HEROD AGRIPPA II, Marcus Julius Herod Agrippa I, original name Marcus Julius Agrippa, (born c. 10 BCE—died 44 CE), king of Judaea (41–44 CE), a clever diplomat who through his friendship with the Roman imperial family obtained the kingdom of his grandfather, Herod I the Great. He displayed great acumen (insight) in conciliating the Romans and Jews. After Agrippa’s father, Aristobulus IV, was executed by his own father, the suspicious Herod, Agrippa was sent to Rome for education and safety. There he grew up in company with the emperor Tiberius’s son Drusus. After his mother’s death he quickly spent his family’s wealth and acquired serious debts. When Drusus died in 23 CE, Agrippa left Rome, settling near Beersheba, in Palestine. An appeal to his uncle Antipas, tetrarch of Galilee, won him a minor official post, but he soon vacated it.
Herod Agrippa II
king in parts of Judea
Born 27/28 AD
Died c. 92 or 100
Names
Marcus Julius Agrippa
Dynasty
Herodian dynasty
Father Herod Agrippa I
Mother Cypros
Herod Agrippa II (Hebrew: AD 27/28 – c.?92 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 fled Jerusalem in 66, fearing the Jewish uprising and supported the Roman side in the First Jewish–Roman War.
Contents
• 1Early life
• 2Rise in power
• 3During Jewish-Roman War
o 3.1Relations with Josephus
• 4Death
• 5 History: Fact or Fiction?
Early life
Herod Agrippa II was the son of the first and better-known Herod Agrippa and the brother of Berenice, Mariamne, and Drusilla (second wife of the Roman procurator Antonius Felix). He was educated at the court of the emperor Claudius, and at the time of his father's death, he was only seventeen years old. Claudius kept him in Rome and sent Cuspius Fadus as procurator of the Roman province of Judaea. While at Rome, he voiced his support for the Jews to Claudius, against the Samaritans and the procurator of Iudaea Province, Ventidius Cumanus, who was lately thought to have been the cause of some disturbances there.
Rise in power
On the death of king Herod of Chalcis in 48, his small Syrian kingdom of Chalcis was given to Agrippa, with the right of superintending the Temple in Jerusalem and appointing its high priest, but only as a tetrarch.
In 53, Agrippa was forced to give up the tetrarchy of Chalcis. However, in exchange, Claudius made him ruler with the title of king over the territories previously governed by Philip, namely, Batanes, Trachonitis, and Gaulonitis, and the kingdom of Lysanias in Abila. The tetrarchy of Chalcis was subsequently, in 57, given to his cousin, Aristobulus (Acts 25:13; 26:2,7). Herod Agrippa celebrated by marrying off his two sisters, Mariamne and Drusilla. Flavius Josephus, the Jewish historian, repeats the gossip that Agrippa lived in an incestuous relationship with his sister, Berenice.
In 55, Emperor Nero added to Agrippa's realm the cities of Tiberias and Taricheae in Galilee, and Livias (Iulias), with fourteen villages near it, in Peraea.
It was before Agrippa and his sister Berenice that, according to the New Testament, Paul the Apostle pleaded his case at Caesarea Maritima, probably in 59 or 60 (Acts 26).
Agrippa spent large sums beautifying Jerusalem and other cities, especially Berytus (ancient Beirut), a Hellenised city in Phoenicia. His partiality for the latter rendered him unpopular amongst his subjects, and the changeable manner in which he appointed and deposed the high priests made him disliked by his coreligionists.
During Jewish-Roman War
In the seventeenth year of Agrippa's reign (corresponding with the 12th year of Nero's reign, or 65/66 AD), Agrippa tried desperately to avert a war with Rome when he saw his fellow citizens generally disposed to fight against Rome because of specific insults and abuses they had received under the Roman procurator, Gessius Florus. At this time, they had broken off the monasteries leading from Antonia Fortress to the Temple Mount, where Roman soldiers went to keep guard during the Jewish holidays, and they refused to pay the tribute due to Caesar. Agrippa convened the people and urged instead that they tolerate the temporary injustices done to them and submit themselves to Roman *hegemony. At length, Agrippa failed to prevent his subjects from rebelling. During a specific holiday, when the Roman governor of Syria, Cestius Gallus, had passed through Judea to quell the rebellion, he was routed by Jewish forces. By 66, the citizenry of Jerusalem expelled their king, Agrippa, and his sister, Berenice, from Jerusalem. During the First Jewish–Roman War of 66–73, he sent 2,000 men, archers, and cavalry, to support Vespasian, showing that, although a Jew, he was entirely devoted to the Roman Empire. He accompanied Titus on some campaigns and was wounded at the siege of Gamla. After the capture of Jerusalem, he went with his sister Berenice to Rome, where he was invested with the dignity of *praetor and rewarded with additional territory.
*Definition of hegemony
1: preponderant influence or authority over others: DOMINATION battled for hegemony in AsiaPraetor (/'pri?t?r/ PREE-t?r,
2: social, or economic influence exerted by a dominant group
*Definition of praetor
Praetor’ also pretor, was the title granted by the government of ancient Rome to a man acting in one of two official capacities: the commender of an army, and as an elected magastrate.
Relations with Josephus
Agrippa had a great intimacy (familiarity) with the historian Josephus, having supplied him with information for his history, Antiquities of the Jews. Josephus preserved two of the letters he received from him.
Death
According to the Photius I of Constantinople, Agrippa died, childless, at the age of seventy, in the third year of the reign of Trajan, that is, 100, but statements of historian Josephus, in addition to the contemporary *epigraphy from his kingdom, cast this date into serious doubt. The modern scholarly consensus holds that he died before 93/94. He was the last prince from the House of Herod.
*epigraphy – The study and interpretations of ancient inscriptions.
History: Fact or Fiction?
In 36, having raised a sizable loan in Alexandria, Agrippa returned to Rome, where the emperor Tiberius received him but refused to allow him to stay at the court until his debt was paid. A new loan covered the obligation, and he secured a post as tutor to Tiberius’s grandson. Agrippa also became a friend of Caligula, Tiberius’s heir. An intemperate remark about Tiberius, overheard by a servant, landed Agrippa in prison, but Caligula remained his friend. Within a year Tiberius was dead, and Agrippa’s fortunes were reversed.
In 37 Caligula made him king of the former realm of his uncle Philip the Tetrarch and of an adjoining region. Antipas attempted to stop his rise by denouncing him to Caligula; Agrippa made counteraccusations. The confrontation before Caligula ended with Antipas’s banishment, and Agrippa acquired his territory as well. About 41 CE Agrippa, on the advice of the governor of Syria, dissuaded Caligula from introducing emperor worship at Jerusalem. Later Caligula decided to restore Agrippa to his grandfather’s throne but was assassinated in 41 before he could effect that plan. In the delicate question of the imperial succession, Agrippa supported Claudius, who emerged successful and added Judaea and Samaria to Agrippa’s kingdom. In Judaea, Agrippa zealously pursued orthodox Jewish policies, earning the friendship of the Jews and vigorously repressing the Jewish Christians. According to the New Testament of the Bible (Acts of the Apostles, where he is called Herod), he imprisoned Peter the Apostle and executed James, son of Zebedee. Nonetheless, mindful of maintaining Roman friendship, he contributed public buildings to Beirut in Lebanon, struck coins in emulation of Rome, and in the spring of 44 was host at a spectacular series of games at Caesarea to honour Claudius. There he died, prematurely terminating the compromise he had striven to achieve between Roman authority and Jewish autonomy. Because his son was only 17 years old, Judaea once more returned to provincial status.
