Home ▸ Catalog ▸ |Judean & Biblical Coins| ▸ |Herodian Dynasty| ▸ |Agrippa II||View Options: ![]() ![]() Marcus Julius Agrippa (Herod Agrippa II) was the eighth and last Herodian dynasty ruler. He was educated in Rome at the court of Claudius. When his father died he was only seventeen, so Claudius kept him at Rome, and sent a procurator to govern Judaea. On the death of King Herod of Chalcis, his uncle's small Syrian kingdom was given to Agrippa as a tetrarchy, with the right of superintending the Temple in Jerusalem and appointing its high priest. In 53, Claudius made him king of the territories previously ruled by Philip: Batanea, Trachonitis and Gaulonitis, and the kingdom of Lysanias in Abila. In 55, Nero added the cities Tiberias and Taricheae in Galilee, and Iulias in Peraea. In 57, Chalkis was given to his cousin, Aristobulus. Paul the Apostle pleaded his case before Agrippa and his sister Berenice at Caesarea Maritima, probably in 59 or 60 (Acts 26). Agrippa expended large sums beautifying Jerusalem and other cities, especially Berytus (ancient Beirut). His partiality for the latter, and the capricious manner in which he appointed and deposed high priests made unpopular with his Jewish subjects. During the First Jewish Revolt against Rome, 66 - 73, Agrippa II sent 2,000 men, archers and cavalry, to support Vespasian, showing that, although a Jew in religion, he was entirely devoted to the Roman Empire. He accompanied Titus on campaigns, and was wounded at the siege of Gamla. After the capture of Jerusalem, he went with his sister Berenice to Rome, where he was invested with the dignity of praetor and rewarded with additional territory. Flavius Josephus, the Jewish historian, repeats the gossip that Agrippa lived in an incestuous relationship with his sister, Berenice. |