Herod Antipas

Herod Antipas
Tetrarch of Galilee and Perea
Herod Antipas medallion from Promptuarium Iconum Insigniorum
Reign4 BC – 39 AD
PredecessorHerod the Great
SuccessorAgrippa I
BornBefore 20 BC
DiedAfter AD 39
Gallia
Wives
DynastyHerodian Dynasty
FatherHerod the Great
MotherMalthace

Herod Antipas (Greek: Ἡρῴδης Ἀντίπας, Hērǭdēs Antipas; c. 20 BC – c. 39 AD) was a 1st-century ruler of Galilee and Perea. He bore the title of tetrarch ("ruler of a quarter") and is referred to as both "Herod the Tetrarch"[1] and "King Herod"[2] in the New Testament.[3] He was a son of Herod the Great and a grandson of Antipater the Idumaean. He is widely known today for accounts in the New Testament of his role in events that led to the executions of John the Baptist and Jesus of Nazareth (Matthew 14, Matthew 14:1–12). His father, Herod the Great, was described in the account as ordering the Massacre of the Innocents, marking the earliest Biblical account of the concerns of the government in Jerusalem regarding Jesus' existence.

Following the death of his father in 4 BC, Herod Antipas was recognized as tetrarch by Caesar Augustus and subsequently by his brother, the ethnarch Herod Archelaus. Antipas officially ruled Galilee and Perea as a client state of the Roman Empire.[4][5] He was responsible for building projects at Sepphoris and Betharamphtha, and for the construction of his capital Tiberias on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee. Named in honour of his patron, the emperor Tiberius, the city later became a centre of rabbinic learning after the Jewish-Roman wars.

Antipas divorced his first wife Phasa'el, the daughter of King Aretas IV of Nabatea, in favour of Herodias, who had formerly been married to his half-brother Herod II. (Antipas was Herod the Great's son by Malthace, while Herod II was his son by Mariamne II.)[6][7] According to the New Testament Gospels, it was John the Baptist's condemnation of this arrangement that led Antipas to have him arrested; John was subsequently put to death in Machaerus. Besides provoking his conflict with John the Baptist, the tetrarch's divorce added a personal grievance to previous disputes with Aretas over territory on the border of Perea and Nabatea. The result was a war that proved disastrous for Antipas; a Roman counter-offensive was ordered by Tiberius but abandoned upon that emperor's death in 37. In 39 Antipas was accused by his nephew Agrippa I of conspiracy against Emperor Caligula, who sent him into exile in Gaul, according to Josephus. Accompanied there by Herodias, he died at an unknown date.[8]

The Gospel of Luke states that Jesus was first brought before Pontius Pilate for trial, since Pilate was the governor of Roman Judea, which encompassed Jerusalem where Jesus was arrested. Pilate initially handed him over to Antipas, in whose territory Jesus had been most active, but Antipas sent him back to Pilate's court.

  1. ^ "14:1 – John the Baptist Beheaded". Matthew (NASB ed.). Bible Gateway. Retrieved 16 April 2018. At that
  2. ^ "6:14–29 – John's Fate Recalled". Mark (NASB ed.). BibleGateway.com. Retrieved 16 April 2018. And King Herod
  3. ^ Jeffers, James S. (2000). The Greco-Roman World of the New Testament Era: Exploring the Background of Early Christianity. Intervarsity Press. p. 125. ISBN 978-0-83081589-0. Retrieved 29 September 2016.
  4. ^ Marshall, Taylor, 2012. The Eternal City, Dallas: St. John, pp. 35–65.
  5. ^ Steinmann, Andrew, 2011. From Abraham to Paul: A Biblical Chronology, St. Louis: Concordia, pp. 235–38.
  6. ^ Bruce, Frederick Fyvie (1990). The Acts of the Apostles. Eerdmans. p. 96. ISBN 978-0-80280966-7. Retrieved 2 May 2013.
  7. ^ "The House of Herod". Virtual religion. Retrieved 2 May 2013.
  8. ^ Josephus, Antiquities 18.181.