Philip the Tetrarch

Life and work

Philip was a son of Herod the Great and his wife Cleopatra of Jerusalem (not the famous Egyptian queen). After Herod's death in 4 BC, Philip received the smallest but most stable share of his father's kingdom: the largely non-Jewish territories of Iturea, Trachonitis, Gaulanitis, Batanea, and Auranitis, northeast of the Sea of Galilee. He ruled as tetrarch there for roughly forty years, from 4 BC until his death in AD 33/34, and Josephus describes his reign as moderate and well-regarded compared to his half-brothers Archelaus and Antipas (Antiquities 18.4.6).

Philip rebuilt the town of Panias near the springs of the Jordan River and renamed it Caesarea Philippi, both honoring Augustus and distinguishing it from the coastal Caesarea Maritima; he also rebuilt Bethsaida on the Sea of Galilee's northern shore and renamed it Julias, after Augustus's daughter (or, by some accounts, Livia). Luke 3:1 names him among the rulers reigning when John the Baptist's ministry began: 'Philip [was] tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis.' Philip married Salome, the daughter of Herodias who is remembered in the Gospels for her dance before Herod Antipas that led to John the Baptist's execution (Mark 6:21-28); Josephus records this marriage in Antiquities 18.5.4.

Philip the Tetrarch should be carefully distinguished from a different son of Herod the Great, sometimes called Herod Philip (or Herod II), the son of Herod's wife Mariamne II. This other son is identified in the Gospels as Herodias's first husband, called simply 'Philip' in Mark 6:17 and Matthew 14:3 ('Herod had sent and seized John and bound him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife'). Josephus, however, never calls this man Philip — he calls him Herod, and states he lived as a private citizen in Rome without ever holding territory or a title (Antiquities 18.5.1, 4). Scholars generally reconcile this by noting Herodian princes commonly bore multiple names (this brother may well have been 'Herod Philip'), though the exact naming remains a point of scholarly discussion; in any case, he is a distinct individual from Philip the Tetrarch, who never married Herodias.

Extra-biblical evidence

Scripture references

• Luke 3:1 — Named as tetrarch of Ituraea and Trachonitis when John the Baptist's ministry begins

Further reading

• Encyclopaedia Britannica: Philip the Tetrarch