Herod Agrippa relative Herod the Great
Biography
Origins
Family
Herod Agrippa was born in Caesarea, around the year 11 BC. He was the son of Aristobulus IV, one of the children that Herod the Great, king of Judea had with Mariamne the Hasmonean. His mother is Berenice, daughter of Salome, daughter of Antipater and sister of Herod the Great, who is close to Antonia Minor, daughter of Marcus Antonius and Octavia, sister of Augustus. Herod the Great is therefore both the paternal grandfather and the maternal great-uncle of Agrippa, who was born around 11 or 10 BC, probably in Judea. His parents mark the Roman status of this Jewish prince by giving him the name of a close collaborator of the Emperor Augustus, Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa.Herod the Great, a ruler perceived as a ruthless usurper by his subjects, was a devoted supporter of the Roman Empire and promoted its cause throughout his kingdom. His reign was characterized by violence and numerous family intrigues as he had ten wives. In 29 BC, Herod executed his wife Mariamne, Agrippa's grandmother, out of jealousy. The following year, he executed Agrippa's mother. In 7 BC, when Agrippa was just three or four years old,  Herod had Agrippa's father and uncle Alexander executed following palace intrigues.   These events also led to the executions of Antipater, a son Herod had with Doris, and Costobarus, Agrippa's maternal grandfather, three years later. Herod was responsible for the deaths of numerous members of the Hasmonean dynasty and its supporters, almost wiping them out entirely. However, he spared the children of Aristobulus, including Agrippa, Herod and Aristobulus Minor as well as the daughters, Herodias and Mariamne.Agrippa thus descends from both the Hasmonean and Herodian dynasties, but his father's death sentence for treason seems to set him aside from a logic of succession.
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