Editing Herod Agrippa (section)

===Reign===
[[File:Palestine in the time of Agrippa I (Smith, 1915).jpg|thumb|Map of Palestine in the time of Agrippa I (37-44 AD).]]

====Judaism in the empire====
An edict by Claudius recalls the privileges granted to Alexandrian Jews who lived according to their laws,<ref name="Schwentzel 2011, pp.231-232">{{harvsp|Schwentzel|2011|pp=231–232}}.</ref> and a second edict extended the Alexandrian privileges to the Jews of the diaspora throughout the whole empire.<ref name="Schwentzel 2011, p.232">{{harvsp|Schwentzel|2011|p=232}}.</ref> Agrippa I and his brother Herod of Chalcis played the role of intercessor in favor of the Jews with the emperor.<ref name="Schwentzel 2011, p.232" /> These favors also extended to all the Jewish communities of the empire. They also had the status of censors of Jewish morals: they ensured respect for the Torah by the communities of the [[Jewish diaspora|diaspora]].<ref name="Schwentzel 2011, p.232" />

A few months after the murder of Caligula, inhabitants of the Phoenician city of [[Tel Dor|Dôra]] (south of [[Mount Carmel]])<ref name="Hadas-Lebel 2009, p.88" /> introduced a statue of Claudius into the main [[synagogue]] of the city.<ref name="Schwentzel 2011, p.232" /> For all those who stood up against Caligula's plan to erect his statue in the Temple of Jerusalem, it was a real provocation.<ref name="Schwentzel 2011, p.232" /> Agrippa I intervened immediately and asked for the application of the decree of Claudius.<ref name="Schwentzel 2011, p.233">{{harvsp|Schwentzel|2011|p=233}}.</ref> He acted here as an [[ethnarch]] of the Jews, since Dora was not located on his territory. Petronius, the [[proconsul]] of [[Roman Syria|Syria]] immediately ordered the magistrates of Dora to remove the statue, referring to the edict of Claudius.<ref name="Schwentzel 2011, p.233" /> However, this openness must be put into perspective, which is also reflected in the measures to limit worship against the Jews of Rome, as Cassius Dio reports (History, 60, 6, 6–7),<ref name="Blanchetière_p248">{{harvsp|Blanchetière|2001|p=248}}.</ref> perhaps in reaction to the agitation resulting from the rapid development of the movement of the followers of [[Historical Jesus|Jesus]] and which would be evoked by the Letter of Claudius to the Alexandrians.<ref>[http://www.csun.edu/~hcfll004/claualex.html ''Letter of the Emperor Claudius to the Alexandrians''].</ref> For [[François Blanchetière]], the writing of Philo Legation to Caïus "constitutes an apology for [[Augustus]], to be read a contrario as a criticism of the Judeophobic policy of Claudius (Legation to Caius 155–158)".<ref name="Blanchetière_p248" />

====Administration of the kingdom====
[[File:Herods Promontory Palace P1080647.JPG|thumb|Remains of the Herodian Palace in Caesarea.]]

Claudius probably saw in the appointment of Agrippa I—heir to the Herodians and the Hasmoneans but also attached to the Julio-Claudians by personal relations—a factor of stability which could rid the imperial administration of the management of a province with endemic troubles.<ref name="Mimouni 2012, p.409" />

Agrippa I clearly inherited his grandfather's splendor and his desire for recognition beyond his borders.<ref name="Hadas-Lebel 2009, p.87">{{harvsp|Hadas-Lebel|2009|p=87}}.</ref> Internally, he tried to satisfy both his Jewish and pagan subjects and was divided between his religious capital, Jerusalem, and his "little Rome", [[Caesarea Maritima|Caesarea]].<ref name="Hadas-Lebel 2009, p.87" /> He also undertook the major project of raising the ramparts of his historic capital<ref name="Hadas-Lebel 2009, p.87" /> and extending it to the northern district<ref name="Goodman 2009, p.115" /> thanks to funding from the Temple treasury, which gave some of his Jewish subjects hope for the restoration of an independent kingdom. or at least a rediscovered form of sovereignty.<ref name="Schwentzel 2011, p.239">{{harvsp|Schwentzel|2011|p=239}}.</ref> He continued the policy of [[euergetism]] external to Judea of Herod the Great<ref name="Mimouni 2012, p.409" /> by financing the construction of prestigious works (theatre, amphitheater and baths) in liberalities which mainly benefited the Roman colony of [[Berytus]],<ref name="Hadas-Lebel 2009, p.87" /> without forgetting however the cities of Phoenicia and Syria.<ref name="Mimouni 2012, p.409" /> He also offered shows and games, notably with [[gladiator]]s, even if this contravened Jewish prescriptions, which he got accepted by using condemned criminals.<ref name="Mimouni 2012, p.409" />

On a religious level, as soon as he arrived, Agrippa I forged the reputation of a pious man whom he knew how to maintain, as attested by the [[Mishnah]], which recounts an orchestrated ceremony where the king was acclaimed and obtained the legitimacy of the priests in the Temple of Jerusalem<ref name="Goodman 2009, p.106" /> while his grandfather Herod had never been admitted to the third court of the Temple. However, through his grandmother, [[Mariamne I|Mariamne the Hasmonean]], Agrippa I belonged to a priestly family, which Herod did not. He was thus the first Herodo-Hasmonean to participate in a Temple office since the dismissal of the [[Antigonus II Mattathias]], although he did not offer sacrifices.<ref name="Schwentzel 2011, p.236">{{harvsp|Schwentzel|2011|p=236}}.</ref>

The Mishnah explains how the Jews of the [[Second Temple Judaism|Second Temple era]] interpreted the requirement of {{Bibleverse||Deuteronomy|31:10–13|HE}} that the king should read the Torah to the people. At the conclusion of the first day of [[Sukkot]] immediately after the conclusion of the seventh year in the cycle, they erected a wooden dais in the Temple court, upon which the king sat. The synagogue attendant took a Torah scroll and handed it to the synagogue president, who handed it to the [[High Priest of Israel|High Priest's]] deputy, who handed it to the High Priest, who handed it to the king. The king stood and received it, and was to read while seated. King Agrippa stood and received it and read standing, and the sages praised him for doing so. When Agrippa I reached the commandment of {{Bibleverse||Deuteronomy|17:15|HE}} that "you may not put a foreigner over you" as king, his eyes ran with tears, but they said to him, "Don't fear, Agrippa, you are our brother, you are our brother!"<ref>Ebner, 1982, p.156</ref> The king read from {{Bibleverse||Deuteronomy|1:1|HE}} up through the [[Shema Yisrael|shema]] ({{Bibleverse||Deuteronomy|6:4–9|HE}}), and then {{Bibleverse||Deuteronomy|11:13–21,|HE}} the portion regarding tithes ({{Bibleverse||Deuteronomy|14:22–29|HE}}), the portion of the king ({{Bibleverse||Deuteronomy|17:14–20|HE}}), and the blessings and curses ({{Bibleverse||Deuteronomy|27–28|HE}}). The king would recite the same blessings as the High Priest, except that the king would substitute a blessing for the [[Jewish holidays|festivals]] instead of one for the forgiveness of sin. ([http://www.moreshet.net/oldsite/mishna/5761/10-06-01/wednesday.htm Mishnah Sotah 7:8]; [http://www.halakhah.com/sotah/sotah_41.html Babylonian Talmud Sotah 41a.])

Agrippa I used his prerogative to appoint the high priests of the Temple three times during his short reign, choosing alternately from the priestly dynasties of the [[Annas|Anan]] and the [[Boethusians#A high-priestly family|Boethos]]. His short administration was thus placed under the domination of Rome, of which he was an instrument of control, and the marks of honor given as sovereign by the Jews to the Temple testify to the "generalized clientelism in which personal friendships administrative relations throughout the empire.<ref name="Goodman 2009, p.116">{{harvsp|Goodman|2009|p=116}}.</ref>