Herod Agrippa
| Herod Agrippa I | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
15th century woodcut, shown in the Promptuarium Iconum Insigniorum, depicting Agrippa I | |||||
| King of Judea, Samaria, and Idumea | |||||
| Reign | AD 41–44 | ||||
| Predecessor | Marullus (as prefect) | ||||
| Successor | Cuspius Fadus (as procurator) | ||||
| King of Galilee and Perea | |||||
| Reign | AD 39–44 | ||||
| Predecessor | Herod Antipas (as tetrarch) | ||||
| Successor | Herod Agrippa II (indirect, not all of Galilee and Perea) | ||||
| Tetrarch of Iturea, Trachonitis, Batanea, Gaulanitis, Auranitis, and Paneas | |||||
| Reign | AD 37–44 | ||||
| Predecessor | Philip the Tetrarch | ||||
| Born | c. 11 BC Caesarea Maritima | ||||
| Died | c. AD 44 (aged about 54) Caesarea Maritima | ||||
| Spouse | Cypros, daughter of Phasael II, son of Phasael I (brother of Herod the Great) | ||||
| Issue | Herod Agrippa II Berenice Mariamne Drusilla | ||||
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| Dynasty | Herodian | ||||
| Father | Aristobulus IV | ||||
| Mother | Berenice | ||||
Herod Agrippa I (Roman name: Marcus Julius Agrippa; c. 11 BC – c. AD 44), also simply known as Herod Agrippa, Agrippa I, (Hebrew: אגריפס) or Agrippa the Great, was the last king of Judea. He was a grandson of Herod the Great and the father of Herod Agrippa II, the last known king from the Herodian dynasty. He was an acquaintance or friend of Roman emperors and played crucial roles in internal Roman politics.
He spent his childhood and youth at the imperial court in Rome where he befriended the imperial princes Claudius and Drusus. He suffered a period of disgrace following the death of Drusus which forced him to return to live in Judea. Back in Rome around 35, Tiberius made him the guardian of his grandson Tiberius Gemellus, and Agrippa approached the other designated heir, Caligula. The advent of Caligula to the throne allowed Agrippa to become king of Batanea, Trachonitis, Gaulanitis, Auranitis, Paneas and Iturea in 37 by obtaining the old tetrarchies of Philip and Lysanias, then Galilee and Perea in 40 following the disgrace of his uncle, Herod Antipas.
After the assassination of Caligula, he played a leading role in Rome to the accession of Claudius to becoming the head of the empire in 41, and he was endowed with the former territories of Herod Archelaus (Idumea, Judea and Samaria) thus ruling over a territory as vast as the kingdom of Herod the Great.
Carrying a dual Jewish and Roman identity, he played the role of intercessor on behalf of the Jews with the Roman authorities and, on the domestic level, gave hope to some of his Jewish subjects of the restoration of an independent kingdom. Pursuing the Herodian policy of euergetism through major works in several Greek cities of the Near East, he nevertheless alienated some of his Greek and Syrian subjects while his regional ambitions earned him the opposition of Marsus, the legate of Roman Syria.
Agrippa I died suddenly—possibly poisoned—in 44. He is traditionally identified as the king simply named Herod whose death is recounted in Acts 12 (12:20–23).