Herod

Herod, the name of a family which rose to power in Judæa during the period which immediately preceded the complete destruction of the Jewish nationality. The family was of Idumean descent; but, though alien in blood, was Jewish in religion, the Idumeans having been conquered and converted to Judaism by John Hyrcanus, 130 B.C. (1) HEROD THE GREAT was the second son of Antipater, who was appointed procurator of Judæa by Julius Cæsar, 47 B.C. At the time of his father's elevation Herod, though only fifteen years of age, was made governor of Galilee, and afterwards of Cœle-Syria; and ultimately he and his elder brother were made joint-tetrarchs of Judæa. But he was soon displaced by Antigonus, the representative of the Hasmonean dynasty, and forced to flee to Rome, where he obtained, through the patronage of Antony, a full recognition of his claims, and became tetrarch of Judæa, 40 B.C. Several years elapsed, however, before he succeeded in establishing himself in Jerusalem. On the fall of Antony he managed to secure a continuance of favour from Augustus, from whom he not only obtained the title of king of Judæa, but also a considerable accession of territory, 31 B.C. From this time till his death his reign was undisturbed by foreign war; but it was stained with cruelties and atrocities of a character almost without parallel in history. Every member of the Hasmonean family, and even those of his own blood, fell in succession a sacrifice to his jealous fears; and in the later years of his life the lightest shade of suspicion sufficed as the ground for wholesale butcheries, which are related in detail by Josephus. The slaughter of the innocents at Bethlehem is quite in keeping with his character; as was also his ordering the death of his wife Mariamme and his two sons by her. The one eminent quality by which Herod was distinguished, his love of magnificence in architecture, was evinced by the grandeur of the public works executed under his direction. Samaria rebuilt and Cæsarea were monuments of his zeal in building. Herod married no fewer than ten wives, by whom he had fourteen children. He died of a painful disease at the age of seventy, the year of Christ's birth—i.e. in the year 4 before the Christian era, as fixed by Dionysius Exiguus (see CHRONOLOGY, Vol. III. p. 227)—after a reign of thirty-seven years.—(2) HEROD ANTIPAS, son of Herod the Great by his wife Malthace, a Samaritan, was originally designed by his father as his successor; but by the final arrangements of the will of Herod the Great, Antipas was named tetrarch of Galilee and Perea. He divorced his first wife, the daughter of Aretas, king of Arabia Petræa, in order to marry Herodias, the wife of his half-brother Philip—an incestuous connection, against which John the Baptist remonstrated, and was in consequence put to death. It was during a visit of Herod Antipas to Jerusalem for the purpose of celebrating the passover that Jesus was sent before him by Pilate for examination. At a later time he made a journey to Rome in the hope of obtaining the title of king; but he not only failed in this design, but, through the intrigues of Herod Agrippa, was banished to Lugdunum (Lyons), where he died in exile.—(3) HEROD AGRIPPA I., son of Aristobulus and Berenice, and grandson of Herod the Great, was educated at Rome. He lived there in a very extravagant style until his debts compelled him to take refuge in Idumea. From this period almost to the death of Tiberius he suffered a variety of misfortunes, but, having formed a friendship with Caligula, he received from him, on his accession to the throne, the tetrarchies of Abilene, Batanæa, Trachonitis, and Auranitis. After the banishment of Herod Antipas he received his tetrarchy also—viz. Galilee and Perea. Claudius added to his dominions Judæa and Samaria, and he was thus the ruler of a more extensive territory than even was Herod the Great. He died at Cæsarea of a painful and incurable malady, 'eaten of worms' (Acts, xii. 23), in the fifty-fifth year of his age, and the 44th of the Christian era.—(4) HEROD AGRIPPA II., son of Agrippa I., was at Rome when his father died, and only seventeen years of age. Claudius therefore resolved to detain him for some time, and in the meanwhile re-transformed the kingdom into a Roman province. In 53 A.D. he left Rome, and received from the emperor nearly the whole of his paternal possessions, which were subsequently enlarged by Nero. Like his ancestor Herod the Great, Agrippa was fond of building, and spent great sums in adorning Jerusalem and other cities; but he failed to secure the good-will of the Jews. He did all in his power to dissuade them from rebelling against the Romans. When Jerusalem was taken he went with his sister to live at Rome, where he was made prætor, and where he died in the seventieth year of his age. It was before him Paul made his memorable defence.