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Coins from the reign of Agrippa II.

Agrippa II (AD 27–100), son of Agrippa I, and like him originally named Marcus Julius Agrippa, was the seventh and last king of the family of Herod the Great, thus last of the Herodians. He was the brother of Berenice and Drusilla (second wife of the Roman procurator Antonius Felix). He is sometimes also called Herod Agrippa II.

Having grown up in the court of the emperor Claudius, Agrippa inherited, on the death of his uncle Herod of Chalcis, the oversight of the Temple in 48; Claudius later invested him with the tetrarchy of Chalcis around 49/50. He celebrated by marrying off his two sisters Mariamne and Drusilla.

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). It was before him and his sister Berenice that, according to the New Testament, Paul of Tarsus pleaded his cause at Caesarea Maritima (Acts 26), in 59.

During the First Jewish-Roman War of 66–73, Agrippa sent 2,000 men to support Vespasian, by which it appears that, although a Jew in religion, he was yet entirely devoted to the Romans. He also supplied Josephus with information for his history, Antiquities of the Jews. He died at Rome in the third year of Trajan.

Procurators appointed by Claudius to rule Iudaea Province after the death of Agrippa I in 44 included:

• Tiberius Julius Alexander, Roman general and leader from a Jewish patrician family from Egypt, and a nephew of Philo;
• Antonius Felix, an ex-slave freed by Claudius (52–60);
• Porcius Festus;
• Lucceius Albinus (62–64);
• Gessius Florus (64-66).

These procurators were "corrupt and cruel", helping to spark the Jewish Revolt of 66.

• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
• This entry incorporates text from the public domain Easton's Bible Dictionary, originally published in 1897.

• Yohanan Aharoni & Michael Avi-Yonah, "The MacMillan Bible Atlas", Revised Edition, p. 156 (1968 & 1977 by Carta Ltd.).

• Jewish Encyclopedia: Agrippa II
• Agrippa IIarticle in historical sourcebook by Mahlon H. Smith

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