Agrippa II - Definition and Overview

Agrippa II (AD 27 - 100), son of Agrippa I, and like him originally named Marcus Julius Agrippa. He was the brother of Berenice and Drusilla (second wife of Antonius Felix). He is sometimes mistakenly called Herod Agrippa II.

Having grown up in the court of the emperor Claudius, on the death of his uncle Herod Agrippa inherited the oversight of the Temple in AD 48; Claudius later invested him with the tetrarchy of Chalcis around 49/50. In 53 he was deprived of that kingdom by Claudius, who made him governor over the tetrarchy of Philip and Lysanias (Acts 25:13; 26:2, 7). During the Jewish Revolt, Agrippa sent 2000 men to support Vespasian, by which it appears that, though a Jew in religion, he was yet entirely devoted to the Romans. He died at Rome in the third year of Trajan.

He was the seventh and last king of the family of Herod the Great. It was before him and his sister Berenice that Paul of Tarsus pleaded his cause at Caesarea (Acts 26) in 59. He supplied Josephus with information for his history.

This article incorporates text from the public domain 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica.