HERODIAS hĭ rō’ dĭ əs (̔Ηρῳδιάς, G2478). The woman who as the wife of Herod Antipas contrived the death of John the Baptist (Matt 14:3-12; Mark 6:17-29; Luke 3:19, 20). Herodias was the daughter of Aristobulus, son of Herod the Great (see Herod), the full sister of Herod, king of Chalcis, and of Agrippa I.

Herodias’ first husband was her uncle, called Philip (Matt 14:3, Mark 6:17), to be distinguished from the tetrarch Philip (Luke 3:1; cf, Gr. of Matt 16:13; Mark 8:27). Since Josephus (Antiq. XVIII. v. 1) called him “Herod,” Luke gives no name, and some old MSS (Matt 14:3, D, Lat. VSS) lack the name Philip, some scholars hold this name is an error, a probable confusion with that of the tetrarch. But the name Philip is clearly original in Mark and most prob. also in Matthew. The argument that two sons of Herod would not both be called Philip is weakened by the fact that Josephus calls two of his sons “Herod” (Antiq. XVIII. i. 3; XVIII. v. 4). His name apparently was Herod Philip, as that of his half-brother was Herod Antipas.

Herodias and her husband, by whom she had a daughter named Salome, lived in Rome; while a guest in their home, Antipas persuaded Herodias to marry him. Antipas divorced his first wife, a Nabatean princess, to marry Herodias. Because John the Baptist publicly denounced this marriage, he was imprisoned at Machaerus. John’s bold rebuke aroused the bitter hatred of the unscrupulous Herodias. She finally managed to secure John’s death by instructing her daughter, the dancing girl, to demand of Antipas the head of John on a platter.

The ambitious Herodias proved the downfall of her second husband. When her brother Agrippa I was given the tetrarchy of Philip with the title of “king,” Herodias persuaded the tetrarch to solicit the title for himself. The emperor instead banished Antipas to Gaul. The proud Herodias followed her husband into exile.

Bibliography Josephus Antiquities XVIII. v. 1; vii. 1-2; War II. ix. 6; A. Fahling, Life of Christ (1936), 333-341; E. Schürer, History of the Jewish People in the Time of Jesus (ed. N. N. Glatzer) (1961), 167-176, 355-357.