Father of Herod the Great, and patriarch of the Herod dynasty.
☰ Open Family Tree (Generation 1)
We know quite little about this patriarch of the Herodian family. Josephus (Antiquities, 14.1.3) tells us that he may also have been called Antipas, and was made a general of "all Idumea" by the Hasmonean king, Alexander Jannaeus. When Alexander died and the throne of Judea passed to his wife, Queen Alexandra Salome, Antipater became her adviser.
In 67 BC, Alexandra died, leaving the kingdom to her two sons, the elder but weak John Hyrcanus (II) and the younger but strong-willed Aristobulus (II). Antipater sided with Hyrcanus in the ensuing feud—and by way of cunning and clever alliances with King Aretas III of Arabia (Nabatea)—had Aristobulus besieged in Jerusalem. At about the same time the Roman general Pompey, who was tasked with putting down piracy in the Mediterranean, saw an opportunity for Roma imperial ambitions in Palestine, and duly arrived on the scene. Antipater saw a golden opportunity in the circumstances, and appealed to Pompey for help, as did Aristobulus. The latter, however, refused to submit; in 63 BC Pompey had him seized and exiled to Alexandria in Egypt. Pompey, however, refused to reinstate Hyrcanus as king, and made him only an ethnarch, a prince. Hyrcanus retained his position as high priest. Antipater retained his position as chief minister but, with the Romans now in power in the region, he saw how the office now opened vast opportunities for advancing his ambitions especially if he was prepared to do the Romans' bidding.
In 57 BC, the Roman governor of Syria divided up Judea, Idumea was given to Antipater. When the Roman Civil Wars broke out, Hyrcanus and Antipater sided with Pompey. Pompey, defeated by Julius Caesar at the Battle of Pharsalus in 48 BC, fled to Egypt. Julius Casear pursued him there but arrived too late for Pompey had been murdered by the Egyptians. Julius Caesar, however, got himself caught up with the civil war between Cleopatra and her brother. Antipater quickly, and at great personal expence and risk, came to Caesar help and the siege was soon broken. Grateful for the help, Caesar made Antipater the chief minister of Judea, which included such perks as Roman citizenship, the right to collect tax and exemption from having to pay it, and, of course, immense power and prestige. Not long afterwards, he appointed his eldest son Phasael governor of Jerusalem and a younger one, Herod (the Great), governor of Galilee.
The murder of Julius Caesar in 44 BC drew Antipater deep into its repercussions when one of the murders, Cassius, fled to Syria and demanded assistance. Many of the Jews, however, were unhappy with what was happening and anti-Romans riots broke up. Not long afterwards Antipater was poisoned to death.
©ALBERITH
120616lch