Reading Companion to Book 1 of The Seculary of a Wandering Jew Read online

Judaeans

  Abraham*

  Member of the Judaean council in Caesarea

  Adina*

  A servant of Ahasver

  Agrippa

  Herod Agrippa I, nephew of Antipas, king of Judaea

  (10 BC - 44)

  King of the Jews from 41 to 44.

  The grandson of Herod the Great and son of Aristobulus IV and Berenice. He was born Marcus Julius Agrippa, so named in honor of Roman statesman Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa. He is the king named Herod in the Acts of the Apostles, in the Bible. He was, according to Josephus, known in his time as "Agrippa the Great".

  After the murder of his father, young Agrippa was sent by Herod the Great to the imperial court in Rome. There, Tiberius conceived a great affection for him, and had him educated alongside his son Drusus, who also befriended him, and future emperor Claudius. On the death of Drusus, Agrippa, who had been recklessly extravagant and was deeply in debt, was obliged to leave Rome, fleeing to the fortress of Malatha in Idumaea.

  Following Tiberius' death and the ascension of Agrippa's friend Caligula, Agrippa was set free and made governor first of the territories of Batanaea and Trachonitis that his cousin Herod II had held, then of the tetrarchy of Lysanias, with the title of "king". Caligula also presented him with a golden chain of a weight equal to the iron one he had worn in prison. In 39, Agrippa returned to Rome, and brought about the banishment of his uncle, Herod Antipas, whose tetrarchy over Galilee and Perea he then was granted.

  On the assassination of Caligula in 41, Agrippa's advice helped to secure Claudius' accession as emperor. As a reward for his assistance, Claudius gave Agrippa dominion over Judea and Samaria. Thus Agrippa became one of the most powerful princes of the east; the territory he possessed exceeded that which was held by his grandfather Herod the Great.

  Agrippa returned to Judaea and governed it to the satisfaction of the Jews. His zeal, private and public, for Judaism is recorded by Josephus and the rabbis.

  At the risk of his own life, or at least of his liberty, he interceded with Caligula on behalf of the Jews, when that emperor was attempting to set up his statue in the Temple at Jerusalem shortly before his death in 41.

  After Passover in 44, Agrippa went to Caesarea, where he had games performed in honor of Claudius. In the midst of his elation Agrippa he experienced heart pains and a pain in his abdomen, and died after five days

  Ammon*

  Employee of Ahasver in Tiberias

  Ananias

  Ananias ben Nebedeus, High Priest

  Ananias son of Nedebaios (Ananias ben Nebedeus in the Book of Acts), was a high priest who presided during the trial of Paul at Jerusalem and Caesarea.

  He officiated as high priest from about AD 47 to 52. Quadratus, governor of Syria, accused him of being responsible for acts of violence.

  He was sent to Rome for trial (AD 52), but was acquitted by the emperor Claudius. Being a friend of the Romans, he was murdered by the people at the beginning of the First Jewish-Roman War.

  Annas

  Annas ben Seth, High Priest

  Annas, son of Seth (23/22 BC‚ death date unknown, probably around 40 CE), was appointed by the Roman legate Quirinius as the first High Priest of the newly formed Roman province of Judaea in 6 AD; just after the Romans had deposed Archelaus, Ethnarch of Judaea, thereby putting Judaea directly under Roman rule.

  Annas officially served as High Priest for ten years (6 - 15 AD), when at the age of 36 he was deposed by the procurator Gratus 'for imposing and executing capital sentences which had been forbidden by the imperial government.' Yet while having been officially removed from office, he remained as one of the nation's most influential political and social individuals, aided greatly by the use of his five sons and his son-in-law as puppet High Priests.

  His death is unrecorded, but his son Annas the Younger, also known as Ananus ben Ananus was assassinated in 66 AD for advocating peace with Rome.

  Antipas

  Herod Antipas, son of Herod, Tetrarch of Galilee

  Herod Antipater (born before 20 BCE - died after 39 CE), known by the nickname Antipas, was a 1st-century CE ruler of Galilee and Perea, who bore the title of tetrarch ("ruler of a quarter"). He is best known today for accounts in the New Testament of his role in events that led to the executions of John the Baptist and Jesus of Nazareth.

  After being named to the throne by Caesar Augustus upon the death of his father, Herod the Great, in 4 BCE, and subsequent Ethnarch rule by his brother, Herod Archaleus, Antipas ruled them as a client state of the Roman Empire. He was responsible for building projects at Sepphoris and Betharamphtha, and more important for the construction of his capital Tiberias on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee. Named in honor of his patron, the emperor Tiberius, the city later became a center of rabbinic learning.

  In 39 CE Antipas was accused by his nephew Agrippa I of conspiracy against the new Roman emperor Caligula, who sent him into exile in Gaul. Accompanied there by Herodias, he died at an unknown date.

  Asher*

  Employee of Ahasver

  Boethus

  Wealthy priestly family

  Caiaphas

  Joseph Caiaphas, High Priest

  Joseph, son of Caiaphas, was the Roman-appointed Jewish high priest who is said to have organized the plot to kill Jesus. Caiaphas is also said to have been involved in the Sanhedrin trial of Jesus.

  According to the Gospel, Caiaphas was the major antagonist of Jesus. The 1st-century Jewish historian Josephus is considered the most reliable literary source for Caiaphas. His works contain information on the dates for Caiaphas's tenure of the high priesthood, along with reports on other high priests, and also help to establish a coherent description of the responsibilities of the high-priestly office. According to Josephus, Caiaphas was appointed in AD 18 by the Roman prefect who preceded Pontius Pilate, Valerius Gratus.

  After Pontius' recall Caiaphas was removed by the new governor, Vitellius, and was succeeded by Jonathan, who was the son of Anan and perhaps a brother-in-law of Caiaphas.

  Drusilla

  Daughter of Agrippa, second wife of Felix

  Drusilla (born 38, died 25 August 79 AD) was a daughter of Herod Agrippa I and thus sister to Berenice, Marianne and Herod Agrippa II.

  She was six years of age at the time of her father's death at Caesarea in 44. Her father had betrothed her to Gaius Julius Archelaus Antiochus Epiphanes, first son of King Antiochus IV of Commagene, with a stipulation from her father that Epiphanes should embrace the Jewish religion. The prince in the end refused to abide by his promise to do so, and the marriage had still not been contracted on her father's death.

  Once Drusilla's brother, Herod Agrippa II, had been assigned the tetrarchy of Herod Philip I in around 49/50, he broke off her engagement to Epiphanes and gave her in marriage to Gaius Julius Azizus, Priest King of Emesa, who, in order to obtain her hand, consented to be circumcised.

  It appears that it was shortly after her first marriage was contracted that Antonius Felix, the Roman procurator of Judaea, met Drusilla, probably at her brother's court. Felix was struck by the great beauty of Drusilla, and determined to make her his (second) wife.

  She was about twenty-two years of age when she appeared at Felix's side, during St. Paul's captivity at Caesarea.

  Felix and Drusilla had a son named Marcus Antonius Agrippa and a daughter Antonia Clementiana. Their son perished together with his mother Drusilla, along with noted Roman historian Pliny the Elder plus most of the populations of Pompeii and Herculaneum in the AD 79 eruption of Mount Vesuvius.

  Eloy*

  Friend of Ahasver, potter

  Gamaliel

  Friend of Joseph, Nasi of the Sanhedrin

  Gamaliel the Elder or Rabban Gamaliel I, was a leading authority in the Sanhedrin in the mid-1st century CE. He was son of Simeon ben Hillel, and grandson of the great Jewish teacher Hillel the Elder, and died twenty years before the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem (70 CE). He fathered a son,
whom he called Simeon, after his father, and a daughter. The name Gamaliel is the Greek form of the Hebrew name meaning reward of God.

  In the Christian tradition, Gamaliel is celebrated as a Pharisee doctor of Jewish Law. Acts of the Apostles speaks of Gamaliel as a man of great respect who spoke in favor of arrested Christian apostles and the Jewish Law teacher of Paul the Apostle.

  In the Talmud, Gamaliel is described as bearing the titles Nasi and Rabban (our master), as the president of the Great Sanhedrin in Jerusalem; although some dispute this, it is not doubted that he held a senior position in the highest court in Jerusalem. Gamaliel holds a reputation in the Mishnah for being one of the greatest teachers in all the annals of Judaism.

  Herod

  Herod the Great, king of Judaea

  Herod, also known as Herod the Great (born 73 or 74 BC, died 4 BC in Jericho), was a Roman client king of Judea. His epithet of "the Great" is widely disputed as he is described as "a madman who murdered his own family and a great many rabbis."

  Herod was born around 74 BC in the south (Idumea was the most southern region). He was the second son of Antipater the Idumaean, a high-ranked official under Ethnarch Hyrcanus II, and Cypros, a Nabatean. Herod was practicing Judaism, as many Edomites and Nabateans had been commingled with the Jews and adopted their customs. These "Judaized" Edomites were not considered Jewish by the dominant Pharisaic tradition, so even though Herod may have considered himself of the Jewish faith, he was not considered Jewish by the observant and nationalist Jews of Judea. A loyal supporter of Hyrcanus II, Antipater appointed Herod governor of Galilee at 25, and his elder brother, Phasael, governor of Jerusalem. He enjoyed the backing of Rome but his brutality was condemned by the Sanhedrin.

  Two years later Antigonus, Hyrcanus' nephew, took the throne from his uncle with the help of the Parthians. Herod fled to Rome to plead with the Romans to restore him to power. There he was elected "King of the Jews" by the Roman Senate. Herod went back to Judaea to win his kingdom from Antigonus and at the same time he married the teenage niece of Antigonus, Mariamne (known as Mariamne I), in an attempt to secure a claim to the throne and gain some Jewish favor.

  Three years later, Herod and the Romans finally captured Jerusalem and executed Antigonus. Herod took the role as sole ruler of Judea and the title of king for himself, ushering in the Herodian Dynasty and ending the Hasmonean Dynasty. According to Josephus, he ruled for 37 years, 34 years of them after capturing Jerusalem.

  Herod's most famous and ambitious project was the expansion of the Second Temple in Jerusalem. In the eighteenth year of his reign (20‚Äì19 BC), Herod rebuilt the Temple on "a more magnificent scale". Although work on out-buildings and courts continued another eighty years.

  Some of Herod's other achievements include the development of water supplies for Jerusalem, building fortresses such as Masada and Herodium, and founding new cities such as Caesarea Maritima

  Most scholars have agreed that Herod died at the end of March or early April in 4 BC. Evidence for the 4 BC date is provided by the fact that Herod's sons, between whom his kingdom was divided, dated their rule from 4 BC.

  Herod Agrippa

  Herod Agrippa II, son of Agrippa I, Tetrarch of Lysanias

  (27 - 100)

  King of the Jews from 41 to 44.

  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.

  Agrippa was educated at the court of the emperor Claudius, and at the time of his father's death was only seventeen years old. Claudius therefore kept him at Rome, and sent Cuspius Fadus as procurator of the Roman province of Judaea. On the death of Herod of Chalcis (in 48), his small principality was given to Agrippa, with the right of superintending the Temple in Jerusalem and appointing its high priest.

  In 53, he was made governor over the tetrarchy of Philip and Lysanias.

  In 55, Nero added the cities