King Herod Antipas



Herod Antipas (before 20 B.C.E. – after 39 C.E.) was a first-century CE Jewish-Idumean ruler of Galilee and Perea, who bore the title of tetrarch ("ruler of a quarter"). He governed these territories for more than 40 years, but is best known from New Testament accounts describing his role in the events that led to the executions of John the Baptist and Jesus of Nazareth.

The son of Herod the Great, Antipas ruled as a client king of the Roman Empire over a much smaller area than his father had. He was responsible for building projects at Sepphoris and Betharamphtha and the construction of his capital, Tiberias, on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee. Antipas provoked controversy when he divorced his first wife, the daughter of King Aretas IV of Nabatea, in favor of Herodias, who had formerly been married to his brother, Herod II. John the Baptist's condemnation of this arrangement led Antipas to have him arrested and subsequently executed in dramatic fashion, as told in the Gospels. The Gospel of Luke relates that when Jesus was brought before Pontius Pilate for trial, Pilate handed him over to Antipas, in whose territory Jesus had been active. However, Antipas sent him back to Pilate.

Antipas' divorce added a personal grievance to an ongoing dispute with Aretas over territory on the border of Perea and Nabatea, leading to war that dealt Antipas a serious setback. In 39 C.E. he was accused by his nephew, Agrippa I, of conspiracy against the new Roman emperor, Caligula, who sent him into exile in Gaul. Accompanied there by Herodias, he died at an unknown later date.

