II

from Wikipedia Roman War of 66–73, he sent 2,000 men, archers and cavalry, to sup-port , showing that, Herod Agrippa II (born AD 27/28), officially although a Jew in religion, he was entirely devoted named Marcus Julius Agrippa and sometimes just to the Ro-mans. He accompanied on some called Agrippa, was the seventh and last king of cam-paigns, and was wounded at the siege of Ga- the family of , the He-rodians. He mala. After the capture of , he went with was the son of the first and better-known Herod his sister to , where he was invested Agrippa, the brother of Berenice, , and with the dignity of and reward-ed with ad- Drusilla (second wife of the Roman procurator An- ditional territory. tonius Felix). According to Photius, Agrippa died, childless, at Herod Agrippa II was educated at the court of the the age of seventy, in the third year of the reign emperor , and at the time of his father’s of , that is, 100, but statements of historian death was only seventeen years old. Claudius there- , in addition to the contempo-rary epigra- fore kept him at Rome, and sent Cuspius Fadus phy from his kingdom, cast this date into serious as procurator of the Roman province of Judaea. doubt. The modern scholarly con-sensus holds that While at Rome, he voiced his support for the Jews he died before 93/94. He was the last prince of the to Claudius, and against the and the house of the Herods. procurator of Iudaea Province, Ventidius Cumanus, who was lately thought to have been the cause of It was before him and his sister Berenice that, ac- some disturbances there. On the death of Herod cording to the , of Chalcis in 48, his small principality of Chalcis, pleaded his case at Maritima, possibly in was given to Herod Agrippa, with the right 59. of superintending the and ap- He had a great intimacy with the historian Jose- pointing its high priest. In 53, he was deprived phus, having supplied him with information for of that kingdom by Claudius, who made him gov- his history, . Josephus pre- ernor over the tetrarchies of Phil-ip and . served two of the letters he received from him. Herod Agrippa celebrated by marrying off his two sisters Mariamne and Dru-silla. Flavius Josephus, From International Standard Encyclopedia the Jewish historian, repeats the gossip that Herod Agrippa lived in an incestuous relationship with his Agrippa II, the son of Agrippa I and Cypros, daugh- sister, Bere-nice. ter of (Herod the Great’s brother’s son) and Salampsio (Herod the Great’s daugh-ter), was In 55, added the cities of and born in A.D. 27 (Josephus, Antiquities, xviii.5.4). Taricheae in , and Julias, with fourteen vil- Although Claudius wanted to make Agrippa II lages near it, in Peraea. Agrippa expended large king over his father’s territories, two freedmen per- sums in beautifying Jerusalem and other cities, es- suaded him that a youth of seven-teen years of pecially . His partiality for the latter ren- age would not be able to rule such a large ter- dered him unpopular amongst his own subjects, ritory with so many diverse elements among the and the capricious manner in which he appointed population. In A.D. 50, however, two years after and deposed the high priests made him disliked by the death of Agrippa II’s uncle and brother-in-law the Jews. Agrippa failed to pre-vent his subjects Herod king of Chalcis, Claudius made Agrippa II from rebelling, and urged in-stead that they tol- king of Chalcis (Ant. xx.5.2 ; BJ ii.12.1 ). In erate the behavior of the Ro-man procurator Ges- 53 Claudius granted Agrippa II the tetrarchy of sius Florus. But in 66 the Jews expelled him and Philip— (or Abila), Tra-chonitis, and Arca Berenice from the city. During the First Jewish- (the tetrarchy of Varus)—in exchange for the terri-

Grace Notes, a ministry of Austin Bible Church http://gracenotes.info/ Herod Agrippa II 2

tory of Chalcis (Ant. x.7.1 ; BJ ii.12.8 ). Shortly they received the news of Galba’s murder (Jan. 15, after Nero became emperor in A.D. 54, he gave 69) and Titus returned to Pal-estine while Agrippa Agrippa the Galilean cities of Tiberias and Tarichea continued to Rome. After Vespasian was elected and their surrounding land as well as the Perean emperor (July 1, 69) by the and Syrian cities of Julias (or Betharamphtha) and Abila and legions, Agrippa re-turned to to take the their surround-ing land (e.g., Julias had fourteen oath of allegiance to the new emperor (Tacitus Hist surrounding villages) (Ant. xx.8.4 ; BJ ii.13.2 ). ii.81). Agrippa sided with Titus, who was in charge In apprecia-tion for the imperial favor, Agrippa of the war in Palestine (Tacitus Hist v.1), and af- enlarged his capital city and re- ter the cap-ture of Jerusalem (Aug. 5, 70), Agrippa named it Neronias (Ant. xx.9.4 ). Agrippa II now was probably present at the victory celebrations in ruled ’s territory with the added Rome over the destruction of his people (BJ vii.1.2f toparchies of Galilee and the three detached ter- ). ritories of Abilene, two middle toparchies of , and Arca. Vespasian confirmed Agrippa in the possession of the kingdom he had previously governed and added Agrippa II’s private life was not exemplary. His sis- new territories that are not recorded. In A.D. 75 ter Bernice came to live with him after their uncle, he and his sister Bernice went to Rome where she who was also her second husband, Herod king of resumed being Titus’s mistress (as she had been Chalcis, died in A.D. 48. Because of the rumors of during the war of 66–70). This be-came a public , she resolved to marry Polemo of , but scandal (Tacitus Hist ii.2). The Roman populace shortly after this she returned to her relationship was against oriental queens because one of their with her brother. This incestu-ous relationship be- choicest sons, Mark Anto-ny, had been destroyed came the common chatter in Rome (Ant. xx.7.3 ; by the lust of the orien-tal queen . So Satires vi.156–160). Titus sent her away. When he became emperor Like his father Agrippa I, and his uncle Herod king in A.D. 79, Bernice returned again to Rome hop- of Chalcis, Agrippa II had control of the vestments ing to become the emperor’s wife. But once again of the high priest and had the right to appoint the Titus sent her away (Dio Cassius lvi.18), and she high priests (Ant. xv.11.4 [405–407]; xx.1.1–3 ; 5.2 returned to Palestine, fading out of the pale of his- ; 9.4 ). The Romans would consult him on religious tory. matters and this may be why Festus asked him to After this time, nothing is known of Agrippa ex- hear Paul at Caesa-rea in A.D. 59. Agrippa was cept that he corresponded with Josephus about accompanied by his sister Bernice (–26). , praised him for his accuracy, and In May of 66 the revolution in Palestine began subsequently purchased a copy (Vita lxv ; CAp i.9 ). (BJ ii.14.4 ). Although Agrippa failed to quell Some theorize that Agrippa II died in A.D. 93, but the revolt, he sided with the Romans all through it seems more likely to have been ca A.D. 100. Al- the war of 66–70. After Nero’s suicide on June though the (TB Sukkah 27a) implies that 9, 68, Vespasian sent his son Titus, with Agrippa Agrippa had two wives, Josephus gives no indica- ac-companying him, to pay respects to the new em- tion of his being married or hav-ing any children. peror Galba. Before they reached Rome, however, His death marked the end of the Herodian family.

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