Herod Agrippa
Herod Agrippa (Roman name Marcus Julius Agrippa; c. 11 BC – c. AD 44), also known as Herod II or Agrippa I (Hebrew: אגריפס), was the last Jewish king of Judea. He was a grandson of Herod the Great and the father of Herod Agrippa II, the last known king from the Herodian dynasty.[Note 1] He was acquaintance or friend of Roman emperors and even played crucial roles in internal Roman politics.
For his son, see Herod Agrippa II.Herod Agrippa I
He spent his childhood and youth at the imperial court in Ancient Rome where he befriended the imperial princes Claudius and Drusus, the son of Tiberius. He suffered a period of disgrace following the death of Drusus which forced him to return to live in Judea. Back in Rome around 35, Tiberius made him the guardian of his grandson Tiberius Gemellus and Agrippa approached the other designated heir, Caligula. The advent of the latter to the throne allowed him to become king of Batanea, Trachonitis, Gaulanitis, Auranitis, Paneas and Chalcis in 37 by obtaining the old tetrarchies of Philip and Lysanias, then Galilee and Perea in 40, following the disgrace of his uncle, Herod Antipas.
After the assassination of Caligula, he played a leading role in Rome in the accession of Claudius to the head of the empire in 41 and he was endowed with the former territories of Archelaus – Idumea, Judea and Samaria – thus ruling over a territory as vast as the ancient kingdom of Herod the Great.
Carrying a dual Jewish and Roman identity, he played the role of intercessor on behalf of the Jews with the Roman authorities and, on the domestic level, gave hope to some of his Jewish subjects of the restoration of an independent kingdom. Pursuing the Herodian policy of euergetism through major works in several Greek cities of the Near East, he nevertheless alienated some of his Greek and Syrian subjects while his regional ambitions earned him the opposition of the imperial legate of the Roman province of Syria, Marsus. He died suddenly—possibly poisoned—in 44.
He is the king named Herod whose death is recounted in Acts 12 (12:20–23).
M. Brann (1901–1906). . In Singer, Isidore; et al. (eds.). The Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls.
