A son of Herod the Great, by his Samaritan wife Malthace. He was educated with his brother Antipas at Rome, and after his father's death was placed over Judea, Idumea, and Samaria, (the cities Gaza, and Hippo excepted,) with the title of ethnarch or tetrarch; whence he is said to reign, Mt 2:22. This passage implies that he inherited the tyrannical and cruel disposition of his father; and history informs us that after enjoying his power for ten years, he was accused before the emperor on account of his cruelties, and banished to Vienne on the Rhone, in Gaul, where he died.