Antipas divorced his first wifePhasa'el, the daughter of KingAretas IV ofNabatea, in favour ofHerodias, who had formerly been married to his half-brotherHerod II. (Antipas was Herod the Great's son byMalthace, while Herod II was his son byMariamne II.)[9][10] According to the New TestamentGospels, it was John the Baptist's condemnation of this arrangement that led Antipas to have him arrested; John was subsequently put to death inMachaerus. Besides provoking his conflict with John the Baptist, the tetrarch's divorce added a personal grievance to previous disputes with Aretas over territory on the border of Perea and Nabatea. The result was a war that proved disastrous for Antipas; a Roman counter-offensive was ordered by Tiberius but abandoned upon that emperor's death in 37. In 39 Antipas was accused by his nephewAgrippa I of conspiracy against EmperorCaligula, who sent him into exile inGaul, according toJosephus. Accompanied there by Herodias, he died at an unknown date.[11]
TheGospel of Luke states that Jesus was first brought beforePontius Pilate for trial, since Pilate was the governor ofRoman Judea, which encompassed Jerusalem whereJesus was arrested. Pilate initially handed him over to Antipas, in whose territory Jesus had been most active, but Antipas sent him back toPilate's court.
Antipas was not Herod's first choice of heir. That honour fell toAristobulus andAlexander, Herod's sons by theHasmonean princessMariamne. It was only after they were executed (c. 7 BC), and Herod's oldest sonAntipater was convicted of trying to poison his father (5 BC), that Herod fell back on his youngest son Antipas, revising his will to make him heir.[15] During his final illness, Herod had yet another change of heart about the succession. According to the final version of his will, Antipas' elder brother Archelaus was to become king ofJudea,Idumea, andSamaria, while Antipas would ruleGalilee andPerea with the lesser title oftetrarch. Philip was to receiveIturea,Trachonitis,Batanea,Gaulanitis,Auranitis, andPaneas also with the title of tetrarch.[16]
Because of Judea's status as aRoman client kingdom, Herod's plans for the succession had to be ratified by EmperorAugustus. The three heirs therefore travelled to Rome to make their claims, Antipas arguing he ought to inherit the whole kingdom and the others maintaining that Herod's final will ought to be honoured. Despite qualified support for Antipas from Herodian family members in Rome—who favoured direct Roman rule of Judea but considered Antipas preferable to his brother—Augustus largely confirmed the division of territory set out by Herod in his final will. Archelaus gained the title ofethnarch rather than king.[17]
Domain given to Herod Antipas, as Tetrarch of Galilee and Perea, by Augustus on the death of HerodCoin of Herod Antipas
After the death of Herod the Great, Augustus confirmed the testament of the dead king by making Antipas tetrarch of Galilee and Perea, a region he ruled for 42 years.[18] The two territories were separated by the region of theDecapolis, with Galilee to the north and Perea to the south. Threats to stability in both areas would have been clear to Antipas when he took office. While he had been making his case to Augustus in Rome, dissidents had attacked the palace ofSepphoris in Galilee, seizing money as well as weapons which they used to terrorize the area.[19] In a counterattack ordered byQuinctilius Varus, Roman governor ofSyria, Sepphoris was destroyed by fire and its inhabitants sold as slaves.[20] Perea, meanwhile, bordered on theKingdom of Nabatea, which had long had uneasy relations with Romans and Jews.[21]
Part of Antipas' solution was to follow in his father's footsteps as a builder. He rebuilt and fortified Sepphoris, while also adding a wall toBetharamphtha in Perea.[22] The latter city was renamed Livias after Augustus' wifeLivia, and later Julias afterhis daughter.[23] However, the tetrarch's most noted construction was his capital on the western shore of theSea of Galilee,Tiberias, so named to honour his patronTiberius, who had succeeded Augustus as emperor in 14 AD.[24] Residents could bathe nearby at the warm springs ofEmmaus, and by the time of theFirst Jewish-Roman War the city's buildings included a stadium, a royal palace, and a sanctuary for prayer.[25] It gave its name to the sea and later became a centre ofrabbinic learning after theJewish-Roman wars.[26] However, pious Jews at first refused to live in it because it was built atop a graveyard and therefore a source ofritual impurity. Antipas had to colonize it with a mixture of foreigners,forced migrants, poor people, and freed slaves.[27]
At other times Antipas was more sensitive to Jewish tradition. His coins carried no images, which would have violated Jewish prescriptions againstidolatry.[28] WhenPontius Pilate, governor of Judea from 26 to 36, caused offence by placing votive shields in the Antonia palace atJerusalem, Antipas and his brothers successfully petitioned for their removal.[29]
Early in his reign, Antipas had marriedPhasa'el, the daughter of KingAretas IV of Nabatea. However, on a visit to Rome he stayed with his half-brotherHerod II and there he fell in love with his wife,Herodias, granddaughter of Herod the Great andMariamne I, and the two agreed to marry after Herod Antipas had divorced his wife.[30] Phasa'el learned of the plan and asked permission to travel to the frontier fortress ofMachaerus, whence Nabatean forces escorted her to her father. With his daughter safe in his custody, Aretas declared war on Herod.[31]Josephus states that Aretas was joined in this war by "fugitives from the tetrarchy of Phillip",[32] whereasMoses of Chorene states that Aretas was joined by theEdessan army.[33] It is said that the joint Petra-Edessan army prevailed over the forces of Herod Antipas.
It is generally agreed that the war, in which Herod was defeated, occurred in 36, a year before the death of Tiberius. A point of contention today is how long before Fis early 30s (as indicated by the Gospel of Luke).[34]
Antipas faced more immediate problems in his own tetrarchy afterJohn the Baptist (in 28/29 according to theGospel of Luke[35] or 27, if the co-regency of Augustus and Tiberius is included in Luke's reckoning of time, for which there is some evidence) began a ministry of preaching andbaptism by theJordan River, which marked the western edge of Antipas' territory of Perea. TheGospels state that John attacked the tetrarch's marriage as contrary to Jewish law (it was incestuous, as Herodias was also Antipas' niece, but also John criticized the fact that she was his brother's wife (Mark 6:18), lending credence to the belief that Antipas and Herodias married while Herod II was still alive), while Josephus says that John's public influence made Antipas fearful of rebellion.[36]
John was imprisoned inMachaerus andlater executed by beheading.[37] According toMatthew andMark, Herod was reluctant to order John's death. However, during his birthday banquet, he had been so pleased by the dancing of Herodias' daughter (unnamed in the text but named by Josephus asSalome), he had sworn an oath and promised to grant whatever she asked. Her mother then prompted her to ask for John's head on a platter. Compelled not to violate his oath to the girl or the guests, Antipas ordered John beheaded.[38]
Among those baptized by John wasJesus of Nazareth, who began his own ministry in Galilee, causing Antipas, according to Matthew and Mark, to fear that John had beenraised from the dead.[39]Luke states that a group ofPharisees warn Jesus to flee because Antipas was plotting his death, whereupon Jesus denounces the tetrarch as a "fox" and declares that he, Jesus, would not fall victim to such a plot to run from heading towards Jerusalem because "it cannot be that a prophet should perish away from Jerusalem".[40]
Luke also credits the tetrarch with a role in Jesus' trial. According to Luke, Pilate, on learning that Jesus was a Galilean and therefore under Herod's jurisdiction, sent him to Antipas, who was also in Jerusalem at the time. Initially, Antipas was pleased to see Jesus, hoping to see him perform amiracle, but when Jesus remained silent in the face of questioning, Antipas mocked him and sent him back to Pilate. Luke states that these events improved relations between Pilate and Herod despite their earlier enmity.[41]
The reason for Antipas' involvement has been debated.Theodor Mommsen argues that the normal legal procedure of the early Roman Empire was for defendants to be tried by the authorities of their home provinces.[42]A. N. Sherwin-White re-examined the relevant legal texts and concluded that trials were generally based on the location of the alleged crimes, but that there was a possibility of referral to a province of origin in special cases.[43] If Pilate was not required to send Jesus to Antipas, he may have been making a show of courtesy to the tetrarch[44] andtrying to avoid the need to deal with the Jewish authorities himself.[45] When Jesus was sent back, Pilate could still have represented Antipas' failure to convict as support for his own view (according to Luke) that Jesus was not guilty of a capital offence,[46] thus allowing him to avoid responsibility for Jesus' crucifixion.[47]
With the lack of historical evidence, it has been suggested that Jesus' trial by Antipas is unhistorical.[48] English historianRobin Lane Fox alleges that the story was invented based onPsalm 2, in which "the kings of the earth" are described as opposing the Lord's "anointed", and also served to show that the authorities failed to find grounds for convicting Jesus.[49]
Between 34 and 36[50][51] the conflict withAretas ofNabatea—caused by Antipas' divorce from Aretas' daughter and the rulers' disagreement over territory—developed into open war. Antipas' army suffered a devastating defeat after fugitives from the former tetrarchy ofPhilip sided with the Nabateans, and Antipas was forced to appeal to Tiberius for help. The emperor orderedLucius Vitellius, governor of Syria, to march against Aretas and ensure that he was captured or killed.[52] Vitellius obediently mobilized twolegions, sending them on a detour around Judea while he joined Antipas in attending a festival at Jerusalem. While staying there he learned of the death of Tiberius (16 March 37), concluded he lacked the authority to go to war, and recalled his troops.[53]
Josephus implies that Vitellius was unwilling to cooperate with the tetrarch because of a grudge he bore from an earlier incident. According to his account, Antipas provided hospitality at a conference on theEuphrates between Vitellius and KingArtabanus III of Parthia, and after Vitellius' diplomatic success anticipated the governor in sending a report to Tiberius.[54] However, other sources place the meeting between Vitellius and Artabanus under Tiberius' successorCaligula,[55] leading some historians to think that Josephus misdated it to the reign of Tiberius or conflated it with an earlier diplomatic meeting involving Antipas and Vitellius.[56]
Antipas' fall from power was due to Caligula and to his own nephewAgrippa, brother of Herodias. When Agrippa fell into debt during the reign of Tiberius despite his connections with the imperial family, Herodias persuaded Antipas to provide for him, but the two men quarrelled, and Agrippa departed. After Agrippa was heard expressing to his friend Caligula his eagerness for Tiberius to die and leave room for Caligula to succeed him, he was imprisoned. When Caligula became emperor in 37, he released his friend and granted him rule of Philip's former tetrarchy (slightly extended), with the title of king.[57]
Josephus relates that Herodias, jealous at Agrippa's success, persuaded Antipas to ask Caligula for the title of king for himself. However, Agrippa simultaneously presented the emperor with a list of charges against the tetrarch: allegedly, he had conspired against Tiberius withSejanus (executed in 31) and was plotting against Caligula with King Artabanus. As evidence, Agrippa noted that Antipas had a stockpile of weapons sufficient for 70,000 men. Hearing Antipas' admission to this last charge, Caligula decided to believe the allegations of conspiracy. In the summer of 39, Antipas' money and territory were turned over to Agrippa, while Antipas was exiled.[58] His place of exile is described by Josephus inAntiquities asLugdunum, a city inGaul,[59] and asHispania inThe Wars of the Jews.[60] There are two places in France that claim to be the place of exile:Lyon (Lugdunum) andSaint-Bertrand-de-Comminges (Lugdunum Convenae), on the Spanish border. Antipas died in exile.[61] The 3rd-century historianCassius Dio seems to imply that Caligula had him killed, but this is usually treated with skepticism by modern historians.[62]
Among the followers of Jesus and members of the early Christian movement mentioned in the New Testament areJoanna, the wife of one of Antipas' stewards, andManaen, a "foster-brother" or "companion" of Antipas (both translations are possible for the Greekσύντροφος). It has been conjectured that these were sources for early Christian knowledge of Antipas and his court.[63] In any case, Antipas featured prominently in the New Testament in connection with the deaths of John the Baptist and Jesus. ThepseudepigraphicalGospel of Peter further states that it was Antipas rather than Pilate who ordered the crucifixion of Jesus. In line with the work's anti-Judaic theme, it pointedly remarks that Herod and "the Jews", unlike Pilate, refused to "wash their hands" of responsibility for the death.[64]
InGustave Flaubert'sHérodias (1877), Herodias uses her long-concealed daughter, Salome, to manipulate Herod sexually for her own political purposes. This conceit (original to Flaubert) inspiredOscar Wilde's playSalome (1891), the first version of the legend to show Salome with a will of her own, opposing her mother and lusting after John the Baptist. Naive and puzzled by her stepfather's lascivious attentions, the young girl arouses Herod in order to avenge herself on the prophet who has refused her advances. Flaubert's novella was turned into an opera byJules Massenet (Hérodiade, 1881) in which Salome, ignorant of her royal parentage, becomes a disciple of John, who is then executed by the lustful and jealous Herod (a baritone). InRichard Strauss'soperatic setting of Wilde's play (1905), Herod (a tenor) is depicted as befuddled by both drink and lust, and in bitter conflict with his wife (as in Flaubert). At the end of the opera (as in Wilde's play), disgusted with Salome's behavior with the head of John, he orders her execution. InJourney to Bethlehem, he is portrayed as the semi-loyal son of Herod and struggles to follow his father's commands.
^Emil Schürer,A History of the Jewish People in the Time of Jesus Christ, 5 vols., trans. John Macpherson (reprint: Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2009); original publication in 1890.
^Luke 13:31–33. The "fox" had been interpreted as a symbol of either cunning or destruction (Schürer 342 and n. 5).Robert H. Gundry, noting that the Greek word is feminine, suggests that "Jesus is calling Herod avixen ... not an animal to be afraid of or to run away from" (Gundry 3).
^Dio59.8.2; Milwitzky 639. Schürer calls Dio's statement "confused" (353), while Bruce simply remarks that "in exile Antipas and Herodias together disappear from history" (21).
Schürer, Emil (1973).The History of the Jewish People in the Age of Jesus Christ: Volume I. revised and edited byGeza Vermes,Fergus Millar and Matthew Black (revised English ed.). Edinburgh: T&T Clark. pp. 340–353 (treat Antipas' reign).ISBN978-0-567-02242-4.
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