Herod’s Sons and Successors
After Herod’s death, there was a struggle among his sons over who was go-
ing to succeed him, and the rival delegations traveled to Rome to solicit the
princeps’ opinion. In the end, Augustus chose to honor Herod’s last will
and divide the kingdom among the three named sons. Archelaus received
Judea, Samaria, and Idumea, but only the title of ethnarch instead of king.
Herod Philip, who became a tetrarch, received Batanea, Trachonitis,
Auranitis, and other nearby territories. Finally, Galilee and Perea went to
Herod Antipas, who received the title of tetrarch (J.W.1.14-15, 20-38, 80-
100;Ant.17.219-49, 299-320). These three brothers ruled Herod’s territory
with varied success for the next thirty years.
Archelaus’s short reign was a disaster from the beginning. His cruelty
and oppressive measures enraged his subjects, and in 6c.e.Augustus ban-
ished him to Vienne in Gaul. Judea then became a province governed by a
procurator (J.W.1.39-79, 111-17;Ant.17.250-98, 339-55). His half-brother
Herod Philip, on the other hand, ruled in relative peace for approximately
thirty-eight years, and although little is known of his reign, it seems to
have been successful and benign. Jews were a minority in his kingdom, and
most of the inhabitants were of Syrian or Arab descent. During his reign,
he rebuilt the city of Paneas and renamed it Caesarea Philippi in honor of
himself and Augustus. He also expanded and embellished Bethsaida, re-
naming it Julias, in honor of Augustus’s daughter Julia (J.W.1.168;Ant.
18.28). When Philip died childless in 34c.e., the emperor Tiberius attached
his realm to the province of Syria (Ant.18.106-8).
Of the three successors to Herod the Great, Herod Antipas is the one
about whom we know the most. He reigned for more than forty years, longer
than either of his brothers, and throughout his reign he was a valuable ally
and client king to Rome. He rebuilt Sepphoris in Galilee and Betharamphtha
in Perea, renaming them Autocratoris and Livias, respectively (J.W.1.168;
Ant.18.27). His most expansive urban project, however, was the construction
of a new capital city, Tiberias, in honor of the emperor Tiberius. According
to coin evidence, this city was dedicated in the twenty-fourth year of
Antipas’s reign (19/20c.e.). Although pious Jews initially refused to live in
the city because of its construction atop a graveyard, eventually it became a
center of Jewish learning and study (J.W.1.168;Ant.18.36-38).
As with his father, Antipas’s personal life was less stable than his politi-
cal rule. After several years of marriage, he abandoned his first wife
Phasaelis, the eldest daughter of King Aretas IV, and married his niece,52chris seeman and adam kolman marshakEERDMANS -- Early Judaism (Collins and Harlow) final text
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