22 Facts About Herod Antipas

Herod Antipas bore the title of tetrarch and is referred to as both "Herod the Tetrarch" and "King Herod" in the New Testament.

Herod Antipas was a son of Herod the Great and a grandson of Antipater the Idumaean.

Herod Antipas is widely known today for accounts in the New Testament of his role in events that led to the executions of John the Baptist and Jesus of Nazareth.

Herod Antipas was responsible for building projects at Sepphoris and Betharamphtha, and for the construction of his capital Tiberias on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee.

In 39 Herod Antipas was accused by his nephew Agrippa I of conspiracy against Emperor Caligula, who sent him into exile in Gaul, according to Josephus.

Recent studies of the coins of Herod Antipas provide a more accurate dating of his years of reign than was previously possible.

Numismatists are in general agreement that this refers to the year that Herod Antipas became de facto ruler of Judean when his armies, and those of the Roman general Sossius, captured Jerusalem on the Day of Atonement, three years after he had been appointed king of Judea by the Roman Senate in either the Schurer system or the dates of more recent scholarship.

The conclusion is that Herod Antipas, in minting these coins, wished to emphasize that he had already been king three years when he captured Jerusalem, and that his regnal years must be reckoned accordingly.

The above discussion has shown that in order to calculate the year in which Herod Antipas considered as the start of his reign, the following data should be used.

Part of Herod Antipas' solution was to follow in his father's footsteps as a builder.

Herod Antipas rebuilt and fortified Sepphoris, while adding a wall to Betharamphtha in Perea.

Herod Antipas had to colonize it with a mixture of foreigners, forced migrants, poor people, and freed slaves.

At other times Herod Antipas was more sensitive to Jewish tradition.

Herod Antipas's coins carried no images, which would have violated Jewish prescriptions against idolatry.

Early in his reign, Herod Antipas had married Phasa'el, the daughter of King Aretas IV of Nabatea.

However, on a visit to Rome he stayed with his half-brother Herod II and there he fell in love with his wife, Herodias, granddaughter of Herod the Great and Mariamne I, and the two agreed to marry after Herod Antipas had divorced his wife.

Herod Antipas faced more immediate problems in his own tetrarchy after John the Baptist began a ministry of preaching and baptism by the Jordan River, which marked the western edge of Herod Antipas' territory of Perea.

Herod Antipas' army suffered a devastating defeat after fugitives from the former tetrarchy of Philip sided with the Nabateans, and Herod Antipas was forced to appeal to Tiberius for help.

Vitellius obediently mobilized two legions, sending them on a detour around Judea while he joined Herod Antipas in attending a festival at Jerusalem.

Josephus relates that Herodias, jealous at Agrippa's success, persuaded Antipas to ask Caligula for the title of king for himself.

Herod Antipas was played by Mitchell Lewis in Salome.

In Richard Strauss's operatic setting of Wilde's play, Herod Antipas is depicted as befuddled by both drink and lust, and in bitter conflict with his wife.