The usual name for the officers charged with the execution of the law and the maintenance of order
378
POLITICAL CONDITIONS
POLITICAL CONDITIONS
is vTT-np^rris (Mt 5-=, Jn 7=*-- ^'- ""' 18^- '-). It may be variously translated 'apparitor,' ' serjeant,' or 'warder.' They had the duty, among others, of inflicting- the punishment of scourging (Mt 10" = Mk 13", Mt 23^-'). Josephus says that each judge iiad two virripiTai assigned to him [Ant. IV. viii. 14) ; but in this passage the Avord probably means 'clerks ' rather than police constables. That the powers of the latter were extensive is evident from the drastic measures taken by Saul as the commissioner of the Sanhedrin in las persecution of tlie followers of Christ (Ac 8^ 26i»- " ; cf. 5i«--^). Another term, used apparently more particularly in reference to cases of Hues and debts, but also having a general signification, is Trpd/crwp (Lk 12^**) = ' bailiff.' The term ff-KSKovXaTup (Mk 6^^), used of the executioner of John the Baptist, denotes an officer belonging to tiie polic^e attached to the military rulers. The weight of opinion inclines to the view that the spec ulato res were soldiers (Schiirer, HJP I. ii. 62) ; but it is probable that Herod had armed satellites about his court who did not I'ank as regular soldiers, but would be called upon to phiy many parts, from ai)paritor to executioner. The plain-clothes detec- tive was employed by the Herods (Jos. Avt. XV. X. 4), and the despotic use which they made of their power, backed up as it was by the command of soldiery, took little cognizance of the established civil authorities. The centurion in Mt 8^"'^=:Lk •^2-10 ^y.^^ probably the captain of the troop quartered at Capernaum and in the service of Herod Antipas (Holtzmann, Hand-Cvin. in loc). These troops served the i)urpose of clearing the country of gangs of robbers (Jos. Ant. XV. x. 1).
J. Ros.s Murray.
POLITICAL CONDITIONS.—!. Reign of Herod the Great. — Christ was born nearly at the close of tlie reign of Herod (Mt 2'), who died in the spring of B.C. 4. Herod's relation to Rome was that of an allied king (rex soci/is), Avhose title and authority alike were dependent upon the goodwill of the Emperor. He was expected to preserve order within ills kingdom, and to bring it into a fit state for inclusion in the normal system of provincial government, and at the same time to protect the frontier of the Empire. With foreign policy he had nothing to tlo ; and tlie right of coining was probably limited, the only known Herodian coins being of copi)er. A certain tribute was exacted, which Herod raised on the other parts of his king- dom than Judtea ; and instructions from Rome had to be strictly and quickly followed, the Imperial consent being neces.sary also to any arrangement as to the succession to the royal property or domains. Within tiiese limits his power was restrained only by the necessity of not provoking the people either to rebel or to appeal to Rome.
2. Tetrarchy of Philip. — Special permission had been given by Augustus to Herod to be(iueath his kingdom as he liked (Jos. Ant. XVI. iv. 5), the will being subject, of course, to Imperial confirmation. Under the pressure of various palace intrigues, and with a view to separate elements between which at tiie time there was no possible cohesion, Herod left Judiea to Archelaus, Galilee and Peraea to Antipas, and the north-eastern districts beyond Jordan to Philip. This partition was eventually accepted at Rome, with a few slight modifications. To Philip, with the title of tetrarcii, which origin- ally implied the government of a fourth part of a tribe or kingdom, but gradually came to be used of any petty dependent prince, were assigned the comparatively poor districts lying to the east of the Sea of Galilee, and extending northwards as far as Mt. Hermon (Lk 3^). Over these he reigned for thirty-seven years (B.C. 4-A.D. 34), when upon his deatli the territory was incorpoiated in the province of Syria, though without losing the privi-
lege of the separate administration of its finances (Jos. A7it. XVIII. iv. 6). Tliree years later it was given to Agrippa I., with the title of king. The population A\as preilominantly Syrian and Greek, with Jewish settlements in the south-west ; and though Philip's sympathies were entirely Roman, he respected the sentiments of the different classes of the people, and his long reign was disturbed by no outbreak of popular feeling, and no peremptory interference from Rome. Like most of the Herods, he had a passion for building ; and to the quiet and well-governed city of C*sarea Philippi, near the alleged source of the Jordan, Jesus withdrew (Mt 16'^, Mk 8-') when the multitudes were crowd- ing upon Him and His enemies tempting Him (Mt 16') ; just as Bethsaida, another of Philip's cities, was His refuge when news reached Him of the Baptist's deatli (Lk 91", cf. Mk 8--).
3. Tetrarchy of Antipas.— The title of tetrarch was granted also to Antipas, whose dominions in- eluded the two districts of Galilee and Peraja, separated by the confederation of free Greek cities known as the Decapolis. Pera?a, east of the Jordan and south-east of Galilee, bore a high reputation for the purity of its Judaism, but politi- cally was of small importance. Its population was prevailingly Jewish ; though Antipas found an opportunity for the indulgence of his passion for building in the erection of Julias on the site of the ancient Beth-haram (Jos 13^'), opposite Jericho. But the main part of the tetrarchy, as far as num- bers and industry are concernetl, lay to the north of Samaria, where the Jews formed the majority of a population estimated perhaps too highly (see art. Population) at three millions, and comprising almost every possible admixture of Canaanitish and Greek elements. The administration of Anti- pas must have been successful on the Avhole, for it continued for more than forty years, though his father's diplomacy became in him craft and mean- ness (Lk 13^^ ; Jos. Ant. XVIIl. iv. 5). His private friendship with Tiberius may be part of the ex- planation of the length of his reign; in A.D. 39 he was banished by Caligula to Lyons, and his territories were added to the kingdom of Herod Agrippa I. (Ac 12' ; Jos. Ant. XVIII. vii. 2).