Tetrarch

a sovereign prince that has the fourth part of a state, province, or kingdom under his dominion, without wearing the diadem, or bearing the title of king, Mat 14:1; Luk 3:1; Luk 3:19; Luk 9:7; Act 13:1.

Tet´rarch, a prince or sovereign who holds or governs a fourth part of a kingdom, without wearing the diadem or bearing the title of king. Such was the original import of the word, but it was afterwards applied to any petty king or sovereign, and became synonymous with ethnarch.

In the reign of Tiberius Caesar Herod’s kingdom of Judea was divided into three parts, which were called tetrarchies, and the sovereigns tetrarchs. His sons were made the heirs to his kingdom. Archelaus became tetrarch of Judea, Samaria, and Idumea; Philip of Trachonitis and Ituraea; and Herod Antipas of Galilee and Peræa (Luk 3:1). Herod Agrippa, the nephew of Herod Antipas, who afterwards obtained the title of king (Act 25:13), was in the reign of Caligula invested with royalty, and appointed tetrarch of Abilene; to which was afterwards added Galilee and Peræa, Judea and Samaria; until at length his dominion extended over the whole land of Palestine [HERODIAN FAMILY]. The title of tetrarch was frequently conferred upon the descendants of Herod the Great by the Roman emperors.

Is strictly the ruler of the fourth part of a state or province; but in the New Testament it is a general title applied to those who governed any part of a kingdom or province, with an authority subject only to that of the Roman emperor. Thus Herod the Great and his brother were at one time, in early life, constituted tetrarchs of Judea by Antony. At the death of Herod the Great, he left half his kingdom to Archelaus, with the title of ethnarch; while the other half was divided between two of his other sons. Herod Antipas and Philip, with the title of tetrarchs. See HEROD 1 and 2.\par In the same manner Lysanias is also said to have been tetrarch of Abilene, Luk 3:1 . It is Herod Antipsas who is called the tetrarch in Mat 14:1 Luk 3:19 9:7 Mal 13:1 . As the authority of the tetrarch was similar to that of the king, so the general term king is also applied to Herod, Mat 14:9 Mar 6:14 .\par

Tetrarch. Properly, the sovereign or governor of the fourth part of a country. Mat 14:1; Luk 3:1; Luk 9:7; Act 13:1. The title was, however, often applied to any one, who governed a Roman province, of whatever size. The title of king was, sometimes, assigned to a tetrarch. Mat 14:9; Mar 6:14; Mar 6:22.

Properly governor of the fourth part of a larger province and kingdom, i.e. a tetrarchy. The title "king" is applied by courtesy, not right, to Herod "the tetrarch" (Luk 3:1; Mar 6:14). (See HEROD.) As Archelaus was "ethnarch" over half of Herod the Great’s whole kingdom, so Philip and Antipus had divided between them the remaining half, and were each "tetrarch" over the fourth; Herod over Galilee; Philip over Ituraea and Trachonitis; Lysanias over Abilene. Caligula annexed the three tetrarchies to the kingdom of Herod Agrippa I, whom he honoured with the title "king" (Acts 12).

Tetrarch. This title strictly denotes one who governs the fourth part of a province or kingdom. Mat 14:1. In Scripture, however, it is applied to any one who governed a province of the Roman empire, whatever portion of the territory might be within his jurisdiction. Mat 14:9.

Literally the governor over a fourth part of a province, but also applied to the governor of any small province. It is employed in the N.T. in reference to Herod Antipas, tetrarch of Galilee and Peraea; Philip, tetrarch of Ituraea and Trachonitis; and Lysanias, tetrarch of Abilene. Mat 14:1; Luk 3:1; Luk 3:19; Luk 9:7; Act 13:1.

TETRARCH (τετράρχης is the classical form, but in NT the MS evidence is strongly in favour of τετραάρχης [Tisch., WH [Note: H Westcott and Hort’s text.] , and Nestle]).—The title is used in the Gospels of Antipas (Mat 14:1, Luk 3:1; Luk 3:19; Luk 9:7), and of Philip and Lysanias (Luk 3:1). Originally it denoted the ruler of a fourth part of a country or province. Euripides (Alc. 1154) is the earliest writer to use the term τετραρχία, and applies it to Thessaly, which in primitive times was divided for civil administration into four districts. This arrangement was restored in the constitution given by Philip of Macedon (Demos. Philipp. iii. 26, where the word is clearly technical and free from the doubt in which Euripides leaves it). A similar system was met with in Galatia, where each of the three tribes had its four tetrarchs (Strabo, 430, 566 f.). Pompey afterwards reduced the number to three, one for each tribe, but retained the original title (Appian, Mithridat. 46). Thenceforward, if not at an even earlier date, the name lost its etymological meaning, and could be applied to any petty dependent prince, subordinate in rank to kings but enjoying some of the prerogatives of sovereignty (Cic. pro Milone, xxviii. 76; Hor. Sat. i. iii. 12; Tac. Ann. xv. 25; et al.). Such tetrarchs seem to have been numerous, especially in Syria. Antony conferred the title upon both Herod and his brother Phasael (Josephus Ant. xiv. xiii. 1, BJ i. xii. 5); but the rank was almost purely titular, and left them inferior in dignity to the high priest, Hyrcanus ii. In b.c. 30 another brother, Pheroras, was made tetrarch of Peraea (Josephus Ant. xv. x. 3), he nominal honour being maintained on an income granted by Herod himself. In the Gospels the etymological signification of the term has evaporated. For, though Herod divided his kingdom into four parts, the one assigned to Salome consisted merely of a palace with the revenue of certain so-called free towns, and was in no sense a tetrarchy. With this exception, his kingdom was divided into three parts, and the title of ‘tetrarch’ was conferred by the will of Rome upon Antipas and Philip, whilst that of ‘ethnarch,’ or recognized head of a nation, was similarly bestowed upon Archelaus. On two occasions Antipas is styled ‘king’ (Mat 14:9; cf. Mat 14:1, Mar 6:14; Mar 6:22; Mar 6:26 f.); and the obvious explanation is that his subjects were encouraged, and some of them perhaps disposed, to speak of him by the higher title, for which Rome had substituted a lower, without any allusion to its strict meaning. Similarly in the case of Lysanias. He was ruler of the district of Abila in the Lebanon, which had been severed from the kingdom of Ituraea on the execution of Lysanias i. in b.c. 36. That kingdom was in the course of time broken up into three parts, of which Abilene formed one, with another Lysanias as its tetrarch (Josephus Ant. xviii. vi. 10, xix. v. 1; CIG [Note: IG Corpus Inscriptionum Graecarum.] 4521, 4523). The term may have been selected because of the smallness of the district in comparison with the earlier kingdom, but it preserves no record of the division of a country or association of tribes into four parts. In the Gospels the tetrarch is merely a petty prince, dependent upon Rome for the retention of his few emblems of sovereignty, whilst encouraged to self-repression and loyal service by an occasional promotion to a higher dignity.

R. W. Moss.

(Greek, τετράρχης):

By: Executive Committee of the Editorial Board., Samuel Krauss

A governor of a quarter of a province; the title of several feudal lords of Palestine and neighboring countries who were subject to Roman suzerainty. This title, which evidently implies a rank somewhat lower than that of Ethnarch, was held by the following Jewish princes: Herod the Great before he became king, and his brother Phasael, both of whom received the office from Antony (Josephus, "Ant." xiv. 13, § 1; idem, "B. J." i. 12, § 5); Pheroras, whom Augustus, at the request of Herod, appointed tetrarch of Perea (20 B.C.), a post which yielded him an income of 100 talents ("Ant." xv. 10, § 3; "B. J." i. 24, § 5); Herod Antipas, who was tetrarch of Galilee (Luke iii. 1); Philip, who governed Iturea and Trachonitis (ib.); and Lysanias, who ruled Abilene (ib.).

The district governed by a tetrarch was called a. tetrarchy ("Ant." xx. 7, § 1); and this term was first used by Euripides, who applied it to Thessaly, attributing to it its original connotation of a quarter province, since Thessaly was divided into four districts. "Tetrarch" was employed in a similar sense with reference to Galatia; but in other countries, as well as among the Jews, it lost its primary meaning, and came to imply a ruler whose power was less than that of a king. Such tetrarchs were especially numerous in Syria (Pliny, "Historia Naturalis," v. 74), and one Sohemus of Lebanon is mentioned by Josephus ("Vita," § 11). Kings and tetrarchs furnished auxiliary troops to the army of Varus ("Ant." xvii. 10, § 9). The Herodian tetrarchs, either from error or from mere flattery, were addressed also as kings (comp. Matt. ii. 22, xiv. 9); and it was with but little justification that Agrippa, II. styled himself "king," since, as a matter of fact, he was but a tetrarch.

Bibliography:

Winer, B. R. 3d ed., s.v.;

Schürer, Gesch. 3d ed., i. 423.

TETRARCH.—The transliteration of a Gr. word (tetrarchçs) whose literal meaning is ‘the ruler of a fourth part.’ As a title it lost its strict etymological force, and was used of ‘a petty prince,’ or ‘the ruler of a district.’ In the NT ‘Herod the tetrarch’ is Herod Antipas, son of Herod the Great; he ruled over Galilee and Peræa (Mat 14:1, Luk 3:1; Luk 3:19; Luk 9:7, Act 13:1), and is popularly styled ‘king’ (Mar 6:14 ff., Mat 14:9). Two other tetrarchs are mentioned in Luk 3:1; viz., Herod Philip, the brother of Antipas, who ruled over the Ituræan and Trachonitic territory; and Lysanias, who was Tetrarch of Abilene ‘in the fifteenth year of Tiberius’ (see Schürer, HJP [Note: JP History of the Jewish People.] i. ii., App. 1).

J. G. Tasker.

tē´trark, tet´rark τετράρχης, tetrárchēs): As the name indicates it signifies a prince, who governs one-fourth of a domain or kingdom. The Greeks first used the word. Thus Philip of Macedon divided Thessaly into four “tetrarchies.” Later on the Romans adopted the term and applied it to any ruler of a small principality. It is not synonymous with “ethnarch” at least the Romans made a distinction between Herod “tetrarch” of Galilee, Philip “tetrarch” of Trachonitis, Lysanias “tetrarch” of Abilene, and Archelaius “ethnarch” of Judea (BJ, II, vi, 3; Ant., XVII, xi, 4). The title was often conferred on Herodian princes by the Romans, and sometimes it was used courteously as a synonym for king (Mat 14:9; Mar 6:14). In the same way a “tetrarchy” was sometimes called a kingdom.

This title originally signified the governor of the fourth part of a country. Thus Philip of Macedon divided Thessaly into four districts called ‘tetrarchies.’ Later, however, the title came to be used in a loose sense of any petty ruler, and in this sense it is applied in the NT to Herod Antipas, Philip, and Lysanias. Of these Herod is called ‘king’ in Mat_14:9; but the usual and correct designation of him is ‘tetrarch,’ and it is thus that he is mentioned in Act_13:1, the only passage in the apostolic writings where the title occurs.

G. Wauchope Stewart.

- Roman-appointed Jewish king or ruler of a "fourth" part of a province in Palestine. See also Palestine; ethnarch