But Herod found new enemies among the members of his household. His
brother Pheroras and sister Salome plotted for their own advantage and
against the two sons of Mariamne. The people still cherished a loyalty
to the Hasmonaean lineage, although the young princes were also the sons
of Herod. The enthusiasm with which they were received fed the
suspicion, which their uncle instilled into their father's mind, and
they were strangled at Sebaste. On his deathbed Herod discovered that
his eldest son, Antipater, whom Josephus calls a "monster of iniquity,"
had been plotting against him. He proceeded to accuse him before the
governor of Syria and obtained leave from Augustus to put him to death.
The father died five days after his son in 4 B.C. He had done much for
the Jews, thanks to the favour he had won and kept in spite of all from
the successive heads of the Roman state; he had observed the Law
publicly--in fact, as the traditional epigram of Augustus says, "it was
better to be Herod's _swine_ than a _son_ of Herod."
Josephus, _Ant._ xv., xvi., xvii. 1-8, _B.J._ i. 18-33; Schurer,
_Gesch. d. jud. Volk._, 4th ed., i. pp. 360-418.
HEROD ANTIPAS, son of Herod the Great by the Samaritan Malthace, and
full brother of Archelaus, received as his share of his father's
dominions the provinces of Galilee and Peraea, with the title of
tetrarch. Like his father, Antipas had a turn for architecture: he
rebuilt and fortified the town of Sepphoris in Galilee; he also
fortified Betharamptha in Peraea, and called it Julias after the wife of
the emperor. Above all he founded the important town of Tiberias on the
west shore of the Sea of Galilee, with institutions of a distinctly
Greek character. He reigned 4 B.C.-A.D. 39. In the gospels he is
mentioned as Herod. He it was who was called a "fox" by Christ (Luke
xiii. 32). He is erroneously spoken of as a king in Mark vi. 14. It was
to him that Jesus was sent by Pilate to be tried. But it is in connexion
with his wife Herodias that he is best known, and it was through her
that his misfortunes arose. He was married first of all to a daughter of
Aretas, the Arabian king; but, making the acquaintance of Herodias, the
wife of his brother Philip (not the tetrarch), during a visit to Rome,
he was fascinated by her and arranged to marry her. Meantime his Arabian
wife discovered the plan and escaped to her father, who made war on
Herod, and completely defeated his army. John the Baptist condemned his
marriage with Herodias, and in consequence was put to death in the way
described in the gospels and in Josephus. When Herodias's brother
Agrippa was appointed king by Caligula, she was determined to see her
husband attain to an equal eminence, and persuaded him, though naturally
of a quiet and unambitious temperament, to make the journey to Rome to
crave a crown from the emperor. Agrippa, however, managed to influence
Caligula against him. Antipas was deprived of his dominions and banished
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