(Ἡρώδης), king of CHALCIS, was son of Aristobulus, the ill-fated son of the Asmonean
429
Mariamne, and brother of Herod Agrippa I. (J. AJ 18.5.4.) He obtained the kingdom of Chalcis from Claudius at the request of his brother Agrippa (A. D. 41): he was at the same time honoured by the emperor with the praetorian dinity; and after the death of Agrippa (A. D. 44), Claudius bestowed upon him the general superintendence of the temple and sacred treasury at Jerusalem, together with the right of appointing the high-priests. Of the latter privilege he availed himself, first to remove Cantheras, and appoint Joseph, the son of Camus, and again, subsequently to displace Joseph, and bestow that high dignity upon Ananias, the son of Nebedeus. These are all the events that are recorded of his reign, which lasted less than eight years, as he died in A. D. 48, when his petty kingdom was bestowed by Claudius upon his nephew, Herod Agrippa II. (J. AJ 19.5.1, 20.1.3, 5.2, B. J. 2.11. §§ 5, 6; D. C. 60.8.) He was twice married, first to Mariamne, daughter of Olympias, the daughter of Herod the Great, by whom he had a son, Aristobulus; secondly, to the accomplished Berenice, daughter of his brother Agrippa, who bore him two sons, Berenicianus and Hyrcanus. (J. AJ 18.5.4, 20.5.2.) [E.H.B]