Tetrarch
TETRARCH
Is strictly the ruler of the fourth part of a state or province; but in the New Testament it is a general title applied to those who governed any part of a kingdom or province, with an authority subject only to that of the Roman emperor. Thus Herod the Great and his brother were at one time, in early life, constituted tetrarchs of Judea by Antony. At the death of Herod the Great, he left half his kingdom to Archelaus, with the title of ethnarch; while the other half was divided between two of his other sons. Herod Antipas and Philip, with the title of tetrarchs. See HEROD 1 and 2.In the same manner Lysanias is also said to have been tetrarch of Abilene, Luk 3:1 . It is Herod Antipsas who is called the tetrarch in Mat 14:1 Luk 3:19 9:7 Mal 13:1 . As the authority of the tetrarch was similar to that of the king, so the general term king is also applied to Herod, Mat 14:9 Mar 6:14 .
Fuente: American Tract Society Bible Dictionary
Tetrarch
This title originally signified the governor of the fourth part of a country. Thus Philip of Macedon divided Thessaly into four districts called tetrarchies. Later, however, the title came to be used in a loose sense of any petty ruler, and in this sense it is applied in the NT to Herod Antipas, Philip, and Lysanias. Of these Herod is called king in Mat 14:9; but the usual and correct designation of him is tetrarch, and it is thus that he is mentioned in Act 13:1, the only passage in the apostolic writings where the title occurs.
G. Wauchope Stewart.
Fuente: Dictionary of the Apostolic Church
Tetrarch
(, from , four, and , government), properly denotes the governor of a province or district which was regarded as the fourth part of a larger province or kingdom, while the district itself was called a tetrarchy ( or ). The earliest use of the word which seems to have been discovered is in connection with the division of Thessaly as originally constituted (Eurip. Alcest. 1154; Strabo, 9:5) and as reconstructed in the time of Philip of Macedon (Demosth. Phil. 3, 26), and of Galatia before its conquest by the Romans, B.C. 189. The first of these countries was then divided into four parts, each of which was named a tetrarchy, and its ruler a tetrarch, subordinate to the tagus (Thirlwall, Hist. of Greece, 6:13 sq.). The second was divided into three sections, each of which was again subdivided into four smaller ones, to which and to their governors the same terms were applied (Fischeri Prolusiones, p. 428, note); and these were ultimately fused into one under Deiotarus, cir. B.C. 54 (Strabo, 566; Plutarch, De V. M. [ed. Wytt], vol. 2). In the later days of the Roman republic, and during the empire, the etymological meaning was almost entirely lost sight of, and it was applied, like ethnarch and phlylarch, to the petty tributaries, the creatures of a proconsul’s breath, and the puppets of his caprice (Merivale, Hist. of the Rom. 4:167), whose importance did not warrant their receiving the title of king (see Sallust, Cath. 20:7; Cicero, Milo, 28:76; Vatin. 12:29; Horace, Sat. 1, 3, 12; Veil. Pat. 2, 51; Tacitus, Ann. 15:25). It is in this secondary sense that in all probability the word is used in the New Test. of the tetrarchs of Syria, the heirs and successors of Herod the Great. Niebuhr (Hist. of Rome, 2, 135) compares them to the zemindars of Bengal after their recognition by lord Cornwallis (179L-93) as proprietors of the soil, and enjoying some amount of sovereign rights within the limits of their zemiudary. The title of tetrarch was certainly given by Antony to Herod the Great in the early part of his career (B.C. 41) and his brother Phasael (Josephus, Ant. 14:13, 1), without reference to territorial divisions; and though it appears that the tetrarchs Antipas and Philip did actually receive a fourth part of their father’s dominions, while Archelaus as ethnarch inherited half (ibid. 17:11, 4; War, 2, 6, 3), this correspondence of the name and the share may be considered accidental, or, at furthest, the exact use of the term in the New Test. must be confined to Antipas and Philip.
In the New Test. we meet with the designation, either actually or in the form of its derivative , applied to three persons:
1. Herod Antipas (Mat 14:1; Luke 3, 1, 19; Luke 9, 7; Act 13:1), who is commonly distinguished as Herod the tetrarch, although the title of king is also assigned to him both by Matthew (Mat 14:9) and by Mark (Mar 6:14; Mar 6:22 sq.). Luke, as might be expected, invariably adheres to the formal title which would be recognized by Gentile readers. This Herod is described by the last-named evangelist (3, 1) as tetrarch of Galilee; but his dominions, which were bequeathed to him by his father, Herod the Great, embraced the district of Peraea beyond the Jordan (Josephus, Ant. 17:8, 1): this bequest was confirmed by Augustus (War, 2, 6, 3). After the disgrace and banishment of Antipas, his tetrarchy was added by Caligula to the kingdom of Herod Agrippa I (Ant. 18:7, 2). SEE HEROD ANTIPAS.
2. Herod Philip (the son of Herod the Great and Cleopatra, not the husband of Herodias), who is said by Luke (Luk 3:1) to have been tetrarch of Itursea and of the region of Trachonitis. Josephus tells us that his father bequeathed to him Gaulonitis, Trachonitis, and Paneas (Ant. 17:8, 1), and that his father’s bequest Nas confirmed by Augustus, who assigned to him Gaulonitis, Trachonitis, and Auranitis, with certain parts about Jamnia belonging to the house of Zenodorus (War, 1, 6, 3). Accordingly, the territories of Philip extended eastward from the Jordan to the wilderness, and from he borders of Persea northward to Lebanon and the neighborhood of Damascus. After the death of Philip his tetrarchy was added to the province of Syria by Tioerius (Ant. 18:4, 6), and subsequently conferred by Caligula on Herod Agrippa. I, with the title of king (ibid. 18:6, 10). SEE HEROD AGRIPPA I; SEE HEROD PHILIP I.
3. Lysanias, who is said (Luk 3:1) to have been tetrarch of Abilene, a small district surrounding the town of Abila, in the fertile valley of the Barada or Chrysorrhoas, between Damascus and the mountain range of Antilibanus. SEE ABILENE. There is some difficulty in fixing the limits of this tetrarchy, and in identifying the person of the tetrarch. SEE LYSANIAS. We learn, however, from Josephus (Ant. 18:6, 10; 19:5, 1) that a Lysanias had been tetrarch of Abila before the time of Caligula, who added this tetrarchy to the dominions of Hero Agrippa I an addition which was confirmed by the emperor Claudius.
Fuente: Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
Tetrarch
strictly the ruler over the fourth part of a province; but the word denotes a ruler of a province generally (Matt. 14:1; Luke 3:1, 19; 9:7; Acts 13:1). Herod and Phasael, the sons of Antipater, were the first tetrarchs in Palestine. Herod the tetrarch had the title of king (Matt. 14:9).
Fuente: Easton’s Bible Dictionary
Tetrarch
Properly governor of the fourth part of a larger province and kingdom, i.e. a tetrarchy. The title “king” is applied by courtesy, not right, to Herod “the tetrarch” (Luk 3:1; Mar 6:14). (See HEROD.) As Archelaus was “ethnarch” over half of Herod the Great’s whole kingdom, so Philip and Antipus had divided between them the remaining half, and were each “tetrarch” over the fourth; Herod over Galilee; Philip over Ituraea and Trachonitis; Lysanias over Abilene. Caligula annexed the three tetrarchies to the kingdom of Herod Agrippa I, whom he honoured with the title “king” (Acts 12).
Fuente: Fausset’s Bible Dictionary
Tetrarch
TETRARCH ( is the classical form, but in NT the MS evidence is strongly in favour of [Tisch., WH [Note: H Westcott and Horts text.] , and Nestle]).The title is used in the Gospels of Antipas (Mat 14:1, Luk 3:1; Luk 3:19; Luk 9:7), and of Philip and Lysanias (Luk 3:1). Originally it denoted the ruler of a fourth part of a country or province. Euripides (Alc. 1154) is the earliest writer to use the term , and applies it to Thessaly, which in primitive times was divided for civil administration into four districts. This arrangement was restored in the constitution given by Philip of Macedon (Demos. Philipp. iii. 26, where the word is clearly technical and free from the doubt in which Euripides leaves it). A similar system was met with in Galatia, where each of the three tribes had its four tetrarchs (Strabo, 430, 566 f.). Pompey afterwards reduced the number to three, one for each tribe, but retained the original title (Appian, Mithridat. 46). Thenceforward, if not at an even earlier date, the name lost its etymological meaning, and could be applied to any petty dependent prince, subordinate in rank to kings but enjoying some of the prerogatives of sovereignty (Cic. pro Milone, xxviii. 76; Hor. Sat. i. iii. 12; Tac. Ann. xv. 25; et al.). Such tetrarchs seem to have been numerous, especially in Syria. Antony conferred the title upon both Herod and his brother Phasael (Josephus Ant. xiv. xiii. 1, BJ i. xii. 5); but the rank was almost purely titular, and left them inferior in dignity to the high priest, Hyrcanus ii. In b.c. 30 another brother, Pheroras, was made tetrarch of Peraea (Josephus Ant. xv. x. 3), he nominal honour being maintained on an income granted by Herod himself. In the Gospels the etymological signification of the term has evaporated. For, though Herod divided his kingdom into four parts, the one assigned to Salome consisted merely of a palace with the revenue of certain so-called free towns, and was in no sense a tetrarchy. With this exception, his kingdom was divided into three parts, and the title of tetrarch was conferred by the will of Rome upon Antipas and Philip, whilst that of ethnarch, or recognized head of a nation, was similarly bestowed upon Archelaus. On two occasions Antipas is styled king (Mat 14:9; cf. Mat 14:1, Mar 6:14; Mar 6:22; Mar 6:26 f.); and the obvious explanation is that his subjects were encouraged, and some of them perhaps disposed, to speak of him by the higher title, for which Rome had substituted a lower, without any allusion to its strict meaning. Similarly in the case of Lysanias. He was ruler of the district of Abila in the Lebanon, which had been severed from the kingdom of Ituraea on the execution of Lysanias i. in b.c. 36. That kingdom was in the course of time broken up into three parts, of which Abilene formed one, with another Lysanias as its tetrarch (Josephus Ant. xviii. vi. 10, xix. v. 1; CIG [Note: IG Corpus Inscriptionum Graecarum.] 4521, 4523). The term may have been selected because of the smallness of the district in comparison with the earlier kingdom, but it preserves no record of the division of a country or association of tribes into four parts. In the Gospels the tetrarch is merely a petty prince, dependent upon Rome for the retention of his few emblems of sovereignty, whilst encouraged to self-repression and loyal service by an occasional promotion to a higher dignity.
R. W. Moss.
Fuente: A Dictionary Of Christ And The Gospels
Tetrarch
TETRARCH.The transliteration of a Gr. word (tetrarchs) whose literal meaning is the ruler of a fourth part. As a title it lost its strict etymological force, and was used of a petty prince, or the ruler of a district. In the NT Herod the tetrarch is Herod Antipas, son of Herod the Great; he ruled over Galilee and Pera (Mat 14:1, Luk 3:1; Luk 3:19; Luk 9:7, Act 13:1), and is popularly styled king (Mar 6:14 ff., Mat 14:9). Two other tetrarchs are mentioned in Luk 3:1; viz., Herod Philip, the brother of Antipas, who ruled over the Ituran and Trachonitic territory; and Lysanias, who was Tetrarch of Abilene in the fifteenth year of Tiberius (see Schrer, HJP [Note: JP History of the Jewish People.] i. ii., App. 1).
J. G. Tasker.
Fuente: Hastings’ Dictionary of the Bible
Tetrarch
tetrark, tetrark , tetrarches): As the name indicates it signifies a prince, who governs one-fourth of a domain or kingdom. The Greeks first used the word. Thus Philip of Macedon divided Thessaly into four tetrarchies. Later on the Romans adopted the term and applied it to any ruler of a small principality. It is not synonymous with ethnarch at least the Romans made a distinction between Herod tetrarch of Galilee, Philip tetrarch of Trachonitis, Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, and Archelaius ethnarch of Judea (BJ, II, vi, 3; Ant., XVII, xi, 4). The title was often conferred on Herodian princes by the Romans, and sometimes it was used courteously as a synonym for king (Mat 14:9; Mar 6:14). In the same way a tetrarchy was sometimes called a kingdom.
Fuente: International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Tetrarch
Tetrarch, a prince or sovereign who holds or governs a fourth part of a kingdom, without wearing the diadem or bearing the title of king. Such was the original import of the word, but it was afterwards applied to any petty king or sovereign, and became synonymous with ethnarch.
In the reign of Tiberius Caesar Herod’s kingdom of Judea was divided into three parts, which were called tetrarchies, and the sovereigns tetrarchs. His sons were made the heirs to his kingdom. Archelaus became tetrarch of Judea, Samaria, and Idumea; Philip of Trachonitis and Ituraea; and Herod Antipas of Galilee and Pera (Luk 3:1). Herod Agrippa, the nephew of Herod Antipas, who afterwards obtained the title of king (Act 25:13), was in the reign of Caligula invested with royalty, and appointed tetrarch of Abilene; to which was afterwards added Galilee and Pera, Judea and Samaria; until at length his dominion extended over the whole land of Palestine [HERODIAN FAMILY]. The title of tetrarch was frequently conferred upon the descendants of Herod the Great by the Roman emperors.
Fuente: Popular Cyclopedia Biblical Literature
Tetrarch
Literally the governor over a fourth part of a province, but also applied to the governor of any small province. It is employed in the N.T. in reference to Herod Antipas, tetrarch of Galilee and Peraea; Philip, tetrarch of Ituraea and Trachonitis; and Lysanias, tetrarch of Abilene. Mat 14:1; Luk 3:1; Luk 3:19; Luk 9:7; Act 13:1.
Fuente: Concise Bible Dictionary
Tetrarch
A Roman ruler.
Mat 14:1
Fuente: Nave’s Topical Bible
Tetrarch
Tetrarch. This title strictly denotes one who governs the fourth part of a province or kingdom. Mat 14:1. In Scripture, however, it is applied to any one who governed a province of the Roman empire, whatever portion of the territory might be within his jurisdiction. Mat 14:9.
Fuente: People’s Dictionary of the Bible
Tetrarch
Tetrarch. Properly, the sovereign or governor of the fourth part of a country. Mat 14:1; Luk 3:1; Luk 9:7; Act 13:1. The title was, however, often applied to any one, who governed a Roman province, of whatever size. The title of king was, sometimes, assigned to a tetrarch. Mat 14:9; Mar 6:14; Mar 6:22.
Fuente: Smith’s Bible Dictionary
Tetrarch
denotes “one of four rulers” (tetra, “four,” arche, “rule”), properly, “the governor of the fourth part of a region;” hence, “a dependent princeling,” or “any petty ruler” subordinate to kings or ethnarchs; in the NT, Herod Antipas, Mat 14:1; Luk 3:19; Luk 9:7; Act 13:1.
“to be a tetrarch,” occurs in Luk 3:1 (thrice), of Herod Antipas, his brother Philip and Lysanias. Antipas and Philip each inherited a fourth part of his father’s dominions. Inscriptions bear witness to the accuracy of Luke’s details.
Fuente: Vine’s Dictionary of New Testament Words
Tetrarch
a sovereign prince that has the fourth part of a state, province, or kingdom under his dominion, without wearing the diadem, or bearing the title of king, Mat 14:1; Luk 3:1; Luk 3:19; Luk 9:7; Act 13:1.