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Herod II
Herod II
Prince of Judea
Born	c. 27 BC
Died	33/34 AD
Spouse	Herodias
Issue	Salome
Dynasty	Herodian dynasty
Father	Herod the Great
Mother	Mariamne (third wife of Herod)

Herod II (c. 27 BC – 33/34 AD)^[1]^[2] was the son of Herod the Great and Mariamne II, the daughter of Simon Boethus the High Priest, and the first husband of Herodias, daughter of Aristobulus IV and his wife Berenice. For a brief period he was his father's heir apparent, but Herod I removed him from succession in his will. Some writers call him Herod Philip I (not to be confused with Philip the Tetrarch, the son of Cleopatra of Jerusalem, whom some writers call "Herod Philip II"), as the Gospel of Matthew^[3] and Gospel of Mark^[4] state that Herodias was married to a "Philip". Because he was the grandson of Simon Boethus, he is sometimes also called Herod Boethus, but there is no evidence he was actually thus called during his lifetime.^[5]

Life and marriage

Herod the Great's execution of his two sons born by his Hasmonean wife Mariamne, Alexander and Aristobulus IV in 7 BC, left the latter's daughter Herodias orphaned and a minor. Herod engaged her to Herod II, her half-uncle, and her connection to the Hasmonean bloodline supported her new husband's right to succeed his father.

As Josephus reports in Jewish Antiquities (Book XVIII, Chapter 5, 4):

Herodias, [...], was married to Herod, the son of Herod the Great by Mariamne, the daughter of Simon the High Priest. [Herod II and Herodias] had a daughter, Salome...^[6]

This led to opposition to the marriage from Antipater II, Herod the Great's eldest son, and so Herod demoted Herod II to second in line to the succession. Antipater's execution in 4 BC for plotting to poison his father seemed to leave Herod II, now the eldest surviving son of Herod the Great, as first in line, but his mother's knowledge of the poison plot, and failure to stop it, led to his being dropped from this position in Herod I's will just days before he died. Herod II lived in Rome with Herodias as a private citizen^[7] and therefore survived his father's deathbed purges. Herod Antipas and his other remaining half-brothers shared Judaea amongst them.

Divorce

Herodias later married Herod II's half-brother, Herod Antipas. According to Josephus:

Herodias took upon her to confound the laws of our country, and divorced herself from her husband while he was alive, and was married to Herod Antipas^[6]

According to Matthew 14:3–5 and Luke 3:18–20, it was this proposed marriage that John the Baptist opposed. The Gospel of Matthew indicates that John was executed because he criticized this marriage (Matthew 14:3–12). Nothing is known of Herod II after his divorce.

Family tree of the Herodian dynasty

There are three princes by the name Phasael in the Herodian dynasty, all three mentioned by Josephus in "War" (BJ) and "Antiquities" (AJ):^[8]

Phasael I, son of Antipater and Cypros (BJ 1.181; AJ 14.121)^[8]
Phasael II, son of Phasael I (BJ 1.266; AJ 17.196)^[8]
Phasael III, son of Herod the Great (BJ 1.181; AJ 14.121)^[8] and father of Cypros/Kypros, wife of Agrippa I^[9]

Antipater the Idumaean
procurator of Judea

1.Doris
2.Mariamne I
3.Mariamne II
4.Malthace

Herod I the Great
king of Judea

5.Cleopatra of Jerusalem
6.Pallas
7.Phaidra
8.Elpis

Phasael
governor of Jerusalem

(1) Antipater
heir of Judaea

(2) Alexander I
prince of Judea

(2) Aristobulus IV
prince of Judea

(3) Herod II Philip
prince of Judea

(4) Herod Archelaus
ethnarch of Judea, Idumea

(4) Herod Antipas
tetrarch of Galilea & Perea

(5) Philip the Tetrarch
of Iturea & Trachonitis

Tigranes V of Armenia

Alexander II
prince of Judea

Herod Agrippa I
king of Judea

Herod V
ruler of Chalcis

Aristobulus Minor

Tigranes VI of Armenia

Herod Agrippa II
king of Judea

Aristobulus
ruler of Chalcis

Gaius Julius Alexander
ruler of Cilicia

Gaius Julius Agrippa
quaestor of Asia

Gaius Julius Alexander Berenicianus
proconsul of Asia

Lucius Julius Gainius Fabius Agrippa
gymnasiarch

Notes

^ Kokkinos (1999), The Herodian Dynasty, p. 237
^ Nelson, Thomas (1996) Nelson's Complete Book of Bible Maps and Charts p. 290
^ Matthew 14:3
^ Mark 6:17
^ Florence Morgan Gillman, Herodias: at home in that fox's den (Liturgical Press, 2003) p. 16.
^ ^a ^b W. Whiston translation at Project Gutenberg
^ Merrill Chapin Tenney, Walter M. Dunnett, (1985). New Testament Survey, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Norris, Jérôme (26 April 2017). "A woman's Hismaic inscription from the Wādī Ramm desert: AMJ 2/J.14202 (Amman Museum)". Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy. 28 (1): 90–109. doi:10.1111/aae.12086. Retrieved 24 April 2024.
^ "Phasaelus". The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible. 26 April 2017. pp. 90–109. Retrieved 24 April 2024 – via BibleGateway.com.

References

Kokkinos, Nikos (1998). The Herodian Dynasty: Origins, Role in Society and Eclipse. Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha Supplement Series. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press. pp. 236–240. ISBN 978-1-85075-690-3.