Lectionary Calendar
Thursday, March 28th, 2024
Maundy Thursday
There are 3 days til Easter!
Attention!
For 10¢ a day you can enjoy StudyLight.org ads
free while helping to build churches and support pastors in Uganda.
Click here to learn more!

Bible Encyclopedias
Tetrarch

The 1901 Jewish Encyclopedia

Search for…
or
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y Z
Prev Entry
Tetragrammaton
Next Entry
Tetuan
Resource Toolbox
Additional Links

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." 14:13, § 1; idem, "B. J." 1:12, § 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." 15:10, § 3; "B. J." 1:24, § 5); HEROD ANTIPAS, who was tetrarch of Galilee (Luke 3:1); PHILIP, who governed Iturea and Trachonitis (ib.); and Lysanias, who ruled Abilene (ib.).

The district governed by a tetrarch was called a. tetrarchy ("Ant." 20:7, § 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," 5:74), and one Sohemus of Lebanon is mentioned by Josephus ("Vita," § 11). Kings and tetrarchs furnished auxiliary troops to the army of Varus ("Ant." 17:10, § 9). The Herodian tetrarchs, either from error or from mere flattery, were addressed also as kings (comp. Matthew 2:22, 14:9); 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.;
  • Schürer, Gesch. 3d ed., 1:423.
E. C.
S. Kr.
Bibliography Information
Singer, Isidore, Ph.D, Projector and Managing Editor. Entry for 'Tetrarch'. 1901 The Jewish Encyclopedia. https://www.studylight.org/​encyclopedias/​eng/​tje/​t/tetrarch.html. 1901.
adsFree icon
Ads FreeProfile