Herodias
Herodias was a princess of the Herodian dynasty of Judaea during the Roman Empire. Christian writings connect her with John the Baptist's execution.
Born: 15 B.C.
Died: 39 AD, Lyon, France
Spouse: Herod Antipas (m. ?–39 AD), Herod II
Children: Salome, Salomé II
Parents: Aristobulus IV, Berenice
Siblings: Herod Agrippa
Grandchild: Aristobulus IV
Herodias in the Bible is notorious for being the woman who desired John the Baptist's head on a platter. She was the unlawful wife of the tetrarch Herod Antipas and had formerly been Herod's brother, Philip. As the granddaughter of Herod the Great, Herodias was herself a niece to both of her husbands, Philip and Antipas.
Herodias is the feminine form of Herod, which functions somewhat as a title for members of the Herodian dynasty. Historians indicate that Herod Antipas and Herodias had an affair while her husband Philip visited Rome. Herodias then agreed to leave her husband to become Herod Antipas's wife. Whether it was motivated by lust or was simply a power play, the new marriage was not honorable, and John the Baptist publicly denounced their adultery (Matthew 14:4). Herodias held a grudge against John and wanted him to be executed (Mark 6:19). Herod put John in prison for Herodias's sake (Matthew 14:3) but did not put him to death in part because he was afraid of the people, who believed John was a prophet (Matthew 14:5). Herod also seemed to believe that John was a righteous man and, though "greatly puzzled" by the things John said, "liked to listen to him" (Mark 6:20).
"Finally the opportune time came" (Mark 6:21) for Herodias to exact her revenge on John. During Herod's birthday celebration, Herodias's daughter danced for the king and his guests, pleasing Herod so much that he promised the girl whatever she asked (Matthew 14:6–7). After consulting with her mother, the girl asked for John the Baptist's head on a platter (Matthew 14:8). The prophet's head was brought to the daughter of Herodias, who gave it to her mother (verse 11). Herod was sorry and distressed over being put in this quandary, but Herod had John beheaded in prison because of his vow and the guests (verse 10).
The Bible does not tell us much about Herodias, but her actions recorded in the Gospels show an immoral, bitter, and manipulative woman. John the Baptist was right to warn the tetrarch and his wife of their wicked ways, and Herodias had plenty of opportunities to repent. Rather than choose the life path, Herodias hardened her heart and plotted John's execution—as if silencing the truth-teller could remove her guilt. In this way, Herodias became like Jezebel, who stridently opposed Elijah, in whose power and spirit John had come (see Luke 1:17; 1 Kings 19:2).
HERODIAS
The Woman Responsible for the Murder of a Preacher
Scripture References—Matthew 14:3-12; Mark 6:14-24; Luke 3:19, 20
Name Meaning—As a member of the Herodian dynasty, perhaps the most despicable dynasty history has known, the name Herodias is but the female form of Herod, the royal name for the political rulers during the time of Christ, the apostles. It was under the vile and cruel orders of the Herods that Jesus and His followers were often persecuted and punished. Herod means "heroic"—not very applicable to the Herodian family, most of whom, particularly Herodias, were more hellish than heroic.
Family Connections—Herodias was the daughter of Aristobulus, son of Herod the Great, and Mariamne, daughter of Hyrcanus. Her first husband was Philip I, son of Herod the Great and Mariamne, so she married her uncle, by whom she had a daughter, Salome, whom her mother used to destroy John the Baptist. When Herod Antipas visited Rome, he was entertained by Philip and Herodias. Herod abducted his royal brother's wife. His wife, an Arabian princess, was an obstacle to an illicit marriage, so he divorced her, and Herodias became queen in her stead, with her daughter was installed in the palace. "The corroding immorality of Herod's race shows itself in his marriage with Herodias, his brother's wife, and the wanton offense is thereby given to Jewish sensibilities."
Among the female characters in God's portrait gallery, there are many wicked women as we are discovering. However, undoubtedly Herodias stands out among them as one of the vilest and most vicious. Amid the putrefying influence of the palace, however, there was one man who knew no fear, John the Baptist. Herod "feared" him and regarded him as "a just man" and whom "he heard gladly." Herod found music in the preacher's message until he sternly rebuked the king by saying of Herodias, "It is not lawful for thee to have her." However, such a warning bell was to toll the Baptist's doom. For his faithful rebuke of Herod's sin, John was cast into prison, and the evil, scheming mind of Herodias began to work. She was stung by the arrow from the preacher's quiver and hated him for exposing her shame. "For Herodias' sake," he was imprisoned, and thus the greatest of the prophets was sacrificed for this lewd and vicious woman. However, the hatred of such a vile creature was more desired than her affection (Matthew 10:23; Luke 6:26). Herodias, with her conscience in turmoil because of her accuser, planned to silence him. She did not want Herod to listen too closely and constantly to John's forceful preaching. She feared her illegal husband—for her first husband was still alive—might repent and imperil her position as queen.
Herodias knew Herod only too well. He quickly succumbed to sensual excitement, and as his birthday drew near, her foul design was hatched. Herodias used her daughter to inflame Herod's passions when drink freely flowed. She was willing to sacrifice her child's modesty to bend Herod to her will. Herod was overcome by Salome's form seen through the flimsy flowing garment she wore, and influenced by the act of the dancing girl, took a rash and foolish oath to give her whatever she asked, even to half of his kingdom. Approaching her mother, Salome said, "What shall I ask?" Without hesitation, Herodias, the female hyena, replied, "Ask for the head of John the Baptist." Returning to Herod, she presented her demand, and Herod was highly sorry at such a request. However, because of his oath's sake, he sacrificed the preacher whom he regarded as just and holy, and all because of his guilty love for a vile woman. No wonder he was smitten with fear when he heard of the fame of Jesus, thinking it was John the Baptist risen from the dead to torment his conscience further. Does one wonder how Salome felt when the gory dish of the preacher's head was handed to her?
Herodias' Old Testament counterpart was Jezebel. What Herodias was to Herod, Jezebel was to Ahab. Both Ahab and Herod were wicked, and in both cases, the woman was more wicked. Both Jezebel and Herodias fostered hate that became deadly against a prophet of God. Jezebel hated Elijah and sought to kill him—Herodias hated John the Baptist, the New Testament Elijah, and succeeded in his murder. What was the end of Herodias? Since she was the source of Herod's sin, Herodias also became the source of his shame. According to Josephus, Herodias' ambition was the ruin of Herod. Jealous of the power of Agrippa, her brother, she prodded Herod to demand of Caligula, the Emperor, the title of king. Agrippa saw that this demand was refused, and Herod was banished and ended his days in shame and exile. The pride of Herodias forced her to be faithful to her husband in the disgrace and misfortune she had caused.
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Herodias was one of the Bible's most famous villainesses. She was a Jewish princess and the ruler of Galilee.[1] She was the wife of the famous Herod Antipas, who played a big part in the execution of Jesus of Nazareth. Herodias is best known for promoting her daughter Salome to have John the Baptist's "head on a silver platter." [2]
Herodias was a Jewish princess. Her parents were Aristobulus, Herod the great, and Bernice, Herod the Great's sister, Salome.[3] Her siblings included Herod Agrippa, the future king of Judea,[4] and sister Mariamme.[5]
Herodias married her half-uncle, Herod "Without-Land."[6] Shortly after her marriage, she bore a daughter named Salome. It was not long before her husband's brother, Herod Antipas, the ruler of Galilee, fell in love with Herodias and desired to marry her.[7] However, both Herodias and Herod Antipas were married. Herod Antipas had married the daughter of the Nabataean King Aretas IV. However, this problem did not seem to become an obstacle to them. They divorced their spouses and married each other in 27 A.D. Historians assume that Herodias married Herod Antipas was ambitious reasons.[8] Her ex-husband was supposed to be the heir of Herod the Great, but he quickly fell out of favor. Herod Antipas was the ruler of Galilee and Perea. Whereas Herod "Without-Land" was lazy and had no political ambition or power.[9]
The marriage between Herod Antipas and Herodias caused outrage among the people, who saw it as a violation of the Jewish law because it was forbidden for a man to marry his brother's divorced wife.[10] John the Baptist was the opposition leader, and Antipas had him imprisoned.[11]
At this point, the Bible would immortalize her forever as the one who instigated the death of John the Baptist. According to the Bible, Herodias wanted John the Baptist dead because of his opposition. Herod admired John for his honesty and goodness and was reluctant to kill him. During Herod's birthday feast banquet, Salome danced for Herod and pleased him greatly. He told her, "Ask me anything, and I will give it to you." [12] He also swore, "I will give you anything you ask, even half the kingdom." [13] Salome went to her mother and asked her what she should ask for, and Herodias replied, "The head of John the Baptist." [14] When Salome told Herod that she wanted John the Baptist's head on a silver platter, Herod hated to kill him but did not want to break his oath. He had John executed, brought the head on the silver platter, and gave it to Salome, in which she gave it to her mother.[15]
While this famous story has come down to us for millenniums, the reality of this story is improbable.[16] Respectable women at the time did not dine with men.[17] Only women of infamous reputation would have danced at the banquet.[18] Salome, being a princess, would not have danced for Herod because it would have damaged her reputation in the marriage market. Salome also may not have been of age to dance for Herod.[19] Therefore, the legend of Salome is most likely a morality tale that is told to keep women virtuous.[20] Even if Herodias did have a hand in John the Baptist's death, the most likely person who arranged John the Baptist's death is Herod Antipas himself for political reasons.[21]
During her marriage to Herod Antipas, Herodias was deeply involved in politics and was a significant force during Herod Antipas's reign and rivalries, especially with her brother, Herod Agrippa.[22] When Emperor Caligula made Herod Agrippa king in 37 A.D., Herodias was humiliated at her brother's elevation.[23] In 39 B.C., she persuaded her husband to go to Rome to seek the same title himself.[24] However, when Herod Antipas arrived in Rome, the Emperor, believing in Herod Agrippa's slanders about Herod Antipas, banished him to Lugdunum (modern-day Lyons) in Gaul.[25] Herod Antipas also had to give all of his fortune to Herod Agrippa. Emperor Caligula permitted Herodias to stay in Galilee. However, Herodias chose to go with her husband to exile.[26] She died sometime after 40 A.D.[27]
Herodias was a woman of political ambition. As Herod Antipas's wife, she exercised power and control all her life, which caused criticism among ancient writers like Josephus, Mark, and Matthew.[28] Was she indeed the scheming villainess responsible for John the Baptist's death, or has she been made a scapegoat of history? No one knows, but there is no denying that Herodias was a powerful, influential woman in the early Roman empire.
HEROD & HERODIAS AFFAIR
Herod Antipas, Tissot (1836-1902)
Antipas was one of at least 14 children Herod the Great had by eight wives. When Herod died in c. 4 BC, Antipas was given the Galilee and ruled that region where Jesus of Nazareth lived His entire life. Herod Antipas is mentioned ten times in the New Testament. In all of those mentions, he is called simply "Herod." "Herod" is an honorific title, as is "King" or "Pharaoh."
In 26 AD, Antipas journeyed to Rome from Jerusalem to visit his half-brother Philip, Philip's wife Herodias, and their child Salome. Jerusalem in the 1st century A.D. had a population of about 80,000. That was large compared to the other cities in the region. However, Rome was The City of the ancient world with a population of c. 4,000,000, including suburbs. (Based on a 1941 excavation at Ostia, Italy).
All roads led to Rome, and when Antipas sailed across the Mediterranean and landed in Ostia, the port of Rome, he was aware his litter was carrying him to the only city that mattered. Antipas was familiar with Rome. He and all of Herod the Great's sons were educated in Rome in Caesar's palace. Antipas had lived there during his formative years from c. 8-16. His older brother Philip preferred to remain in Rome after his education, far away from his father and the intrigues of Herod the Great's household.
It is impossible to know how long it had been since Antipas and his half-brother Philip and his family had seen each other, but, indeed, Antipas was greeted warmly by the kind Philip. Antipas had known Philip's wife, Herodias, since childhood. She was the daughter of one of his older brothers Aristobulus, and they were only five years apart in age.
After Herod, the Great had killed Herodias' father, Aristobulus, and his brother Alexander, he espoused each of Aristobulus's orphans to a prominent family member, and Herodias was to marry Philip. Herod married at least ten wives and continued to have children for over 50 years.
Herod ordered the strangulation of two of his sons, Aristobulus and Alexander, in c. 7 BC
Philip and Herodias were married when Philip was 20 and Herodias was 8. They probably were married when Herodias was about 15, so when Antipas was in Rome with Herodias and Philip, Philip was in his early 50's, Antipas was 46, and Herodias was in her early 40's,
As can be deduced if one follows the Herodian line carefully (if one inclines to wade into the morass), Philip was his wife Herodias' uncle, and Antipas was her uncle. The reunion in Rome in 26 A.D. was a reunion of relatives: half-brother to half-brother, niece Herodias to uncle Antipas, and, in Salome's case, great-uncle Antipas had come to visit his brother, his niece, and his c. 12- year-old grand-niece.
During the summer months of July and August, the temperatures in Rome average c. 86 degrees. Rome was cramped, crowded, dirty, and hot in the first century A.D.
Crowded shops in Ancient Rome
Philip's domicile was heating up, too. There were fireworks between his niece/wife, Herodias, and Antipas. They fell in love, and it was decided that Antipas would divorce his wife Phaesalis and Herodias would divorce uncle Philip, and they would marry. We have no extra-Biblical or ancient textual knowledge of how Philip felt about this arrangement. He seems to have avoided conflict, but his brother Antipas and especially his wife Herodias were head-strong people. When Antipas and Herodias married, Herodias had to divorce her uncle/husband Philip to marry her uncle/brother-in-law Antipas. She moved back to Israel with her teenage daughter Salome, and the three settled into Antipas' palace in Tiberias near the Sea of Galilee.
