Herodias

Herodias [HERODIAN FAMILY]

A granddaughter of Herod the Great and Mariamne, daughter of Aristobulus, and sister of Herod Agrippa I. She was first married to her Uncle Herod Philip, but afterwards abandoned him and connected herself with his brother Herod Antipas. It was by her artifice that Herod was persuaded to cause John the Baptist to be put to death, she being enraged at John on account of his bold denunciation of the incestuous connection which subsisted between her and Herod. When Herod was banished to Lyons, she accompanied him, Mat 14:3,6 Mar 6:17 Luk 3:19 . See HEROD III.\par

Hero’dias. Daughter of Aristobulus, one of the sons of Mariamne and Herod the Great, and consequently, sister of Agrippa I. She first married Herod Philip I; then she eloped from him to marry Herod Antipas her step-uncle. The head of John the Baptist was granted at the request of Herodias. Mat 14:8-11; Mar 6:24-28. (A.D. 29). She accompanied Antipas into exile to Lugdunum.

Herodias (he-rô’di-as). Daughter of Aristobulus, one of the sons of Mariamne and Herod the Great, and consequently sister of Agrippa I. She first married Herod Philip I.; then she eloped from him to marry Herod Antipas, her step-uncle. The head of John the Baptist was granted at the request of Herodias. Mat 14:8-11; Mar 6:24-28, a.d. 29.

[Hero’dias] See HEROD ANTIPAS and HEROD’S FAMILY.

HERODIAS (Ἡρῳδιάς).—Herodias was the daughter of Aristobulus (son of Herod the Great and Mariamne the Hasmonaean) and Bernice (daughter of Salome, Herod’s sister, and Costobar), and thus the full sister of Herod, king of Chalcis, and Agrippa i. (Ant. xviii. v. 4). She married first her half-uncle Herod, son of Herod the Great and Mariamne, the high priest’s daughter. In Mar 6:17 and Mat 14:3 the first husband of Herodias is called Philip, the brother of Herod (Antipas). This Philip, therefore, most probably bore also the name ‘Herod’ (as did also his brothers Archelaus and Antipas), and is to be distinguished from Philip the tetrarch (Luk 3:1; cf. Mat 16:13, Mar 8:27), who married Salome, the daughter of Herod Philip and Herodias (Ant. xviii. v. 4). In Mar 6:17 the reading Φιλίππου is given by Tisch. (ed. maj. viii.) without citation of a variant. In Mat 14:3 Φιλίππου has the support of א BCL, etc., but is omitted in Daceff´g´kvg. In Luk 3:19 Φιλίππου is inserted by ACK, etc., cop syr^utr. arm^cdd aeth, but omitted by א BDL, etc. The reading thus appears to be original in Mk., probably original in Mt., and derivative in Luke. The statement (. Bibl. ii. 2032), ‘In spite of Mar 6:17 we cannot hold that he ever really bore the name Philip,’ as well as the remark of Schürer^{3 [Note: designates the particular edition of the work referred]} (i. 435, n^{. [Note: note.]} 19), ‘Since, according to Josephus, not the tetrarch but the above-named Herod was the first husband of Herodias, the statement of Mark and Matthew is evidently a mistake’ (ein entschiedenes Versehen) are too positive. They do not rest on any more substantial evidence than the fact that Josephus calls this son of Herod the Great simply Herod. The argument that two sons of Herod would not have borne the same name Philip is weakened by the fact that even according to Josephus two sons of Herod bore the same name—Herod, son of Mariamne, the high priest’s daughter, and Herod, son of Cleopatra (Ant. xvii. i. 3, xviii. v. 4). Herod Philip had been designated in the first will of Herod the Great as the alternate of Antipas in succession to the throne (Ant. xvii. iii. 2; BJ i. xxix. 2), but was subsequently omitted because of his mother’s connexion with the plot of Antipater (Ant. xvii. iv. 2; BJ i. xxx. 7). He continued in private life in Rome, where Antipas, while guest in his brother’s house, persuaded Herodias to desert her husband and marry him. This second marriage of Herodias was especially offensive to the Jews, because her husband, to whom she had borne a child, was still alive (cf. Lev 18:16, Deu 25:5; also Ant. xvii. xiii. I). John the Baptist rebuked Antipas for his action, and paid the penalty with his life for rousing the anger of an ambitious and unscrupulous woman. Her connexion with the downfall of Antipas has been mentioned (cf. art. Herod under ‘Antipas’). In the last recorded incident of her life, when Herodias voluntarily followed Antipas into exile and haughtily refused the Emperor’s bounty, she displayed, like her grandmother Mariamne when unjustly sentenced to death, the proud fortitude and fine dignity of the old Hasmonaean house now brought so low through its union with the Herods (Ant. xviii. vii. 2; cf. xv. ix. 5).

Literature.—Schürer, GJ^{V [Note: JV Geschichte des Jüdischen Volkes.] 3 [Note: designates the particular edition of the work referred]} i. 435–449 (English translation , cf. Index); E. S. Ffoulkes in Smith’s D^{B [Note: Dictionary of the Bible.] 2 [Note: designates the particular edition of the work referred]} ii. 1055 f.; Sieffert in PR^{E [Note: RE Real-Encyklopädie fur protest. Theologic und Kirche.] 3 [Note: designates the particular edition of the work referred]} vii. 769 f.; Woodhouse in Encyc. Bibl. ii. 2033; Headlam in Hasting’s Dictionary of the Bible ii. 360; I. Broydé in Jewish Encyc. vi. 360 f.; J. D. Davis, D^{B [Note: Dictionary of the Bible.]} 293 f.

W. P. Armstrong.

By: Joseph Jacobs, Isaac Broydé

Pedigree of the Herodian Dynasty.

Daughter of Aristobulus and Berenice and granddaughter of Herod I. and of his sister Salome. She was first married to her uncle Herod (not Philip, as in Mark vi. 17; see Schürer, "Gesch." i. 435, note 19), son of Herod I. by the second Mariamne, with whom she lived in Rome upon the revenues assigned to them by Herod I. and Salome. From this union issued Salome, the wife of the tetrarch Herod Philip. While on a visit to Rome Herodias' uncle and brother-in-law, Herod Antipas, fell in love with her and proposed marriage, to which she readily assented. He then divorced his first wife, the daughter of Aretas VI., King of Arabia, and, contrary to Jewish law, married Herodias. This union brought misfortune to Antipas. It first involved him in a war with Aretas, who wished to avenge his abandoned daughter; then Herodias, who had married Antipas from motives of ambition, urged him to appeal to Caligula for the royal title, an appeal which brought about his downfall. Herodias, however, showed great fortitude in adversity; she preferred going with Antipas into exile at Lugdunum to remaining with her brother, Agrippa I., and sharing the advantages of his elevation, as proposed by Caligula.

The Gospels attribute to Herodias the execution of John the Baptist, whom she hated for having denounced her unlawful marriage. While celebrating Antipas' birthday, Salome, the daughter of Herodias, so delighted the tetrarch by her dancing that he promised her to fulfil any wish she might express. At the instigation of her mother she demanded that the head of John should be brought to her in a charger (Matt. xiv. 3 et seq.; Mark vi. 17 et seq.). This, however, is not corroborated by Josephus, who assigns political reasons for the execution of John.

Bibliography:

Josephus, Ant. xviii. 5;

Winer, B. R. i. 486;

Keim, in Schenkel's Bibellexikon, iii. 46-49;

Schürer, Gesch. i. 435 et seq.

HERODIAS.—See Herod, No. 3, and John the Baptist.

Daughter of Aristobulus, son of Herod the Great and Mariamne, descendant of the Machabees. She entered into an adulterous union with Herod Antipas, Tetrarch of Galilee, who was thereupon rebuked by John the Baptist. Her hatred aroused, she, by the dance of her daughter Salome, brought about the death of the saint. She preferred a life of exile with Antipas at Lyons, Gaul, to one of splendor in the palace of her brother, Agrippa.

Herodias, daughter of Aristobulus -- son of Herod the Great and Mariamne -- was a descendant of the famous Hasmonean heroes, the Machabees, who had done so much for the Jewish nation. Having married Herod Philip, her own uncle, by whom she had a daughter, Salome, Herodias longed for social distinction, and accordingly left her husband and entered into an adulterous union with Herod Antipas, Tetrarch of Galilee, who was also her uncle (Jos., Ant., XVIII, v, 1, 4). St. John the Baptist rebuked Antipas for this union and thus aroused the hatred of Herodias, who by the dance of her daughter brought about the death of the prophet (Matthew 14:3-12; Mark 6:17-29). Josephus gives the main facts, but adds that John was put to death because Herod feared his influence over the people (Ant., XVIII, v, 2, 4). Schurer admits that here both the Evangelists and Josephus may be right; since all the motives mentioned may have urged Herod to imprison and murder John [Hist. (Eng. tr.) Div. I, V, ii, 25].When Agrippa, the brother of Herodias became king, she persuaded Antipas to go to Rome in search of the royal title, as his claim to it was far greater than that of her brother. Instead of a crown, however, he found awaiting him a charge of treason against the Romans, with Agrippa as chief accuser, who in advance had sent messengers to defeat the ambitious plans of Antipas. He was therefore banished to Lyons in Gaul. At the same time Herodias, spurning the kind offers of the emperor, preferred exile with Antipas to a life of splendour in the palace of her brother Agrippa (Jos., Ant., XVIII, vii). This generosity, if we may so style it, came from her Hasmonean blood, but her cruelty she inherited from her grandfather Herod (see HEROD under ANTIPAS).----------------------------------- JOSEPHUS, Ant., XVIII, v, vii; IDEM, de Bell. jud., I, xxviii, II, ix; also authorities mentioned under HEROD. JOHN J. TIERNEY Transcribed by Robert B. Olson Offered to Almighty God for the conversion of people who persecute others for their Christian Faith. The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume VIICopyright © 1910 by Robert Appleton CompanyOnline Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. KnightNihil Obstat, June 1, 1910. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., CensorImprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York

hē̇-rō´di-as (Ἡρωδιάς or Ἡρῳδιάς, Hērōdiás): The woman who compassed the death of John the Baptist at Macherus (Mat 14:1-12; Mk 6:14-29; compare also Luk 3:19, Luk 3:20; Luk 9:7-9). According to the Gospel records, Herodias had previously been married to Philip, but had deserted him for his brother Herod the tetrarch. For this Herod was reproved by John (compare Lev 18:16; Lev 20:21), and Herod, therefore, to please Herodias, bound him and cast him into prison. According to Mat 14:5 he would even then have put John to death, but “feared the multitude,” which regarded John as a prophet. But Mar 6:19 f relates it was Herodias who especially desired the death of John, but that she was withstood by Herod whose conscience was not altogether dead. This latter explanation is more in harmony with the sequel. At Herod’s birthday feast, Herodias induced her daughter Salome, whose dancing had so charmed the tetrarch, to ask as her reward the head of John the Baptist on a charger. This was given her and she then brought it to her mother.

Herodias was daughter of Aristobulus, son of Herod the Great, by Mariamne, daughter of Hyrcanus. Her second husband (compare above) was Herod Antipas, tetrarch of Galilee and Peraea (circa 4-39 ad), son of Herod the Great by Malthace. Herod Antipus was thus the step-brother of Aristobulus, father of Herodias. Regarding the first husband of Herodias, to whom she bore Salome, some hold that the Gospel accounts are at variance with that of Josephus. In Mat 14:3; Mar 6:17; Luk 3:19, he is called Philip the brother of Herod (Antipus). But in Mat 14:3 and Luk 3:19 the name Philip is omitted by certain important manuscripts. According to Josephus, he was Herod, son of Herod the Great by Mariamne daughter of Simon the high priest, and was thus a step-brother of Herod Antipas (compare Josephus, Ant, XVIII, v, 4). It is suggested in explanation of the discrepancy (1) that Herod, son of Mariamne, bore a second name Philip, or (2) that there is confusion in the Gospels with Heroal-Philip, tetrarch of Trachonitis, who was the son of Herod the Great and Cleopatra, and who was in reality the husband of Salome, daughter of Herodias (compare also A. B. Bruce, The Expositor’s Greek Testament., I, 381; A. C. Headlam, article “Herod” in HDB, II, 359, 360). According to Josephus (Ant., VIII, vii, 2; XVIII, vii, 1) the ambition of Herodias proved the ruin of Herod Antipas. Being jealous of the power of Agrippa her brother, she induced Herod to demand of Caligula the title of king. This was refused through the machinations of Agrippa, and Herod was banished. But the pride of Herodias kept her still faithful to her husband in his misfortune.

- see Herod Family