
Coins from the reign of Agrippa II.
'Agrippa II' (AD
27–
100), son of
Agrippa I, and like him originally named 'Marcus Julius Agrippa', was the seventh and last king of the family of
Herod the Great, thus last of the
Herodians. He was the brother of
Berenice and
Drusilla (second wife of the Roman procurator
Antonius Felix). He is sometimes also called 'Herod Agrippa II'.
Having grown up in the court of the emperor
Claudius, Agrippa inherited, on the death of his uncle
Herod of Chalcis, the oversight of the
Temple in
48; Claudius later invested him with the tetrarchy of Chalcis around 49/50. He celebrated by marrying off his two sisters
Mariamne and
Drusilla.
In
53, he was deprived of that kingdom by Claudius, who made him governor over the tetrarchy of
Philip and
Lysanias (
Acts 25:13; 26:2, 7). It was before him and his sister
Berenice that, according to the
New Testament,
Paul of Tarsus pleaded his cause at
Caesarea Maritima (Acts 26), in
59.
During the
First Jewish-Roman War of 66–73, Agrippa sent 2,000 men to support
Vespasian, by which it appears that, although a Jew in religion, he was yet entirely devoted to the
Romans. He also supplied
Josephus with information for his history, ''
Antiquities of the Jews''. He died at
Rome in the third year of
Trajan.
Roman procurators
Procurators appointed by Claudius to rule
Iudaea Province after the death of Agrippa I in 44 included:
★
Tiberius Julius Alexander, Roman general and leader from a Jewish
patrician family from Egypt, and a nephew of
Philo;
★
Antonius Felix, an ex-slave freed by Claudius (52–60);
★
Porcius Festus;
★
Lucceius Albinus (62–64);
★
Gessius Florus (64-66).
These procurators were "corrupt and cruel", helping to spark the
Jewish Revolt of 66.
References
★
★
★
Yohanan Aharoni &
Michael Avi-Yonah, "The MacMillan Bible Atlas", Revised Edition, p. 156 (1968 & 1977 by Carta Ltd.).
External links
★
Jewish Encyclopedia: Agrippa II
★
Agrippa IIarticle in historical sourcebook by Mahlon H. Smith