6. Personal Characteristics

Herod was possessed of a powerful physique, uncommon strength of intellect and will, keen powers of observation, quickness in seizing the points of a situation, presence of mind, cleverness in choosing his means for his purposes,

Character- undaunted courage, and unfailing enistics. ergy-a union of qualities which fitted him for action in a manner seldom attained. With Josephus one must also credit him with good nature and magnanimity, and conse quently must not attribute all his actions to selfishness and ambition. This is evident even in his interest in Greek culture and his efforts to further its progress in Palestine. On the other hand, he was entirely lacking in a sense of duty from the standpoint of ethics. Thus no regard for the situation of the Jews and for their hopes deterred him from maintaining a friendship with the power most hostile to those hopes, and he was only a heartless, tyrannical, and suspicious savage. So all the accom plishments of his reign, his extension of his kingdom so as to equal that of David, his display of wealth and magnificence, his rebuilding of the temple, his beneficence to heathen which elevated the Jewish name outside Palestine=-all which seemed to realize Messianic prophecy-was after all only a caricature of it. (F. SnomT.)

II. His Family: Archelaus (4 B.C.-8 A.D.), the son of Herod by Malthace, was by the will of his father to receive the title and Judea, Samaria, i. Arche- and Idumea. But, inasmuch as that leas. Will was not valid until confirmed by

Augustus, he declined to assume the title of king, though hailed as such by the courtiers.

To the people he promised, from a throne erected in the temple enclosure, fair and equitable dealing.

The Jews at once made demand for a reduction of some taxes and abolition of others, release of prix.

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oners, deposition of the high priest Josar, and expulsion of the Gentiles. A further demand was punishment of those who had urged the death of the persons who had led in the destruction of the eagle over the gate of the temple. To some of these demands Archelaus could not make definite answer, and by temporizing exhausted the patience of the population, at the time augmented by the Passover pilgrims. Some of his guards were attacked, and a m6lde was precipitated in which some 3,000 people fell in the streets. He went to Rome with Nicolas of Damascus as his advocate, where he, Antipas, Philip, and deputations of Jews who asked for direct Roman rule as against the Herods pleaded their causes before Augustus. The emperor sustained the will, except in some small particulars and in withholding the title of king and substituting that of ethnarch until Archelaus should prove his fitness for it. While Archelaus was away the spirit of discontent spread throughout the land, and a succession of fanatics, brigands, would-be messiahs, and aspirants for the kingship involved nearly the whole country with the Romans, who plundered the temple treasury. Archelaus inherited from his father a love for beautiful buildings, and the wars had destroyed so much that he had ample scope for restoration. He rebuilt the palace at Jericho and built a new city which he called Archelais (12 m. n. of Jericho), after himself. His conduct was violent, arbitrary, and capricious, especially in his frequent removal of the high priests. He outraged public opinion seriously by marrying Glaphyra, the widow of his half-brother Alexander, to whom she had borne children, while at her marriage with Archelaus her first husband was still living. After nine years of the rule of Archelaus the Jews exposed the barbarousness and tyranny of his dealings to Augustus, who, in 6 A.D., banished him to Vienne in Gaul, sequestrated his property, and annexed his dominions to the province of Syria.

Herod Antipas (4 s.c.-39 A.D.), also a son of Herod by Malthace, was given Galilee and Peraea and the title of ethnarch by his

a. Herod father's will. He is improperly called Antipas. king in Mark vi. 14, possibly as a reflection of the popular terminology, and correctly ethnarch in Matt. xiv. 1, Luke iii. 19. He preserved the peace in his dominions, was toler ated by Augustus, and was a favorite with Tiberius. Inheriting with his brothers a fondness for display, especially in public buildings, he restored Sepporis, the capital of Galilee, and built Tiberias near the hot springs of Emmaus and erected there a palace. As part of the site was on a burial ground it was unclean for the Jews, wiyo refused to settle there. It was therefore largely settled by foreigners and Hellenized. He rebuilt Livias, afterward Julias, on the site of Beth-haram, and adorned Machaerus, east of the Dead Sea. Excessively cunning (cf. Luke xiii. 32), shrewd and astute, a pagan at heart, he was superstitious and sensitive. In 27 A.D. he went to Rome, saw there the beautiful and ambitious Herodias, his own niece and already the wife of his half-brother. Herod Philip, and although he had a wife living, he proposed marriage to her. By

divorcing his wife, the daughter of Aretas, and marrying Herodias he aroused the anger and caused the denunciation of John the Baptist and inflamed with anger Aretas, by whom some years afterward he was disastrously defeated (36 A.D.). When Jesus was brought before him for judgment, according to Luke xxiii. 7-15, he avoided pronouncing decision, probably having in mind his own mental suffering after his execution of the Baptist. On the advice of the ambitious Herodias, Antipas went to Rome to sue for the title of king. Agrippa anticipated his arrival there with charges of disloyalty to Caesar in that he had provided equipment for 70,000 men in Galilee. This was really intended for a war of revenge on Aretas; but Caligula would hear no explanation, banished him to Lyons, and gave his territory to Agrippa (39 A.D.).

Herod Philip (4 B.c.-34 A.D.), son of Herod by Cleopatra, received Batanea, Trachonitis, Auranitis,

Gaulanitis, Panics, and Iturea, a region 3. Herod large in area but poor in resources and Philip. inhabited by a mixed population of Greeks, Arabs, and Syrians, with Scythopolis as the capital. Philip was, however, the worthiest of the sons of Herod and the man for a difficult place. For his people he did the best pos sible economically and administratively. The result was an age of peace and prosperity during the thirty-seven years of his rule altogether new to his people. Like all the Herods, he was un-Jewish in his tastes, he employed images on his coins, and built shrines for Greek deities. He made his capital at Panics, where he built Cæsarea Philippi, enlarged Bethsaida and called it Julian after the daughter of Augustus. He was only once married, to Salome, daughter of Herodias. At his death his territories were included in the province of Syria, and in 37 given to Agrippa.

Herod Agrippa I. (37 A.D.-44 A.D.), son of Aristobulus by Bernice, Herod's niece and daughter of

Salome, and grandson of Herod the 4, Agrippa I. Great and Mariamne the Maccabee,

lived in Rome till 37 A.D., when Caligula came to the imperial throne. He had married Cypros, who bore to him Agrippa II., Drusus, Bernice, Mariamne, and Drusilla, had had a checkered careerf been dissipated, exhausted his means, borrowed recklessly, become an adventurer, but had the good fortune to become the friend of Caligula. The imprudently expressed wish thatTiberius might be succeeded by Caligula was reported to Tiberius, who thereupon threw him into prison. Six months later (37 A.D.) Caligula succeeded Tiberius, and to Agrippa were given the tetrarchies of Philip and Lysanias (cf. J. H. A. Ebrard, Gospel History, Edinburgh, 1869, pp.143-146). In 40 A.D. by his astuteness and influence he induced the mad Caligula, just then bent on setting his statue in the temple at Jerusalem, by force if necessary, to forego his design, and thus a collision between Jews and Romans was avoided. On the assassination of Caligula in 41 Agrippa was able to render timely and valuable aid to Claudius and was rewarded by the addition of Judea and Samaria to his dominions, when he became the ruler of a domain as large as his grandfather's. His reign lasted but three years

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longer, but was a happy one for his subjects. When at Jerusalem he observed scrupulously the ceremonial law and became beloved even by the Pharisees, though he patronized Greek culture and games outside the distinctively Jewish part of his realm. The persecution of Christians (Acts xii.1-3) was doubtless a part of his general policy of placating the Jews. At his death the Romans regarded his son Agrippa, then only seventeen years of age, as yet too young to be entrusted with the control of so difficult an aggregation of peoples as then inhabited the kingdom which had been his father's. Accordingly Palestine passed over wholly into Roman control until five years later, when it was given to Agrippa II.

5. Herod of Chalcis, Aristobulus, and Agrippa II.

Herod of Chalcis, own brother of Agrippa I., was made king of Chalcis by Claudius on the latter's accession because of his friendship for Agrippa. His son, Aristobulus, was made king of Chalcis in 52, of Armenia Minor in 55, and of Armenia Major in 61. His wife was Salome, daughter of Herodias. Agrippa II. (50-100 A.D.), son of Agrippa I., was appointed by Claudius king of Chalcis after his uncle Herod, and had control of the temple and the appointment of the high priest. He served the Jews by having Ananias the high priest and Ananus, the commander of Jerusalem, acquitted of a charge of rebellion brought by the Roman Cumanus. In 53 A.D. he gave up Chalcis and took the tetrarchy which had belonged to Philip, and later was given by Nero parts of Perma and Galilee. He was adroit and diplomatic, gained and kept favor with Jewish leader, in spite of arbitrary action as to the high-priesthood, yet in the Jewish war fought on the Roman side.

s. Herod Philip, Herodias, Salome, Bernice, Drusilla.

Herod Philip, son of Herod the Great by the second Mariamne (of Jerusalem), was left out of the succession owing to his mother's influence against him, lived a private life in Rome, was the husband of Herodias before Antipas married her, and father by her of Salome who pleased Antipas and asked the head of John the Baptist. This is his one claim to distinction. The women of the family who figured in history were Herodias (see above, II., § 2); her daughter Salome, who married, first, Herod Philip the tetrarch, and then Aristobulus, son of Herod Of Chalcis, to the latter of whom she bore three children, Herod, Agrippa, and Aristobulus; Bernice, oldest daughter of Agrippa I., who married the Herod who became king of Chalcis in 44 A.D., and later Polemon, king of Cilicia (she is the Bernice of Acts xxv.-xxvi., and was charged with illicit relations with her brother Agrippa I. and with Titus, the conqueror of Jerusalem); and Drusilla, young est daughter of Agrippa I. She married Azizus, king of Emesa, deserted her husband, and married the Gentile Felix the Procurator, and had a son by him. Agrippa (cf. Acts xxiv. 24). The other members of the family are mentioned in the genealogical table.

Geo. W. Gilmore.

Bibliography: The principal sources are Josephus, Ant., XIV.-XX.. War, i. 10-30:--and the fragments of Nioolae of Damascus, in C. Müller, Frapmenta historicorum Grcorum, iii. Herod and 81s Family 343-464, iv. 661-664, Paris, 1849-51. Of later works there is nothing to compare with Schürer Geschichte, i. 380-800, 707-725 Eng. transl., I., i.400-ii. 206, 325-344 (contains very full lists of literature, especially in the foot-notes, where sources and later discussions are named). In general the subject is treated in the works on the history of the Jews, particularly those by Ewald, Grits, Hitzig, and Renan. Consult further: T. Lewin, Fasti sacri, pp. 62-167, London 1865; J. Derenbourg, Easai sur l'hist. . de to Palestine, Paris, 1867; F. de Saulcy, Hist. d'Hirode, Paris, 1867; idem, Ettude chronologique de to vie et des monna%es des . Agrippa 1. et 1l., ib. 1869; A. Hauerath, Neutestamentliche Zeitgeshichte, vol. i., Heidelberg, 1868; Brann, Die t;ohne des Herodes, in Monataschrift für Gesch. . des Judenthums, xxi. 1873; idem, Agrippa II., ib. xix (1870), 433-444, 529-548, xx (1871), 13-28; C. T. Kema, Geschichte Jesu von Nazara, vol. i., Zurich, 1875, Eng. transl., London, 1876; F. W. Madden, Calm of the Jews, ib. 1881; J. Destinon Die Quellen des Josephua, vol. i., Kiel, 1882; J. Vickers, The Hist. of Herod, London, 1885 (a vindication); A. Reville, Herodee der Grosse, in Deutsche Revue, 1893; F. W. Farrar, The Herods, London 1897; DB, ii. 353-362; ED, ii. 2023-42; JE, vi. 356-360.