AGRIPPA, MARCUS VIPSANIUS°

AGRIPPA, MARCUS VIPSANIUS ° (63–12 b.c.e.), Roman general and statesman, devoted friend and son-in-law of the emperor Augustus. Agrippa was appointed governor of the eastern provinces, which he ruled (until 21 b.c.e.) from Mytilene, on the island of Lesbos. During his stay there, Agrippa was visited by Herod; this was the beginning of a long friendship between the two men. Agrippa was eventually named heir to Augustus. When Agrippa returned to Asia Minor in 16 b.c.e., Herod invited him to visit his kingdom, and the next year the Roman general was received with great enthusiasm in Jerusalem. In the spring of 14 b.c.e. Herod, who was in command of a fleet, offered assistance to Agrippa in his planned expedition to the Bosphorus. This expedition did not take place, however, and instead the two allies traveled together through a great part of Asia Minor. When, in the course of this journey, the Jews of Ionia complained to Agrippa regarding an attempt by the Greeks to infringe their civic and religious rights, the Roman regent, probably under Herod's influence, upheld them. Their relationship was summed up by Josephus: "He [Herod] stood in Caesar's affection next after Agrippa, and in Agrippa's, next after Caesar." In 13 b.c.e. Herod sent his son Antipater to Rome, entrusting him to Agrippa so that he might gain Caesar's friendship. The following year, however, Agrippa died.

bibliography:

Jos., Wars, 1:400, 416; Jos., Ant., 12:125–7; 15:318, 350–61; 16:12–62, 86, 141, 157, 167–73; 17:229; Philo, De Legatione ad Gaium, 291; Schuerer, Gesch, index; M. Reinhold, Marcus Agrippa (Eng., 1933); Pauly-Wissowa, 2nd series, 16 (1961), 1226–75.

[Isaiah Gafni]