AGRIPPA, HEROD, I. (c. 10 B.C.-A.D. 44), king of Judea
?,
the son of Aristobulus and Berenice
?, and grandson of [Herod the Great]
?, was born about 10 B.C. His original name was Marcus
Julius Agrippa. Josephus informs us that, after the murder
of his father, Herod the Great sent him to
Rome to the court
of
Tiberius, who conceived a great affection for him, and
placed him near his son Drusus, whose favour he very soon
won. On the death of Drusus, Agrippa, who had been recklessly
extravagant, was obliged to leave Rome, overwhelmed with
debt. After a brief seclusion, Herod the Tetrarch, his uncle,
who had married Herodias, his sister, made him Agoranomos
(Overseer of Markets) of Tiberias, and presented him with
a large sum of money; but his uncle being unwilling to
continue his support, Agrippa left Judea for Antioch and soon
after returned to Rome, where he was welcomed by Tiberius
and became the constant campanion of
Caligula, then a popular favourite. Agrippa being one
day overheard by Eutyches, a slave whom he had made free,
to express a wish for Tiberius' death and the advancement of
Gaius, was betrayed to the emperor and cast into prison.
In A.D. 37 Caligula, having ascended the throne, heaped
wealth and favours upon Agrippa, set a royal diadem upon his
head and gave him the tetrarchy of Batanaea and Trachonitis,
which Philip, the son of Herod the Great, had formerly
possessed. To this he added that held by Lysanias; and Agrippa
returned very soon into Judea to take possession of his new
kingdom. In A.D. 39 he returned to Rome and brought
about the banishment of Herod Antipas, to whose tetrarchy he
succeeded. On the assassination of Caligula (A.D. 41)
Agrippa contributed much by his advice to maintain Claudius
in possession of the imperial dignity, while he made a show
of being in the interest of the senate. The emperor, in
acknowledgment, gave him the government of Judea, while the
kingdom of Chalcis in Lebanon was at his request given to
his brother Herod. Thus Agrippa became one of the greatest
princes of the east, the territory he possessed equalling in
extent that held by [Herod the Great]?. He returned to Judea
and governed it to the great satisfaction of the Jews. His
zeal, private and public, for Judaism is celebrated by
Josephus? and the rabbis; and the narrative of Acts 12 gives
a typical example of it. About the feast of the Passover
A.D. 44, James the elder, the son of Zebedee and brother
of John the evangelist, was seized by his order and put to
death. He proceeded also to lay hands on Peter and imprisoned
him. After the Passover he went to Caesarea, where he had
games performed in honour of Claudius, and the inhabitants of
Tyre and Sidon waited on him to sue for peace. According to
the story in Acts 12, Agrippa, gorgeously arrayed, received
them in the theatre, and addressed them from a throne, while
the audience cried out that his was the voice of a god. But
"the angel of the Lord smote him," and shortly afterwards
he died "eaten of worms." The story in Acts differs slightly
from that in Josephus, who describes how in the midst of
his elation he saw an owl perched over his head. During his
confinement by Tiberius a like omen had been interpreted as
portending his speedy release, with the warning that should
he behold the same sight again he would die within' five
days. He was immediately smitten with violent pains, and
after a few days died. Josephus says nothing of his being
"eaten of worms," but the discrepancies between the two
stories are of slight moment. A third account omits all the
miraculous elements in the story and says that Agrippa was
assassinated by the Romans, who objected to his growing power.