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Overview

Herod Antipas became Tetrarch of Galilee and Peraea (4 B.C.–39 A.D.). He built the purely Hellenistic city of Tiberias over a cemetery and lost favor with the Jews because of this "unclean" capital city. After renouncing his first wife he married Herodias, the former wife of his half brother Herod Philip, who brought her daughter Salome with her to Antipas’ court.

When John the Baptist accused Antipas of adultery, the king, after Salome’s dance and at the instigation of Herodias, had him beheaded in prison. This Herod Antipas was Jesus’ earthly king who Jesus called "that fox", and Pontius Pilate later sent Jesus, during the trial, to Herod, who happened to be in Jerusalem at the time. Herod Antipas ordered his soldiers to mock Jesus and sent him back to the Roman procurator (Luke 23:6-16).

He is the Herod of the gospels and died in exile in the year 39 A.D.