: After Herod the Great (c. 73-4 BCE), king of Judea under Roman authority. Earliest documented use: 1581.
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HE RODE AN - I don't know what he was sitting on, but it begins with a vowel

NERO DIA - the Emperor who fiddled while Rome burned had his birthday declared a holiday

HEROD: I CAN - Rome's declared King of Judea asserts his omnipotence to the Press[/b]