Herod Agrippa (Roman name Marcus Julius Agrippa; born around 11–10 BC – in

Caesarea Caesarea () ( he, קֵיסָרְיָה, ), ''Keysariya'' or ''Qesarya'', often simplified to Keisarya, and Qaysaria, is an affluent town in north-central Israel, which inherits its name and much of its territory from the ancient city of Caesar ...

), also known as Herod II or Agrippa I (), was a grandson of

Herod the Great Herod I (; ; grc-gre, ; c. 72 – 4 or 1 BCE), also known as Herod the Great, was a Roman Jewish client king of Judea, referred to as the Herodian kingdom. He is known for his colossal building projects throughout Judea, including his renova ...

and King of Judea from AD 41 to 44. He was the father of Herod Agrippa II, the last king from the

Herodian dynasty The Herodian dynasty was a royal dynasty of Idumaean (Edomite) descent, ruling the Herodian Kingdom of Judea and later the Herodian Tetrarchy as a vassal state of the Roman Empire. The Herodian dynasty began with Herod the Great, who assumed t ...

. He spent his childhood and youth at the imperial court in

Ancient Rome In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman people, Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom ...

where he befriended the imperial princes

Claudius Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (; 1 August 10 BC – 13 October AD 54) was the fourth Roman emperor, ruling from AD 41 to 54. A member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, Claudius was born to Drusus and Antonia Minor ...

and

Drusus Drusus may refer to: * Claudius (Tiberius Claudius Drusus) (10 BC–AD 54), Roman emperor from 41 to 54 * Drusus Caesar (AD 8–33), adoptive grandson of Roman emperor Tiberius * Drusus Julius Caesar (14 BC–AD 23), son of Roman emperor Tiberius ...

, the son of

Tiberius Tiberius Julius Caesar Augustus (; 16 November 42 BC – 16 March AD 37) was the second Roman emperor. He reigned from AD 14 until 37, succeeding his stepfather, the first Roman emperor Augustus. Tiberius was born in Rome in 42 BC. His father ...

. He suffered a period of disgrace following the death of Drusus which forced him to return to live in

Judea Judea or Judaea ( or ; from he, יהודה, Standard ''Yəhūda'', Tiberian ''Yehūḏā''; el, Ἰουδαία, ; la, Iūdaea) is an ancient, historic, Biblical Hebrew, contemporaneous Latin, and the modern-day name of the mountainous so ...

. Back in Rome around 35, Tiberius made him the guardian of his grandson Tiberius Gemellus and Agrippa approached the other designated heir,

Caligula Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (31 August 12 – 24 January 41), better known by his nickname Caligula (), was the third Roman emperor, ruling from 37 until his assassination in 41. He was the son of the popular Roman general Germani ...

. The advent of the latter to the throne allowed him to become king of

Iturea Iturea ( grc, Ἰτουραία, ''Itouraía'') is the Greek name of a Levantine region north of Galilee during the Late Hellenistic and early Roman periods. It extended from Mount Lebanon across the plain of Marsyas to the Anti-Lebanon Moun ...

, Trachonitis, Batanea, Gaulanitis,

Auranitis The Hauran ( ar, حَوْرَان, ''Ḥawrān''; also spelled ''Hawran'' or ''Houran'') is a region that spans parts of southern Syria and northern Jordan. It is bound in the north by the Ghouta oasis, eastwards by the al-Safa field, to the s ...

and Paneas in 37 by obtaining the old tetrarchies of

Philip Philip, also Phillip, is a male given name, derived from the Greek (''Philippos'', lit. "horse-loving" or "fond of horses"), from a compound of (''philos'', "dear", "loved", "loving") and (''hippos'', "horse"). Prominent Philips who populariz ...

and Lysanias, then

Galilee Galilee (; he, הַגָּלִיל, hagGālīl; ar, الجليل, al-jalīl) is a region located in northern Israel and southern Lebanon. Galilee traditionally refers to the mountainous part, divided into Upper Galilee (, ; , ) and Lower Gali ...

and Perea in 40, following the disgrace of his uncle,

Herod Antipas Herod Antipas ( el, Ἡρῴδης Ἀντίπας, ''Hērǭdēs Antipas''; born before 20 BC – died after 39 AD), was a 1st-century ruler of Galilee and Perea, who bore the title of tetrarch ("ruler of a quarter") and is referred to as both ...

. After the assassination of

, he played a leading role in Rome in the accession of

to the head of the empire in 41 and he was endowed with the former territories of Archelaus –

Idumea Edom (; Edomite: ; he, אֱדוֹם , lit.: "red"; Akkadian: , ; Ancient Egyptian: ) was an ancient kingdom in Transjordan, located between Moab to the northeast, the Arabah to the west, and the Arabian Desert to the south and east ...

, Judea and

Samaria Samaria (; he, שֹׁמְרוֹן, translit=Šōmrōn, ar, السامرة, translit=as-Sāmirah) is the historic and biblical name used for the central region of Palestine, bordered by Judea to the south and Galilee to the north. The first ...

– 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 Roman Syria was an early Roman province annexed to the Roman Republic in 64 BC by Pompey in the Third Mithridatic War following the defeat of King of Armenia Tigranes the Great. Following the partition of the Herodian Kingdom of Judea into te ...

, Marsus. He died suddenly—possibly poisoned—in 44. He is the king named Herod whose death is recounted in the

Acts of the Apostles The Acts of the Apostles ( grc-koi, Πράξεις Ἀποστόλων, ''Práxeis Apostólōn''; la, Actūs Apostolōrum) is the fifth book of the New Testament; it tells of the founding of the Christian Church and the spread of its messag ...

Biography

Origins

Family

Agrippa is the son of Aristobulus IV, one of the children that

, king of Judea had with Mariamne the Hasmonean. His mother is Berenice, daughter of

Salome Salome (; he, שְלוֹמִית, Shlomit, related to , "peace"; el, Σαλώμη), also known as Salome III, was a Jewish princess, the daughter of Herod II, son of Herod the Great, and princess Herodias, granddaughter of Herod the Great, a ...

, daughter of

Antipater Antipater (; grc, , translit=Antipatros, lit=like the father; c. 400 BC319 BC) was a Macedonian general and statesman under the subsequent kingships of Philip II of Macedon and his son, Alexander the Great. In the wake of the collaps ...

and sister of Herod the Great, who is close to

Antonia Minor Antonia Minor (31 January 36 BC - 1 May 37 AD) was the younger of two surviving daughters of Mark Antony and Octavia Minor. She was a niece of the Emperor Augustus, sister-in-law of the Emperor Tiberius, paternal grandmother of the Emperor Caligu ...

, daughter of

Marcus Antonius Marcus Antonius (14 January 1 August 30 BC), commonly known in English as Mark Antony, was a Roman politician and general who played a critical role in the transformation of the Roman Republic from a constitutional republic into the au ...

and Octavia, sister of Auguste.. Herod the Great is therefore both the paternal grandfather and the maternal great-uncle of Agrippa, who was born around 11 or 10 BC. J.-C., probably in Judea. His parents mark the Roman status of this Jewish prince by giving him the name of a close collaborator of the Emperor

Augustus Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian, was the first Roman emperor; he reigned from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. He is known for being the founder of the Roman Pr ...

Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa (; BC – 12 BC) was a Roman general, statesman, and architect who was a close friend, son-in-law, and lieutenant to the Roman emperor Augustus. He was responsible for the construction of some of the most notable build ...

. Herod the Great was a sovereign considered a cruel usurper by his subjects but devoted to the Roman imperial cause which he greatly favored in his kingdom. His reign is marked by numerous family intrigues - he had ten wives - and bloody.. Thus, in 29 BC. J.-C., the king executes his wife Mariamne. by jealousy,. grandmother of Agrippa and, the following year, the mother of this one. In 7 BC, when Agrippa was only three years or four old,. Herod had his father and his uncle Alexander executed following palace intrigues which also led to the execution, three years later, of Antipater — a son he had with Doris — as well as that of Costobarus, Agrippa's maternal grandfather.. Herod also caused the disappearance of a large number of members of the

Hasmonean dynasty The Hasmonean dynasty (; he, ''Ḥašmōnaʾīm'') was a ruling dynasty of Judea and surrounding regions during classical antiquity, from BCE to 37 BCE. Between and BCE the dynasty ruled Judea semi-autonomously in the Seleucid Empire, a ...

and its supporters, which found itself almost annihilated. The king however spares the children of Aristobulus, the boys Agrippa, Herod and Aristobulus Minor as well as the girls

Herodias Herodias ( el, Ἡρῳδιάς, ''Hērǭdiás''; ''c.'' 15 BC – after AD 39) was a princess of the Herodian dynasty of Judaea during the time of the Roman Empire. Christian writings connect her with John the Baptist's execution. Family rel ...

and Mariamne. Agrippa thus descends from both the Hasmonean and Herodian dynasties, but his father's death sentence for treason seems to set him aside from a logic of succession.

Imperial court

Bust of Drusus, In 5 BC, two years after the condemnation of his father, the young Agrippa was sent by Herod the Great to the imperial court of Rome in the company of his mother Berenice as well as his brothers and sisters.. He is supported there by his mother's friend,

, sister-in-law of

- who will become emperor in 14 - and mother of the future emperor

, as well as by Empress

Livia Livia Drusilla (30 January 59 BC – 28 September AD 29) was a Roman empress from 27 BC to AD 14 as the wife of Emperor Augustus Caesar. She was known as Julia Augusta after her formal adoption into the Julian family in AD 14. Livia was the ...

, who is the friend of his grandmother. He was brought up there with the children of the imperial family, including Claudius, who was the same age as him, as well as

, the young son of Tiberius, to whom he was particularly attached. He thus lived all his youth in the capital of the empire and personally knew almost all the members of the imperial family. Agrippa's future then seemed to be established by his privileged relationship with the heir apparent of Tiberius and, to deceive his hosts, he led the way like his friend who had an unfortunate reputation for prodigality, immorality and excess.. He must soon go into debt to ensure this sumptuous life. But this future darkened with the death of Drusus in 23,. isolating him and leaving him helpless in the face of his creditors,. especially since his mother Berenice probably died at the same time. After the death of his son, Tiberius, upset, reacted by removing his friends from his court.. Agrippa squandered the rest of his fortune trying to win the favor of the freedmen of Tiberius. and he hastily left Rome for the province of

. The following period saw him experience various adventures and scandals linked to the need to ensure his lifestyle without enjoying the corresponding income.

Return to Judea

He finds himself in a fort in Malatha of

, in the company of his wife Cypros. He probably married around 26 this cousin, daughter of Phasael, brother of Herod the Great, who gave him a first son named Agrippa.. He leads a modest existence far from the splendor of the imperial court and even thinks about suicide. However, his wife got along with

, when she became the wife of Antipas. Married to an uncle called Herod and known as Philip with whom, according Flavius Josephus, she has

as a child, Herodias has just agreed to leave her first husband "still alive" to marry another of her uncle, Herod Antipas, tetrarch of

..The date of this marriage is debated. If we follow

Josephus Flavius Josephus (; grc-gre, Ἰώσηπος, ; 37 – 100) was a first-century Romano-Jewish historian and military leader, best known for '' The Jewish War'', who was born in Jerusalem—then part of Roman Judea—to a father of priestly ...

, it takes place after the death of

Philip the Tetrarch Philip the Tetrarch (c. 26 BCE. - 34 CE), sometimes called Herod Philip II by modern writers (see "Naming convention"), son of Herod the Great and his fifth wife, Cleopatra of Jerusalem, ruled over the northeast part of his father's kingdom ...

which takes place in 33/34. Coins bearing the image of Philip dating from the 37th year of his reign (33/34) have been found. Which is completely consistent with what Josephus writes, who places his death in 34. However, this clashes with the contemporary Christian tradition which considers that John the Baptist died in 29 and therefore that he could not have criticized a marriage whose project was only revealed around 34–35 CE. Moreover, if we follow these indications of Josephus, John the Baptist was executed around 35, which has the consequence that Jesus clearly executed after the Baptist was executed at a date much closer to the dismissal of Pontius Pilate towards the end of the year 36. Note that this chronology does not contradict the Gospels, because what the Gospel according to Luke places in 28/29 is an important prophecy made by Jean le Batiste and not the date of his dead. On the other hand, the Gospel according to John indicates that there were at least three Passover celebrations between a period after the baptism of Jesus by the Baptist and the crucifixion of Jesus. Likewise, in this same period, Jesus went to Jerusalem four times. Which makes it impossible that Jesus was crucified in 30 unless we assume that both Josephus and the Gospels according to John and Luke are wrong and that no ancient source provides a chronology compatible with the dates retained by the current Christian tradition as they reached us at the birth of historical criticism on these subjects two centuries ago. A large number of historians situate this marriage in 34/35 including: Simon Claude Mimouni, Christian-Georges Schwentzel, Nikkos Kokkinos, E. Mary Smallwood, or at the earliest during the winter of 33-34 according to Lester L. Grabbe. However critics, like Etienne Nodet or Christiane Saulnier (not before 23 according to her), seek to defend the traditional chronology by completely revising the chronology that one deduces from the writings of Josephus. This also leads them to consider that the nearby battle of Gamala did not take place in the Tetrarchy of Philip, since if Philip was still alive at the time of this battle, one would not then understand why the only forces of Antipas are cited. and not those of Philip, but near a village of the same name located in the Roman province of Judea without the Roman cohorts stationed in this province under the orders of Pontius Pilate being engaged in this fight, although they were the first concerned. Indeed,

“died childless” (33/34Josephus places the death of

in 34 (cf. Nikkos Kokkinos, in Jack Finegan, Chronos, kairos, Christos: nativity and chronological studies, ed. Jerry Vardaman & Edwin M. Yamauchi, 1989, p. 215; Nikkos Kokkinos, in Jack Finegan, Chronos, kairos, Christos: nativity and chronological studies, ed. Jerry Vardaman & Edwin M. Yamauchi, 1989, p. 134; Simon Claude Mimouni, Ancient Judaism from the Sixth Century BC to the Third Century AD: From Priests to Rabbis, ed. P.u.f./New Clio, 2012, p. 408; Christian-Georges Schwentzel, Herod the Great, Pygmalion, Paris, 2011, p. 215; E. Mary Smallwood, The Jews under Roman Rule, p. 189. During the winter of 33-34 according to Lester L. Grabbe, Judaism from Cyrus to Hadrian, Vol. II, Fortress Press, Minneapolis, 1992, p. 426.). Coins bearing the image of Philip dating from the 37th year of his reign (33) have been found (cf. Christian-Georges Schwentzel, Hérode le Grand, Pygmalion, Paris, 2011, , p. 212); "Philip's latest coins, dated his 37th year of reign, corroborate Josephus' data" cf. E. Mary Smallwood, The Jews under Roman Rule, p. 186, note No. 8. Historians therefore believe that Philip died at the earliest in 33 and give the date of death as 33 or 34.) and Antipas hoped both that the territories of his half-brother would be entrusted to him by Tiberius and that the latter this will give him the title of king..Nikkos Kokkinos, ''The Herodian Dynasty: Origins, Role in Society and Eclipse'', ''Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha Supplement Series'', 1998, Sheffield Academic Press, Sheffield, . Marriage with Herodias, who descends from the legitimate

, is part of this strategy. Herodias leads Antipas to help Agrippa: he provides him with money, offers him to settle in

Tiberias Tiberias ( ; he, טְבֶרְיָה, ; ar, طبريا, Ṭabariyyā) is an Israeli city on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee. A major Jewish center during Late Antiquity, it has been considered since the 16th century one of Judaism's F ...

and entrusts him with the civic magistracy of agoranomos of the city – organizer of the markets of the agora – which provides him with a regular income. However, this situation is short-lived. Agrippa accepts at first, but he soon gives the impression of not being satisfied with what is given to him. He quickly finds this burden boring in a small provincial town devoid of the amenities of the Roman civilization that saw him grow up. He quarrels with his uncle Antipas during a banquet in Tyre and goes to

Roman Syria Roman Syria was an early Roman province annexed to the Roman Republic in 64 BC by Pompey in the Third Mithridatic War following the defeat of King of Armenia Tigranes the Great. Following the partition of the Herodian Kingdom of Judea into te ...

, of which his friend

Lucius Pomponius Flaccus Lucius Pomponius Flaccus (died 33) was a Roman senator, who held a number of imperial appointments during the reign of Tiberius. He was consul in AD 17 with Gaius Caelius Rufus as his colleague. Flaccus was the brother of Gaius Pomponius Graec ...

is the legate. Shortly after, he was disgraced following an intervention by his own brother Aristobulus Minor, who denounced him to Flaccus for having received a bribe in order to defend the interests of

Damascus )), is an adjective which means "spacious". , motto = , image_flag = Flag of Damascus.svg , image_seal = Emblem of Damascus.svg , seal_type = Seal , map_caption = , ...

against

Sidon Sidon ( ; he, צִידוֹן, ''Ṣīḏōn'') known locally as Sayda or Saida ( ar, صيدا ''Ṣaydā''), is the third-largest city in Lebanon. It is located in the South Governorate, of which it is the capital, on the Mediterranean coast. ...

in a border dispute brought before his legate friend. He then decided to attempt a return to Rome where Tiberius, who must have mourned the death of Drusus, might agree to receive his son's old friends again..

Back to Rome

Agrippa borrowed the sum of twenty thousand drachmas. to embark at Anthedon for

Alexandria Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandri ...

, not without having been reminded by the Roman governor of Yavne, Herennius Capiton, for the debts contracted vis-à-vis the treasury of the Empire. The latter sent him the troop but, taking advantage of the night, Agrippa embarked and managed to reach Alexandria where he obtained new funding from the alabarch Alexander Lysimachus, brother of

Philo Philo of Alexandria (; grc, Φίλων, Phílōn; he, יְדִידְיָה, Yəḏīḏyāh (Jedediah); ), also called Philo Judaeus, was a Hellenistic Jewish philosopher who lived in Alexandria, in the Roman province of Egypt. Philo's de ...

and head of the Jewish community of Alexandria. This senior official, belonging to one of the very rare Jewish families of Roman citizens, was a large landowner and, like Agrippa, a friend of the future Emperor Claudius. Lysimachus refuses to lend the money directly to Agrippa, whose reputation for prodigality is well established, but deals with the latter's wife, whose devotion to her husband he admires. It was with this capital of two hundred thousand drachmas that Agrippa embarked for Italy in the spring of 36. Tiberius, retired to

Capri Capri ( , ; ; ) is an island located in the Tyrrhenian Sea off the Sorrento Peninsula, on the south side of the Gulf of Naples in the Campania region of Italy. The main town of Capri that is located on the island shares the name. It has be ...

, received him and gave his son's former companion a warm welcome, a welcome soon tempered by a letter from the governor of Yabne about his debts. But

helps Agrippa to get out of this new embarrassment by advancing him the totality of the sum due. — three hundred thousand drachmas — and he regains imperial favour. All these details are found in the second work of Flavius Josephus, the

Antiquities of the Jews ''Antiquities of the Jews'' ( la, Antiquitates Iudaicae; el, Ἰουδαϊκὴ ἀρχαιολογία, ''Ioudaikē archaiologia'') is a 20-volume historiographical work, written in Greek, by historian Flavius Josephus in the 13th year of the ...

, published around 93/94, during the reign of

Domitian Domitian (; la, Domitianus; 24 October 51 – 18 September 96) was a Roman emperor who reigned from 81 to 96. The son of Vespasian and the younger brother of Titus, his two predecessors on the throne, he was the last member of the Fl ...

,. but in book II of

The Jewish War ''The Jewish War'' or ''Judean War'' (in full ''Flavius Josephus' Books of the History of the Jewish War against the Romans'', el, Φλαυίου Ἰωσήπου ἱστορία Ἰουδαϊκοῦ πολέμου πρὸς Ῥωμαίους ...

, his first account, published between 75-79, Josephus was more direct. It was “to accuse the tetrarch"Agrippa, fils de cet Aristobule que son père Hérode avait mis à mort, se rendit auprès de Tibère pour accuser le tétrarque Hérode (Antipas). L'empereur n'ayant pas accueilli l'accusation, Agrippa resta à Rome pour faire sa cour aux gens considérables et tout particulièrement à Gaius, fils de Germanicus" ;

, livre II, IX, 5 (178).” Herod Antipas, that Agrippa decided to go “to Tiberius”, in order to try to take his domain Gilbert Picard, « La date de naissance de Jésus du point de vue romain », dans ''Comptes-rendus des séances de l'Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres'', 139 (3), 1995, . and it was because Agrippa had been ousted from his pretensions to obtain the tetrarchy of Antipas that he would have started plotting against the emperor. Like other information, in particular about Agrippa, these are not found in the Judaic Antiquities, where Josephus, however, expands much on the subject. The emperor asks Agrippa to take charge of Drusus' son, his grandson Tiberius Gemellus, then a teenager and one of the two designated heirs of Tiberius with his grand-nephew Caius Caligula, grandson of the protector of Agrippa, Antonia. The latter undertakes to win the favors and friendship of Caius, imitated in this by another prince without a kingdom, Antiochos of Commagene, and manages to contract a loan of one million drachmas from a Samaritan freedman of the emperor to carry out his project with the rising star of Rome. Although we do not know precisely under what conditions the friendship between the two men was forged, it must have been worth such an investment. A flattery from Agrippa to Caligula will however cause him trouble: wishing in a conversation that the death of Tiberius would not be delayed any longer so that the young prince could succeed him, this remark is reported to Tiberius who orders the arrest of the dishonest. The latter, a friend of the probable next emperor, enjoyed a comfortable captivity and was released by Caligula shortly after the death of Tiberius on March 16, 37, when

Pontius Pilate Pontius Pilate (; grc-gre, Πόντιος Πιλᾶτος, ) was the fifth governor of the Roman province of Judaea, serving under Emperor Tiberius from 26/27 to 36/37 AD. He is best known for being the official who presided over the trial of ...

arrived in Rome.. The accession to the throne of his friend began Agrippa's fortune: the emperor, for his release, offered him a gold chain "of the same weight as the chain of his captivity". He grants him, in addition to the title of king and the diadem which is its sign, the territories of Philip, who died shortly before, tetrarch of

, Trachonitis, Batanea, Gaulanitis,

and Paneas, located northeast of the lake of Tiberias. Caligula also conferred on him the praetorian ornaments, a dignity which allows certain non-senators to sit among them during public celebrations.. “This completely exceptional reversal of the situation seems to have greatly impressed Agrippa's contemporaries”. According to Flavius Josephus, at the very moment when he placed the royal diadem on the head of Agrippa I, Caligula sent Marullus as "hipparch (ἱππάρχης) of Judea" to replace Pontius Pilate, who had been dismissed by Lucius Vitellius, and had just arrived in Rome.Daniel R. Schwartz, ''Agrippa I : The Last King of Judaea'', éd. Mohr Siebeck, 1990, . Agrippa therefore shows no eagerness to take charge of the affairs of his kingdom and it is only in the summer of 38 that he goes to Batanea for a short stay, because the networks of influence are woven more in Rome where resides often the real power.

Troubles in Palestine

During his stay in Rome, several events take place in Palestine which create a very tense situation. Since 35, the Romans and the legate of Syria Lucius Vitellius are engaged in a decisive confrontation against the Parthians and their king Artabanus III about the control of the kingdom of Armenia.. In 36,There is almost unanimity among historians specializing in the period and the region in following the chronological indications provided by Flavius Josephus and situating this battle in 36; see Simon Claude Mimouni, Ancient Judaism from the 6th century BC to the 3rd century AD: From priests to rabbis, ed. P.u.f./New Clio, 2012, p. 407; Christian-Georges Schwentzel, Herod the Great, Pygmalion, Paris, 2011, p. 216-217; E. Mary Smallwood, The Jews under Roman Rule, p. 189; Lester L. Grabbe, Judaism from Cyrus to Hadrian, Vol. II, Fortress Press, Mineapolis, 1992, p. 427; Nikkos Kokkinos, in Jack Finegan, Chronos, kairos, Christos: nativity and chronological studies, ed. Jerry Vardaman & Edwin M. Yamauchi, 1989, p. 135. However, to resolve the contradiction between Flavius Josephus who provides indications that place the death of John the Baptist around 35 and the Christian tradition which places it in 29, Christiane Saulnier takes up Étienne Nodet's proposal which supposes that Josephus is mistaken and therefore places this battle before 29. This proposal, however, does not meet with great reception among historians, but meets with some success among denominational authors. the armies of two kings who were clients of the Romans, Aretas IV and

, clashed around the territory of Gamla, causing a crushing defeat for the latter. According to Movses Khorenatsi, as well as several sources in Syriac and Armenian, the king of

Edessa Edessa (; grc, Ἔδεσσα, Édessa) was an ancient city (''polis'') in Upper Mesopotamia, founded during the Hellenistic period by King Seleucus I Nicator (), founder of the Seleucid Empire. It later became capital of the Kingdom of Osroe ...

, Abgar V "provides auxiliaries" to the Nabataean king, Aretas IV, to wage war against Herod (Antipas) ».Ilaria Ramelli, ''Possible Historical Traces in the Doctrina Addai'', § n° 9.. However, the historicity of this mention is disputed by Jean-Pierre Mahé. It is possible that Aretas took advantage of Antipas' participation in the great conference on the Euphrates, to conceal peace and the Roman victory over Artabanus III (autumn 36), to launch his offensive.. Territorial claim of the Nabataeans was revived by Antipas' will to repudiate Phasaélis, the daughter of the king of

Petra Petra ( ar, ٱلْبَتْرَاء, Al-Batrāʾ; grc, Πέτρα, "Rock", Nabataean: ), originally known to its inhabitants as Raqmu or Raqēmō, is an historic and archaeological city in southern Jordan. It is adjacent to the mountain of Ja ...

Aretas.. to marry Herodias, the sister of Agrippa I.. Antipas' goal is only dynastic. It is a question of consolidating his position to be named by the emperor at the head of the tetrarchy of Philip who has just died or to be named king. At some point in this conflict, probably between 29 and 35.., Antipas thinks of silencing his opposition by executing a Jewish preacher called

John the Baptist John the Baptist or , , or , ;Wetterau, Bruce. ''World history''. New York: Henry Holt and Company. 1994. syc, ܝܘܿܚܲܢܵܢ ܡܲܥܡܕ݂ܵܢܵܐ, Yoḥanān Maʿmḏānā; he, יוחנן המטביל, Yohanān HaMatbil; la, Ioannes Bapti ...

. This execution seems to have had important repercussions on the political situation in the region for several years. Thus the defeat of Antipas is considered within the Jewish population as a divine revenge against Antipas to punish him for having put John to death and of which Aretas IV would have been only the instrument. According to

Simon Claude Mimouni Simon Claude Mimouni (born 26 April 1949, Bône, French Algeria) is a French biblical scholar. He published first on Christian legends surrounding the assumption of Mary (1995, 2003), then worked on fragments of Jewish–Christian gospels assoc ...

, the governorship of

is one of the five high points of the troubles that Palestine experienced between the death of Herod the Great and the outbreak of the Great Jewish Revolt, punctuated by no less than six major incidents, to which must be added the execution of Jesus of Nazareth and possibly the sedition of Jesus Bar Abbas, whose popularity is reported in the synoptic gospels.. However, for some historians, the two Jesuses are one, the evangelists using a literary device to describe two faces of Jesus, while exempting the Romans from their responsibility in this execution, so that the Gospels cannot be suspected of containing the slightest criticism of the authorities in power. Hyam Maccoby, ''Revolution in Judaea: Jesus and the Jewish Resistance'' Taplinger Publishing co, 1980, New-York, .. In 36, Pontius Pilate quickly suppressed a gathering of

Samaritans Samaritans (; ; he, שומרונים, translit=Šōmrōnīm, lit=; ar, السامريون, translit=as-Sāmiriyyūn) are an ethnoreligious group who originate from the ancient Israelites. They are native to the Levant and adhere to Samarit ...

Mount Gerizim Mount Gerizim (; Samaritan Hebrew: ''ʾĀ̊rgā̊rīzēm''; Hebrew: ''Har Gərīzīm''; ar, جَبَل جَرِزِيم ''Jabal Jarizīm'' or جَبَلُ ٱلطُّورِ ''Jabal at-Ṭūr'') is one of two mountains in the immediate vicinit ...

,. the most convinced of whom “took up arms”. The gathering had a messianic connotation whose leader—whom Flavius Josephus avoids naming—sought to appear as the eschatological prophet similar to

Moses Moses hbo, מֹשֶׁה, Mōše; also known as Moshe or Moshe Rabbeinu ( Mishnaic Hebrew: מֹשֶׁה רַבֵּינוּ, ); syr, ܡܘܫܐ, Mūše; ar, موسى, Mūsā; grc, Mωϋσῆς, Mōÿsēs () is considered the most important pr ...

,. one of the three messianic figures found in the

Dead Sea Scrolls The Dead Sea Scrolls (also the Qumran Caves Scrolls) are ancient Jewish and Hebrew religious manuscripts discovered between 1946 and 1956 at the Qumran Caves in what was then Mandatory Palestine, near Ein Feshkha in the West Bank, on the ...

.. A figure that has also been attributed to John the Baptist and Jesus the Nazorean.. Certain Church fathers, as well as the Mandaean tradition and in particular one of their writings, the ''Haran-Gawaita'', provide indications according to which it could be Dositheos of Samaria who succeeded to the head of the movement of

after his execution, for he was one of his thirty disciples. Pilate crucified their leaders and the most prominent personalities that he managed to capture.. At the end of that same year, Vitellius used the complaints of the Council of Samaritans about this last incident as a pretext to dismiss the

prefect Prefect (from the Latin ''praefectus'', substantive adjectival form of ''praeficere'': "put in front", meaning in charge) is a magisterial title of varying definition, but essentially refers to the leader of an administrative area. A prefect's ...

at the end of a ten-year term., "so that he explains to the emperor what the Jews are accusing him of.. » On the following Passover, he came in person to

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

to dismiss the high priest

Caiaphas Joseph ben Caiaphas (; c. 14 BC – c. 46 AD), known simply as Caiaphas (; grc-x-koine, Καϊάφας, Kaïáphas ) in the New Testament, was the Jewish high priest who, according to the gospels, organized a plot to kill Jesus. He famous ...

, who was too closely linked to Pilate, and restored to the priests of the temple the supervision of the ceremonies of the great Jewish worship festivals. When the death of Tiberius was announced at

Pentecost Pentecost (also called Whit Sunday, Whitsunday or Whitsun) is a Christian holiday which takes place on the 50th day (the seventh Sunday) after Easter Sunday. It commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and other followers ...

37, Vitellius, very reluctant to support Antipas with his troops,. interrupted the march of his two legions against Aretas IV, considering that he could no longer wage war without orders from the new emperor.. He “makes the people swear loyalty to

” and once again dismisses the high priest whom he had appointed 50 days earlier..

First comer to his kingdom

Agrippa returned to his territories in the summer of 38, after the situation had been clarified on the spot by Lucius Vitellius, probably assisted by Marullus, the new prefect of Judea. Flavius Josephus does not recount the conditions under which the

Nabataeans The Nabataeans or Nabateans (; Nabataean Aramaic: , , vocalized as ; Arabic language, Arabic: , , singular , ; compare grc, Ναβαταῖος, translit=Nabataîos; la, Nabataeus) were an ancient Arab people who inhabited northern Arabian Pe ...

troops withdrew from the former tetrarchy of Philip, which constitutes the bulk of the territories attributed to Agrippa. An agreement finally had to be reached between Aretas and the Romans represented on the spot by the legate of Syria. According to Nikos Kokkinos, Lindner showed that it was Caligula who transferred Damascus to Nabathean control.. For him, since Caligula succeeded Tiberius who died on March 16, 37, the negotiations with Aretas could not have been completed before the summer of the same year. On the way to his new kingdom, Agrippa passed through Alexandria around July 38 where he probably lodged with the alabarch Alexandre Lysimaque, the brother of

of Alexandria and the father of

Tiberius Alexander Tiberius Julius Alexander (fl. 1st century) was an equestrian governor and general in the Roman Empire. Born into a wealthy Jewish family of Alexandria but abandoning or neglecting the Jewish religion, he rose to become the 2nd procurator of Jude ...

Heinrich Graetz Heinrich Graetz (; 31 October 1817 – 7 September 1891) was amongst the first historians to write a comprehensive history of the Jewish people from a Jewish perspective. Born Tzvi Hirsch Graetz to a butcher family in Xions (now Książ Wielko ...

, ''Histoire des Juifs'', Chapter XV — Les Hérodiens : Agrippa Ier ; Hérode II — (37-49). whose daughter Berenice would marry the son Marcus Alexander a few years later. There was then an anti-Jewish atmosphere in the city that had lasted for some time.. During festivities, the new king was the target of a popular anti-Jewish masquerade featuring an idiot nicknamed Karabas,Some critics see in this parody a reference to the crucifixion of

Jesus Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label= Hebrew/ Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and relig ...

because it resembles in many ways what is done to one of the two Jesuses — Jésus Barabbas and/or Jesus the King of the Jews — in the accounts of the Passion contained in the

Gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message (" the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words a ...

s. The very name by which the actors of this parody call their victim ('' Karabbas'') makes one think of Barabbas, the

alter ego An alter ego (Latin for "other I", "doppelgänger") means an alternate self, which is believed to be distinct from a person's normal or true original personality. Finding one's alter ego will require finding one's other self, one with a different ...

Jesus Christ Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label= Hebrew/ Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and relig ...

in these stories. This proximity is both phonetic and graphic. Especially since in ancient Christian texts the nicknames or ''

cognomen A ''cognomen'' (; plural ''cognomina''; from ''con-'' "together with" and ''(g)nomen'' "name") was the third name of a citizen of ancient Rome, under Roman naming conventions. Initially, it was a nickname, but lost that purpose when it became here ...

'' ''Barsabas'' and ''Barabbas'' are often connected to the names of members of the family of Jesus, such as the brother of Jesus called Joseph Barsabbas or the one called Judas who in the Codex Bezae of the

is even nicknamed Judas Barabbas , while in current versions he is named Judas Barsabas, or as the fourth bishop of Jerusalem after the dead of Simeon of Clopas also called Judas Barsabas and given as a son of

James the Just James the Just, or a variation of James, brother of the Lord ( la, Iacobus from he, יעקב, and grc-gre, Ἰάκωβος, , can also be Anglicized as "Jacob"), was "a brother of Jesus", according to the New Testament. He was an early lea ...

, the brother of Jesus. Furthermore, this event takes place in August 38, less than months after

was fired by Lucius Vitellius "to explain himself to the emperor". Like for Jesus, the surnamed Karabas is given a chlamys or a mat as a royal garment, an improvised crown on his head and a reed is given to him as a scepter, then those who impose this masquerade on him derisively pretend to consider him like a king. Moreover, the title which is given to the surnamed Karabbas by these Greek inhabitants of Alexandria is singularly an

Aramaic The Aramaic languages, short Aramaic ( syc, ܐܪܡܝܐ, Arāmāyā; oar, 𐤀𐤓𐤌𐤉𐤀; arc, 𐡀𐡓𐡌𐡉𐡀; tmr, אֲרָמִית), are a language family containing many varieties (languages and dialects) that originated i ...

and Syriac word, that of ''Maran'' which translates as "Lord", title which is very often given to Jesus in the

gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message (" the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words a ...

s. The current language in Palestine at the time being Syriac, it is this same word of “Maran” which was to be pronounced by the disciples of Jesus to give him the title of Lord. Finally, this masquerade was intended to make fun of Agrippa I^st, the new Jewish king whom

has just named, passing through Alexandria on his way to his territories, while Jesus was condemned for having proclaimed himself "King of the Jews" or for having been so by his followers. foreshadowing the Jewish-Alexandrian conflict that agitated the city from 38 to 41. The Roman governor of Alexandria, Flaccus, seems to let the popular agitation unfold, hostile to Agrippa, whom he is jealous of, protected by an emperor into whose graces Flaccus does not manage to enter,. whose confidence he senses is losing and who moreover had him executed shortly after. These troubles led the two parties—Jews and Alexandrian Greeks—to each send three delegates to the emperor to settle the deeper conflict between the two communities. Philo was one of the Jewish delegation. The return of Agrippa I crowned with a royal title excites the jealousy of his sister Herodias who urges her husband Antipas to claim for himself the title of king in Rome. In 39, Antipas then resolves to go and meet Caligula to try to obtain this imperial favor, which will precipitate his loss. Informed of this trip, Agrippa I dispatched his most faithful freedman to Rome, bearing a letter for the emperor, followed soon after by Agrippa himself.Again, in The Jewish War, Josephus gives a different version. “Agrippa had followed” Antipas to Rome “to accuse him” and thus obtained his dismissal. What he fails to relate in the Jewish Antiquities written 20 years later. He accuses Antipas of fomenting a plot with the Parthians and of having accumulated, without telling the Emperor, stocks of arms in his arsenals in Tiberias, probably with the intention of preparing his revenge against King Aretas IV who had defeated him a few years earlier. While the second accusation is probably true, the first is doubtful. However Caligula falls, banishes and exiles Herod Antipas in the south of

Gaul Gaul ( la, Gallia) was a region of Western Europe first described by the Romans. It was inhabited by Celtic and Aquitani tribes, encompassing present-day France, Belgium, Luxembourg, most of Switzerland, parts of Northern Italy (only during ...

where his wife freely accompanies him.. As for Agrippa, he receives the territories of Antipas —

and

Peraea Peraia, and Peraea or Peræa (from grc, ἡ περαία, ''hē peraia'', "land across") in Classical Antiquity referred to "a community's territory lying 'opposite', predominantly (but not exclusively) a mainland possession of an island state" a ...

— as well as all the property confiscated from the tetrarch and his wife.

The statue of Caligula

Representation in the Temple

Following the clashes between Jews and Greeks in Alexandria, for confused reasons the delegation led by Philo of Alexandria to Caligula learned "with horror" of the Emperor's project to erect his own statue in the Temple of Jerusalem in gold under the guise of Zeus. According to Josephus, it is possible that the emperor was sensitive to the arguments of the delegation of Greeks from Alexandria led by Apion who, in the conflict between the two parties, complained of the "privileges" granted to the Jews. For Goodman, Caligula intends to develop the imperial cult and to place himself above the politics of mortals in his lifetime and has the idea of imposing his divine status on the empire, whatever the political consequences.. Caligula's initiative horrifies the Jewish subjects of the Empire and causes unrest in the diaspora in Rome, but also in

Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its metropolitan area, and the capital of the geographic region of ...

Antioch Antioch on the Orontes (; grc-gre, Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπὶ Ὀρόντου, ''Antiókheia hē epì Oróntou'', Learned ; also Syrian Antioch) grc-koi, Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπὶ Ὀρόντου; or Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπ� ...

and in Palestine,According to Étienne Nodet and

Justin Taylor Justin Taylor is a fictional character from the American/Canadian Showtime television series '' Queer as Folk'', a drama about the lives of a group of gay men and women living in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The character was created by Ron Cowen a ...

then François Blanchetière, it was during this agitation that the term “Christian” appeared, coined by the Romans to designate similar protesting Messianic Jews to the

zealots The Zealots were a political movement in 1st-century Second Temple Judaism which sought to incite the people of Judea Province to rebel against the Roman Empire and expel it from the Holy Land by force of arms, most notably during the First Jew ...

; see Étienne Nodet and Justin Taylor, ''Essay on the origins of Christianity: an exploded sect'', ed. Cerf, 1998, ; François Blanchetière, ''Enquête sur les racines juives du mouvement chrétien (30-135)'', ed. Cerf, 2001, . particularly in

.. Caligula enjoins the new

proconsul A proconsul was an official of ancient Rome who acted on behalf of a consul. A proconsul was typically a former consul. The term is also used in recent history for officials with delegated authority. In the Roman Republic, military command, or ' ...

of Syria, Publius Petronius, to place the statue willingly or by force in the "

Holy of Holies The Holy of Holies (Hebrew: ''Qōḏeš haqQŏḏāšīm'' or ''Kodesh HaKodashim''; also הַדְּבִיר ''haDəḇīr'', 'the Sanctuary') is a term in the Hebrew Bible that refers to the inner sanctuary of the Tabernacle, where God's pres ...

" of the Temple of Jerusalem,. violating Judaic

aniconism Aniconism is the absence of artistic representations (''icons'') of the natural and supernatural worlds, or it is the absence of representations of certain figures in religions. It is a feature of various cultures, particularly of cultures whic ...

in the holiest place of this religion. Petronius disposes necessary armed troops—two Roman legions and auxiliaries—which he barracks at Ptolemais, in Phoenicia, in the event of an uprising and his mission is to accompany the procession of the statue—being made in

— through Judea, as far as

.Monika Bernett, « Roman Imperial Cult in the Galilee », in Jürgen Zangenberg, Harold W. Attridge et Dale B. Martin (dirs.), ''Religion, Ethnicity, and Identity in Ancient Galilee : A Region in Transition'', éd. Mohr Siebeck, 2007, . The population rushed in numbers to Ptolemais, supported by the Jewish religious authorities, then to

where the troubles continued for about forty days.. Petronius goes there and meets the notables as well as Aristobulus brother of Agrippa - in the absence of the latter who is in Rome - in the presence and under the pressure of the crowd. Convinced of the imminence of a major revolt, Petronius tempered with the emperor by an exchange of letters exposing – at the risk of his life – the difficulties of the situation:. the inhabitants of Galilee were close to the general revolt, as well as the Jews of Judea, the peasants risking setting fire to the crops just before harvesting, while preparing for war. The emperor's first response was fairly moderate, but some sources report a “furious” response from Caligula to Petronius, not considering any compromise.

Agrippa's Intervention

During these events, Agrippa was in RomeAccording to

Cassius Dio Lucius Cassius Dio (), also known as Dio Cassius ( ), was a Roman historian and senator of maternal Greek origin. He published 80 volumes of the history on ancient Rome, beginning with the arrival of Aeneas in Italy. The volumes documented the ...

, Agrippa had a very bad reputation among the Romans. In the''Roman History'', summarized by the monk John Xiphilinus in the 9th century, it is written: "these miseries were less painful for the Romans than the expectation of an increase in cruelty and intemperance on the part of Caius (

), especially because it was learned that he was intimately connected with kings Agrippa and Antiochus, as teachers of tyranny", Cassius Dio, ''Roman History'', book LIX, 24. and it is possible that he learned of the affair from Caligula himself, which plunged him into a conflict between his two identities, Jewish and Roman. But, after a few days of reflection, he took the side and took the risk of helping his Jewish compatriots in the defense of the Temple threatened with desecration:. for Josephus, it was a discussion during a banquet; for Philo, it is a request addressed to the emperor, the content of which he reports, although in terms that reveal a certain exaggeration of the role of Agrippa.. Be that as it may, the approach does not lack courage for the adventurer he has been until then and Philo's text reflects the ideas that were to feature in the request,. whatever its form: Agrippa notes there with gratitude all the benefits he has been the object on the part of the emperor but explains that he would gladly exchange them for one thing only: "that the ancestral institutions are not disturbed. For what of my reputation among my countrymen and other men? Either I must be considered a traitor to myself or I must cease to be counted among your friends; there is no other choice…”. At first, Caligula seemed to give in to his friend's pleas and instructed Petronius to suspend his action towards Jerusalem, while warning the Jewish populations not to take any action against the shrines, statues and altars erected in his honor, as a reproduction of Caligula's letter by Flavius Josephus seems to attest. But the emperor seemed to reconsider his decision and it was the murder of Caligula that seemed to put a definitive end to the enterprise and put an end to the desire for a popular uprising. Flavius Josephus still recounts how the emperor, suspecting Petronius of having been bribed to break his orders, ordered him to commit suicide, but this letter arrived after the announcement of Caligula's death, in which Josephus saw an effect of Providence. This even temporary success of Agrippa testifies to the close relations which bind him with the most important personalities of the Roman world, which will be confirmed during the succession of the assassinated emperor.

Death of Caligula and installation of Claudius

On January 24, 41, Caligula was assassinated by a large-scale conspiracy, notably involving the praetorian commander Cassius Chaerea as well as several senators. The conspirators intend to return to a republic.. Yet it was Claudius, Caligula's uncle, who was pushed to imperial power by the anti-republicans under curious conditions at the center of which Agrippa gravitated. Claudius is certainly erudite, but nevertheless excessively shy, afflicted with a physical handicap and without particular ambition. The omnipresent support of his childhood friend,. as well as his maneuvers, seem to have been decisive in his seizure of power. If we are to believe Flavius Josephus and the Roman historian

, Agrippa indeed played a significant role in the choice of the new emperor. It was he who led a squad of the

Praetorian Guard The Praetorian Guard (Latin: ''cohortēs praetōriae'') was a unit of the Imperial Roman army that served as personal bodyguards and intelligence agents for the Roman emperors. During the Roman Republic, the Praetorian Guard were an escort fo ...

to the palace in search of Claudius, who had hidden there for fear of being assassinated. It was also at his instigation that the praetorians proclaimed Claudius emperor because without a sovereign, the guard lost its ''raison d'être''.. He then went to the Capitol where the senators met in conclave and acted as intermediaries between them and Claudius. He inspires Claudius with a response to the latter, "in conformity with the dignity of his power" and he persuades them to wisely abandon their idea of a republic, arguing that a new emperor is acclaimed by the praetorians - of whom he points out that 'they surround the meeting" — and they expect nothing but their enthusiastic support. The senators proclaim Claudius emperor, and Agrippa recommends that he be lenient vis-à-vis the conspirators, except for the regicides Cassius Chaerea and Lupus.

Enlarged Kingdom

If these stories are to be believed, this episode made the new Emperor obligated by his childhood friend and this devotion earned him a sizeable reward: Agrippa saw his possessions increased by most of the ancient kingdom of

Herod Archelaus Herod Archelaus (, ''Hērōidēs Archelaos''; 23 BC – ) was ethnarch of Samaria, Judea, and Idumea, including the cities Caesarea and Jaffa, for a period of nine years (). He was the son of Herod the Great and Malthace the Samar ...

—

and

— but also the city of Abila in

Anti-Lebanon The Anti-Lebanon Mountains ( ar, جبال لبنان الشرقية, Jibāl Lubnān ash-Sharqiyyah, Eastern Mountains of Lebanon; Lebanese Arabic: , , "Eastern Mountains") are a southwest–northeast-trending mountain range that forms most of ...

so that the sovereign now reigned over a territory as vast as that of his grandfather Herod the Great. According to Cassius Dio, Claudius also granted his friend

consular A consul is an official representative of the government of one state in the territory of another, normally acting to assist and protect the citizens of the consul's own country, as well as to facilitate trade and friendship between the people ...

rank and authorized him "to appear in the senate and express his gratitude in Greek". Finally, to mark the considerable status of the sovereign, a treaty was ratified with the Senate and the people of Rome on the Forum,. which took up the old treaties of friendship and Judeo-Roman alliance. Agrippa is declared there ''rex amicus et socius Populi Romani'' - as his grandfather had been in 40 BC. — and the text is preserved on bronze tablets in the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus.. These new charges decide Agrippa to consider that his place is henceforth on his territories and he embarks soon after for Judea. It was the same year that Berenice, daughter of Agrippa, united under the patronage of the emperor to Marcus, the son of the alabarch of Alexandria, Alexander Lysimachus whom Claudius had freed from the captivity to which the reduced Caligula. Claudius' accession to the throne also marked the restoration of several other kingdoms in Asia Minor. Herod, Agrippa's brother also received a royal title, was granted the principality of

Chalcis Chalcis ( ; Ancient Greek & Katharevousa: , ) or Chalkida, also spelled Halkida (Modern Greek: , ), is the chief town of the island of Euboea or Evia in Greece, situated on the Euripus Strait at its narrowest point. The name is preserved fro ...

, previously attached to the kingdom of

. and was honored in Rome with the title of praetor. He would marry his niece, Bérénice, after the premature death of her young husband.

Reign of Agrippa I

Judaism in the Empire

An edict by Claudius recalls the privileges granted to Alexandrian Jews who can live according to their laws and whom nothing can rule out from the observance of the

Torah The Torah (; hbo, ''Tōrā'', "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In that sense, Torah means the ...

,. soon followed by a second edict which extends the Alexandrian privileges to the Jews of the diaspora throughout the whole empire.. Agrippa and his brother Herod of Chalcis also play the role of intercessors in favor of the Jews with the emperor. Their skills are not only recognized but also extended to all the Jewish communities of the Empire by the will of Claudius himself. They also have the status of censors of Jewish morals: they ensure respect for the Torah by the communities of the

diaspora A diaspora ( ) is a population that is scattered across regions which are separate from its geographic place of origin. Historically, the word was used first in reference to the dispersion of Greeks in the Hellenic world, and later Jews after ...

. A few months after the murder of Caligula, inhabitants of the Phoenician city of Dôra (south of

Mount Carmel Mount Carmel ( he, הַר הַכַּרְמֶל, Har haKarmel; ar, جبل الكرمل, Jabal al-Karmil), also known in Arabic as Mount Mar Elias ( ar, link=no, جبل مار إلياس, Jabal Mār Ilyās, lit=Mount Saint Elias/ Elijah), is a ...

) introduced a statue of Claudius into the main

synagogue A synagogue, ', 'house of assembly', or ', "house of prayer"; Yiddish: ''shul'', Ladino: or ' (from synagogue); or ', "community". sometimes referred to as shul, and interchangeably used with the word temple, is a Jewish house of wor ...

of the city. For all those who stood up against Caligula's plan to erect his statue in the Temple of Herusalem, it is a real provocation. Agrippa intervenes immediately and asks for the application of the decree of Claudius.. He acts here as an ethnarch of the Jews, since Dora is not located on his territory. Petronius, the

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

immediately ordered the magistrates of Dora to remove the statue, referring to the edict of Claudius. However, this openness must be put into perspective, which is also reflected in the measures to limit worship against the Jews of Rome, as Dion Cassius reports (History, 60, 6, 6-7),. perhaps in reaction to the agitation resulting from the rapid development of the movement of the followers of

and which would be evoked by the Letter of Claudius to the Alexandrians. For François Blanchetière, the writing of Philo Legation to Caïus "constitutes an apology for

, to be read a contrario as a criticism of the Judeophobic policy of Claudius (Legation to Caius 155-158). »

Administration of the kingdom

Apart from the recognition he must feel towards him, Claudius probably also saw in the appointment of Agrippa, heir to the Herodians and the Hasmoneans but also attached to the Julio-Claudians by personal relations, a factor of stability which could rid the imperial administration of the management of a province with endemic troubles. Agrippa clearly inherited his grandfather's splendor and his desire for recognition beyond his borders.. Internally, he tried to satisfy both his Jewish and pagan subjects and was divided between his religious capital, Jerusalem, and his “little Rome”,

. He also undertook the major project of raising the ramparts of his historic capital and extending it to the new northern district thanks to funding from the Temple treasury, which gave some of his Jewish subjects hope for the restoration of an independent kingdom. or at least a rediscovered form of sovereignty.. He continued the policy of euergetism external to Judea of

by financing the construction of prestigious works (theatre, amphitheater and baths) in liberalities which mainly benefited the Roman colony of

Berytus ) or Laodicea in Canaan (2nd century to 64 BCE) , image = St. George's Cathedral, Beirut.jpg , image_size = , alt = , caption = Roman ruins of Berytus, in front of Saint George Greek Orthodox Cathedral in moder ...

, without forgetting however the cities of Phoenicia and Syria. He also offered shows and games, notably with gladiators, even if this contravened Jewish prescriptions, which he got accepted by using condemned criminals. On a religious level, as soon as he arrived, Agrippa forged the reputation of a very pious man whom he knew how to maintain, as attested by the

Mishnah The Mishnah or the Mishna (; he, מִשְׁנָה, "study by repetition", from the verb ''shanah'' , or "to study and review", also "secondary") is the first major written collection of the Jewish oral traditions which is known as the Oral Tor ...

, which recounts a finely orchestrated ceremony where the king was acclaimed and obtained the legitimacy of the priests in the Temple of Jerusalem while his grandfather Herod had never been admitted to the third court of the Temple. However, through his grandmother, Mariamne the Hasmonean, Agrippa belonged to a priestly family, which Herod did not. He is thus the first Herodo-Hasmonean to participate in a Temple office since the dismissal of the Hasmonean Antigonus II Mattathias, even if he does not sacrifice himself.. The Mishnah explained how the Jews of the

Second Temple The Second Temple (, , ), later known as Herod's Temple, was the reconstructed Temple in Jerusalem between and 70 CE. It replaced Solomon's Temple, which had been built at the same location in the United Kingdom of Israel before being inherited ...

era interpreted the requirement of that the king read the Torah to the people. At the conclusion of the first day of

Sukkot or ("Booths, Tabernacles") , observedby = Jews, Samaritans, a few Protestant denominations, Messianic Jews, Semitic Neopagans , type = Jewish, Samaritan , begins = 15th day of Tishrei , ends = 21st day of Tis ...

immediately after the conclusion of the seventh year in the cycle, they erected a wooden dais in the Temple court, upon which the king sat. The

attendant took a Torah

scroll A scroll (from the Old French ''escroe'' or ''escroue''), also known as a roll, is a roll of papyrus, parchment, or paper containing writing. Structure A scroll is usually partitioned into pages, which are sometimes separate sheets of papyrus ...

and handed it to the synagogue president, who handed it to the High Priest's deputy, who handed it to the High Priest, who handed it to the king. The king stood and received it, and then read sitting. King Agrippa stood and received it and read standing, and the sages praised him for doing so. When Agrippa reached the commandment of that “you may not put a foreigner over you” as king, his eyes ran with tears, but they said to him, “Don’t fear, Agrippa, you are our brother, you are our brother!” The king would read from up through the

shema ''Shema Yisrael'' (''Shema Israel'' or ''Sh'ma Yisrael''; he , שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל ''Šəmaʿ Yīsrāʾēl'', "Hear, O Israel") is a Jewish prayer (known as the Shema) that serves as a centerpiece of the morning and evening Jewis ...

(), and then the portion regarding tithes (), the portion of the king (), and the blessings and curses (). The king would recite the same blessings as the High Priest, except that the king would substitute a blessing for the

festivals A festival is an event ordinarily celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, mela, or eid. A festival ...

instead of one for the forgiveness of sin.
Mishnah Sotah 7:8
Agrippa used his prerogative to appoint the high priests of the Temple three times during his short reign, choosing alternately from the priestly dynasties of the

Anan Anan or ANAN may refer to: People * Anan (name) Places * Anan, Haute-Garonne, a commune in the Haute-Garonne ''département'', France * Anan, Nagano, a town in Nagano, Japan * Anan, Tokushima, a city in Tokushima, Japan Other uses * ''Anan'' ( ...

and the Boethos. His short administration was thus placed under the domination of Rome, of which he was an instrument of control, and the marks of honor given as sovereign by the Jews to the Temple testify to the "generalized clientelism in which personal friendships administrative relations throughout the Empire.. Agrippa's reign, however, did not last long enough to determine its political direction in any meaningful way.

Regional ambitions and unexpected death

Vibius Marsus, the governor of Syria who succeeded Petronius, was much less favorable to him.. He sent a series of letters to Claudius to express his fears of Agrippa's rising power, reflecting the jealousy of the prince's Roman compatriots in the region. For his part, Agrippa repeatedly asked the emperor to dismiss the legate.. The legate of Syria interrupts, on the orders of Claudius alerted, the fortification of Jerusalem and tempers the regional diplomatic ambitions of the latter. Indeed, Agrippa invites to Tiberias the kings Herod of Chalcis — his brother —, the king of Emesa Sampsigeramos — father-in-law of his brother Aristobulus — as well as three princes who had been his companions in Rome, Antiochos of Commagene, Cotys of Lesser Armenia and Polemon, king of Pontus. Marsus argues the possibility of a conspiracy. Although it is unlikely that Agrippa considered breaking with his close Roman protectors and familiars, the kings were enjoined to return to their respective kingdoms without delay.. Agrippa died unexpectedly in the year 44, after only three years of reign over Judea, during the Games of Caesarea in honor of the emperor. Patronizing the games, he appears there in a dazzling silver finery in front of the crowd who acclaim him and compare him to a god, a blasphemous remark for a Jew against which the king does not protest. Some of his contemporaries read as a divine punishment for this blasphemy the cause of his death which occurs shortly after: two days later, he is seized with violent abdominal pains and dies after five days of agony, at the age of fifty-three years. The precise causes of his death are unknown but from that time on, rumors of poisoning circulated. According to the

which appears in the

New Testament The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Chris ...

, it would be an angel, come at the time of the declarations of the people who therefore compared him to a God, who would have struck him, then had him devoured by worms (Acts 12:20-23).From Josephus, Antiquities 19.8.2 343-361: "Now when Agrippa had reigned three years over all Judea he came to the city Caesarea, which was formerly called Strato's Tower; and there he exhibited spectacles in honor of Caesar, for whose well-being he'd been informed that a certain festival was being celebrated. At this festival a great number were gathered together of the principal persons of dignity of his province. On the second day of the spectacles he put on a garment made wholly of silver, of a truly wonderful texture, and came into the theater early in the morning. There the silver of his garment, being illuminated by the fresh reflection of the sun's rays, shone out in a wonderful manner, and was so resplendent as to spread awe over those that looked intently upon him. Presently his flatterers cried out, one from one place, and another from another, (though not for his good) that he was a god; and they added, "Be thou merciful to us; for although we have hitherto reverenced thee only as a man, yet shall we henceforth own thee as superior to mortal nature." Upon this the king neither rebuked them nor rejected their impious flattery. But he shortly afterward looked up and saw an owl sitting on a certain rope over his head, and immediately understood that this bird was the messenger of ill tidings, just as it had once been the messenger of good tidings to him; and fell into the deepest sorrow. A severe pain arose in his belly, striking with a most violent intensity. He therefore looked upon his friends, and said, "I, whom you call a god, am commanded presently to depart this life; while Providence thus reproves the lying words you just now said to me; and I, who was by you called immortal, am immediately to be hurried away by death. But I am bound to accept what Providence allots, as it pleases God; for we have by no means lived ill, but in a splendid and happy manner." When he had said this, his pain became violent. Accordingly he was carried into the palace, and the rumor went abroad everywhere that he would certainly die soon. The multitude sat in sackcloth, men, women and children, after the law of their country, and besought God for the king's recovery. All places were also full of mourning and lamentation. Now the king rested in a high chamber, and as he saw them below lying prostrate on the ground he could not keep himself from weeping. And when he had been quite worn out by the pain in his belly for five days, he departed this life, being in the fifty-fourth year of his age and in the seventh year of his reign. He ruled four years under Caius Caesar, three of them were over Philip's tetrarchy only, and on the fourth that of Herod was added to it; and he reigned, besides those, three years under Claudius Caesar, during which time he had Judea added to his lands, as well as Samaria and Cesarea. The revenues that he received out of them were very great, no less than twelve millions of drachmae. But he borrowed great sums from others, for he was so very liberal that his expenses exceeded his incomes, and his generosity was boundless." Several researchers believe that the poisoning by the Romans worried about his excessive political ambitions is likely, even that it is a personal initiative of Marsus to attenuate the hostility of the neighboring Syrian populations. The reign of Aggripa I thus did not last long enough to be able to significantly outline its political orientation. Nevertheless, the hopes of regained sovereignty aroused among the Jews of Palestine by his accession did not disappear with his death and were probably part of the causes that led to the Jewish revolt which broke out some twenty years later in the ancient kingdom..

Succession

The death of Agrippa is the pretext for the pagan populations of the kingdom to celebrations and rejoicings, in particular in Caesarea and Sebaste, which the sovereign had nevertheless largely favored. The hostility of the Syrian populations is also evident and the statues of the three king's daughters adorning the palace of Caesarea are outraged by Syrian auxiliaries. Rather than entrusting the late king's kingdom to his son

Agrippa II Herod Agrippa II (; AD 27/28 – or 100), officially named Marcus Julius Agrippa and sometimes shortened to Agrippa, was the last ruler from the Herodian dynasty, reigning over territories outside of Judea as a Roman client. Agrippa II fle ...

— an inexperienced young man who grew up at the imperial court, protected by the emperor — Claudius made it a

Roman province The Roman provinces (Latin: ''provincia'', pl. ''provinciae'') were the administrative regions of Ancient Rome outside Roman Italy that were controlled by the Romans under the Roman Republic and later the Roman Empire. Each province was rule ...

but procuratorian which henceforth came under the jurisdiction of the governor of

, but aware of Marsus' unpopularity with the Jews, the emperor reinstated a Roman official, Cuspius Fadus, to rule the ancient kingdom of Agrippa Ier, with the title of procurator. But these choices, as well as the lack of reaction vis-à-vis the infamous conduct of the Syrian auxiliaries, generated renewed unrest in Caesarea and elsewhere. The appointment of the priests and the control of the Temple of Jerusalem belong to Herod of Chalcis. It was also the latter who became the privileged intermediary between the Jews and the Romans until his own death in 48.. For the Jews, this disappearance marked the end of hopes for Jewish independence, even symbolic, and it was then that intransigent factious movements with messianic and anti-Roman connotations appeared.

Posterity

Half a century after Agrippa's sudden death, Flavius Josephus evokes the sovereign in these terms: “Agrippa's character was gentle and his benevolence was equal for all. He was full of humanity for people of foreign races and also showed them his liberality, but he was also helpful for his compatriots and showed them even more sympathy”.

gave Agrippa a positive legacy and related that he was known in his time as "Agrippa the Great". In the rabbinical sources, Agrippa is presented as a pious man and his reign is described in a very positive way.. Conversely, the

pagan Paganism (from classical Latin ''pāgānus'' "rural", "rustic", later "civilian") is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christians for people in the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism, or ethnic religions other than Judaism. I ...

inhabitants of Caesarea and Sebaste organized rejoicings at his death. A significant number of critics follow the Christian tradition to identify Agrippa with "Herod the king" who, in the

, persecutes the community of Jesus' disciples in Jerusalem, then who has

James the Great James the Great, also known as James, son of Zebedee, Saint James the Great, Saint James the Greater, Saint James the Elder, or Saint Jacob ( Aramaic ܝܥܩܘܒ ܒܪ ܙܒܕܝ, Arabic يعقوب, Hebrew בן זבדי , '' Yaʿăqōḇ'', Latin ...

killed "with the sword" while that the apostle Peter, later arrested, owes his salvation only to the help of “an angel” who comes by night to help him escape from his prison.. However, the Acts of the Apostles, also composed in the 80s and 90s from several sources, "have been the subject of devastating criticism for several decades, to the point of being denied by some, in whole or in part, any historical value.” due to the “editorial activity” of its three successive authors.. Thus, the entire Petrine document (hypothetical document) to which these episodes would have belonged seems to have been placed at the beginning of Acts by its first writer, following this account by the "Gesture of Paul" and it is the next writer - perhaps being the

Luke the Evangelist Luke the Evangelist (Latin: '' Lucas''; grc, Λουκᾶς, '' Loukâs''; he, לוקאס, ''Lūqās''; arc, /ܠܘܩܐ לוקא, ''Lūqā’; Ge'ez: ሉቃስ'') is one of the Four Evangelists—the four traditionally ascribed authors of t ...

— which would have been inserted between the two "Gestures" of Peter and Paul, the account of the death of Agrippa. which gives the impression that all that precedes is dated before 44 and all that follows is later, adding a coming of Paul to Jerusalem which does not appear anywhere in Paul's accounts in his

epistles An epistle (; el, ἐπιστολή, ''epistolē,'' "letter") is a writing directed or sent to a person or group of people, usually an elegant and formal didactic letter. The epistle genre of letter-writing was common in ancient Egypt as par ...

. It is therefore possible that "Herod the king" does not designate Agrippa I, but his son

. Indeed, in addition to these editorial elements, the chronological inconsistencies of the Acts have been well known for more than a century, in particular the speech of Gamaliel, delivered seven chapters before the account of the death of Agrippa to defend the apostles during a previous arrest, speaks of the death of Theudas intervened under the procurator Cuspius Fadus (44-46) and in the Gesture of Peter which constitutes the first part of the Acts, the murder of Jame the Great, then the arrest-escape of Peter are later of five chapters to this speech and precedes the account of the death of Agrippa (44). This account of the death of Agrippa, probably inserted by the second redactor of the Acts of the Apostles diverges from that of Flavius Josephus, but otherwise agrees with him on the divine origin of his mortal illness, occasioned by his impious refusal to reject the deification of which he is the object by the people, perhaps testifying to the use of a common Jewish source..

Progeny

From his union with Cypros, Agrippa has four children reaching adulthood, a son Agrippa, and three daughters, Berenice, Mariamne and Drusilla. Another son, Drusus, died in infancy Agrippa, born in 27/28,Rajak, Tessa (1996), "Iulius Agrippa (2) II, Marcus", in Hornblower, Simon, Oxford Classical Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press. was raised at the court of Rome under the protection of Claudius but was not chosen by the latter to succeed his father,. "which provoked renewed political agitation in the years that followed". It was not until 49 that the emperor granted him the tetrarchy of Chalcis together with the royal dignity. one year after the death of his uncle Herod. Like his father, he also received the administration of the Temple of Jerusalem and the power to designate the high priests previously held by Herod of Chalcis,. with the title of ''epimelete'' (administrator)113. In 53/54, he returned this territory in exchange for most of the ex-tetrarchy of Philip, to which were added the tetrarchies of Lysanias and Varus. Later (in 54-56 or 61),The precise dates of

's reign are the subject of debate, as he used several eras — two or three —on his coins and inscriptions. This question, which has been debated for several decades, is still unresolved.

places this beginning of his reign in 54 (see ). Jean-Pierre Lémonon places it in 53- 54 see and Christian-Georges Schwentzel chooses 55-56 (). he receives from

Nero Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ( ; born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus; 15 December AD 37 – 9 June AD 68), was the fifth Roman emperor and final emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, reigning from AD 54 un ...

territories in

on the western shore of Lake Tiberias, as well as in Perea and around Abila and Livias. He was a prince close to the Romans, on whose side he sided during the Great Jewish Revolt of the years 66-70, he subsequently obtained various territories which concerned the history of Syria more than that of Palestine. Its territories are attached to the Roman province of Syria in 92/94.. A large part of the critics believe that he died at this time, but other critics are based on the indication of Photios of Constantinople who in the ninth century placed this death in the third year of Trajan (100). He has no children or close heirs.. The unions of Agrippa's daughters are part of a matrimonial strategy consisting in allying with the most fortunate party possible which is not exempt from competition between the sisters.. The first of the daughters, Berenice . AD 28-after 81married

Marcus Julius Alexander Marcus Julius Alexander (16 - 44 CE), the son of Alexander the Alabarch and brother of Tiberius Julius Alexander, was a distinguished and wealthy Alexandrian Jewish merchant. He was betrothed to Berenice, daughter of Herodian King Agrippa I, but ...

, son of

Alexander the Alabarch Alexander the Alabarch (c. 10 BC – after 41 AD) was an Alexandrian Jewish aristocrat. His brother was the exegete and philosopher Philo of Alexandria. Ancestry and family Alexander's family lived in Alexandria, Egypt. Although nothing is known ...

, nephew of the philosopher

of Alexandria and brother of

, who was appointed procurator of Judea in 46 by Claudius... This first husband died shortly afterwards and Berenice was then united to her paternal uncle Herod, king of

,Ross S. Kraemer, « Typical and atypical jewish family dynamics : The lives of Berenice and Babatha », in David L. Balch et Carolyn A. Osiek, ''Early Christian Families in Context: An Interdisciplinary Dialogue'', éd. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2003, . with whom she had two sons, Berenician and Hyrcan

, ''

'', livre II, § XI, 6, (218s)..

, 'Antiquities of the Jews'' XX.5.2 After the death of Herod of Chalcis and the insistent rumors of

incest Incest ( ) is human sexual activity between family members or close relatives. This typically includes sexual activity between people in consanguinity (blood relations), and sometimes those related by affinity ( marriage or stepfamily), ado ...

with her brother Agrippa, she proposes to Marcus Antonius Polemo, client king of

Cilicia Cilicia (); el, Κιλικία, ''Kilikía''; Middle Persian: ''klkyʾy'' (''Klikiyā''); Parthian: ''kylkyʾ'' (''Kilikiyā''); tr, Kilikya). is a geographical region in southern Anatolia in Turkey, extending inland from the northeastern co ...

(south of

Cappadocia Cappadocia or Capadocia (; tr, Kapadokya), is a historical region in Central Anatolia, Turkey. It largely is in the provinces Nevşehir, Kayseri, Aksaray, Kırşehir, Sivas and Niğde. According to Herodotus, in the time of the Ionian Revo ...

), to marry her. Polemon accepts because Berenice has the status of queen and especially according to Flavius Josephus, because she is very rich. On both sides, it is only an alliance to increase their power. Polemon however made a major concession, he converted to Judaism and had himself circumcised. But very quickly, she abandons him to return with her brother, “out of levity, they say” specifies Flavius Josephus. She finally becomes the famous mistress of

Titus Titus Caesar Vespasianus ( ; 30 December 39 – 13 September 81 AD) was Roman emperor from 79 to 81. A member of the Flavian dynasty, Titus succeeded his father Vespasian upon his death. Before becoming emperor, Titus gained renown as a mili ...

who dismisses her before he reaches the imperial office. The second daughter, Mariamne . 34/35- married Julius Archelaus son of an officer of the court of Agrippa named Chelkias They had a daughter

Berenice (daughter of Mariamne) Berenice was the daughter of Mariamne, daughter of Herod Agrippa, and Gaius Julius Archelaus Antiochus Epiphanes, son of Chelcias (maybe ''Hilkiya'' in Hebrew, who was a friend and an officer at the court). She was born sometime after 50 CE. After ...

who lived with her mother in Alexandria, Egypt after her parents' divorce. Mariamne left her husband and married Demetrius of

, "the first of the Jews of Alexandria by birth and fortune who was then Alabarch” from the city.,and had a son from him named Agrippinus. The last, Drusilla, born around 38, was first promised to Gaius Epiphanes, son of Antiochus IV of Commagene, but the prince refused to be circumcised for the occasion. Drusilla is then united with

Gaius Julius Azizus Gaius, sometimes spelled ''Gajus'', Kaius, Cajus, Caius, was a common Latin praenomen; see Gaius (praenomen). People *Gaius (jurist) (), Roman jurist * Gaius Acilius *Gaius Antonius *Gaius Antonius Hybrida * Gaius Asinius Gallus *Gaius Asinius ...

, King of Emesa, another oriental prince, whom she leaves to marry the procurator of Judaea Antonius Felix, around 50. who, according to Flavius Josephus, would have taken her away from her husband.. The couple had a son called Agrippa (probably Marcus Antonius Agrippa) died in

Pompeii Pompeii (, ) was an ancient city located in what is now the ''comune'' of Pompei near Naples in the Campania region of Italy. Pompeii, along with Herculaneum and many villas in the surrounding area (e.g. at Boscoreale, Stabiae), was burie ...

Herculaneum Herculaneum (; Neapolitan and it, Ercolano) was an ancient town, located in the modern-day ''comune'' of Ercolano, Campania, Italy. Herculaneum was buried under volcanic ash and pumice in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79. Like the n ...

with his wife during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius en 79.

Family tree

Agrippa in other media

* Herod Agrippa is the protagonist of the Italian opera ''L’Agrippa tetrarca di Gerusalemme'' (1724) by

Giuseppe Maria Buini Giuseppe Maria Buini (ca. 1690 – 13 May 1739) was an Italian composer, organist, librettist and poet. He was a prolific composer of operas, primarily in the ''opera buffa'' genre, which were performed in Venice and his native Bologna. Unusually f ...

(mus.) and Claudio Nicola Stampa (libr.), first performed at the Teatro Ducale of

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city ...

, Italy, on August 28, 1724.G. Boccaccini, Portraits of Middle Judaism in Scholarship and Arts (Turin: Zamorani, 1992). * Herod Agrippa is a major figure in

Robert Graves Captain Robert von Ranke Graves (24 July 1895 – 7 December 1985) was a British poet, historical novelist and critic. His father was Alfred Perceval Graves, a celebrated Irish poet and figure in the Gaelic revival; they were both Celt ...

' novel '' Claudius the God'', as well as the BBC television adaptation '' I, Claudius'', wherein he was portrayed by James Faulkner as an adult and Michael Clements as a child. He is depicted as one of Claudius's closest lifelong friends. Herod acts as Claudius's last and most trustworthy friend and advisor, giving him the key advice to trust no one, not even him. This advice proves prophetic at the end of Herod's life, where he is depicted as coming to believe that he is a prophesied

Messiah In Abrahamic religions, a messiah or messias (; , ; , ; ) is a saviour or liberator of a group of people. The concepts of '' mashiach'', messianism, and of a Messianic Age originated in Judaism, and in the Hebrew Bible, in which a ''mashiach ...

and raising a rebellion against Rome, to Claudius's dismay. However, he is struck down by a possibly supernatural illness and sends a final letter to Claudius asking for forgiveness.

Notes and references

Explanatory notes

Citations

General sources

Ancient springs

* Flavius Josephus, ''

''
Livre II, XI
* Flavius Josephus, ''

'', livre XIX *

, ''Histoire romaine'', livres LIX et LX *

, '' Ad Flaccum'' *

, 12

Historians

* . * . * . * . * . * Nikkos Kokkinos, ''The Herodian Dynasty: Origins, Role in Society and Eclipse'', Sheffield Academic Press, Sheffield, coll. « Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha Supplement Series », 1998 . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . *

External links

*
Agrippa I
article in historical sourcebook by Mahlon H. Smith

, - , - {{Authority control People in Acts of the Apostles Herodian dynasty Herod Agrippa, Marcus Jewish royalty 11 BC births 44 deaths Roman client rulers 1st-century monarchs in the Middle East 1st-century Roman governors of Judaea 1st-century Herodian rulers Judean people Judea (Roman province) Deaths onstage 1st-century Jews