AGRIPPA, HEROD I. (c. 10 B.c.—A.D. 44), king of Judaea, the son of Aristobulus and Berenice, and grandson of Herod the Great, was born about o B.C. His original name was Marcus Iulius Agrippa. Josephus inf orms us that, after the murder of his father, Herod the Great sent him to Rome to the court of Tiber ius, whose son Drusus became his friend. On the death of Drusus, Agrippa, who had been recklessly extravagant, was obliged' to leave Rome overwhelmed with debt. After a brief seclusion, Herod the Tetrarch, his uncle, who had married Agrippa's sister Herodias, made him Agoranomos (Overseer of Markets) of Tiberias, and pre sented him with a large sum of money; but his uncle being unwill ing to continue his support, Agrippa left Judaea for Antioch and soon after returned to Rome, where he was welcomed by Tiberius and became constant companion to the emperor Gaius (Caligula), then a popular favourite. Agrippa, overheard by his freed man Eutyches to express a wish for Tiberius' death and the advancement of Gaius, was betrayed to the emperor and cast into prison. In A.D. 37 Caligula, having ascended the throne, heaped wealth and favours upon Agrippa and gave him the tetrarchy of Batanaea and Trachonitis. To this he added that held by Lysanias; and Agrippa journeyed into Judaea to take possession of his new kingdom. In A.D. 3g he returned to Rome and brought about the banishment of Herod Antipas, to whose tetrarchy he succeeded. On the assassination of Caligula (A.D. 41) Agrippa sup ported the emperor Claudius, who gave him the government of Judaea, while the kingdom of Chalcis in Lebanon was, at his request, given to his brother Herod. Thus Agrippa became one of the greatest princes of the east, the territory he possessed equalling in extent that held by Herod the Great. He returned to Judaea and governed it to the great satisfaction of the Jews. His zeal, private and public, for Judaism is celebrated by Josephus and the rabbis; and the narrative of Acts xii, telling of his perse cution of the Apostles James and Peter, gives a typical example of it. Both the Acts of the Apostles and Josephus give an account of his sudden death after an exhibition of games at Caesarea. A third account says that Agrippa was assassinated by the Romans, who objected to his growing power. He had shown too independ ent a spirit in his attempt to strengthen the walls of Jerusalem and to summon a meeting of other client princes and after his death the emperor appointed no more kings of Judaea, but ruled the province by means of procurators.
See articles Josephus, J.A. 18 and 19 in Ency. Bibl. (W. J. Wood house), Jewish Ency. (M. Brann), with further references; N. S. Libowitz, Herod and Agrippa (2nd ed., 1898) ; Gratz, Geschichte d. Juden,iii. 318-361.