of the war was rewarded with an enlargement of his ten-itories. We hear of him in Rome in A.D. 75, when he was raised to praetorian rank. Later on, he corresponded with Josephus about his His- tory of the Jcicish War. He died, without issue, about the end of the century. It was this king, AgTippa II., who was associated with Porcius Festus, the Roman procurator of Palestine (A.D. 60-62), in the trial of St. Paul recorded in Ac 25'^- 26^-. The remark imputed to him on that occasion ('almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian,' 26-*) is interesting for the evidence it affords of the early currency of the name ' Christian.' The character of Agrippa has caused doubt to be thrown on its ordinary interpretation as an admission of the profound impression made on him by St. Pauls appeal. It has been taken to mean either ' you are persuading me somewhat to act the part of a Christian,' or ' on slight grounds you Avoiild make me a believer in your assertion that the Messiah has come' {EBi i.'754n., ii. 2037).
LrrERATxmE.— The p^-eat authoritj- for the lives of the Herods is Josephus. E. Schiirer, G./ F4, Leipzig:, 1901-11 (Enpr. tr. of 2nd ed. = HJP, Edinburgh, 1S85-90); A. Hausrath,iYr.^r(;(Eng. tr. of 2nd ed., London, 1S95) ; and other Histories of NT Times, give more or less full accounta ot the family. See also artt. s.v. in HDB and EBi. J)^ FreW.
HERODION ('HpwStwi', WH 'HpyStW, Ro 16", a Greek name, suggesting connexion with the familj' of the Herods). — Herodion is saluted by St. Paul and is described as ' my kinsman ' [rbv a-vyyevi) fiov). Other 'kinsmen' saluted in Ro 16 are Andronicus and Junias (or Junia) (v.''), while three ' kinsmen ' send salutations in v. 2'. That St. Paul means that these persons were relations of his is unlikely. It is this interpretation which has given rise to one of the difficulties felt in deciding the destination of the passage vv.2-20. Almost certainly we should understand ' fellow- Jews ' or ' fellow-members of my tribe ' (see Ro 9^). Lightfoot connects Herodion with 'the household of Aristobulus' saluted in the preceding verse. He considers that Aristobulus was a member of the Herodian family, and that his 'household' would naturally include many Orientals and Jews, and therefore probably some Christians (Philippians*, 1878, p. 175). Of the latter, Herodion may have been one. Others have conjectured that Herodion belonged to ' the house- hold of Narcissus' saluted in the verse which follows. T. B. Allworthy.
HIERAPOLIS ('lepdTToXts). — Hierapolis was a city in the province of Asia, picturesquely situated on a broad terrace in the mountain range which skirts the N. side of the Lycus valley. On the S. side, 6 miles away, Laodicea was plainly visible, while Colossse lay hidden from view 12 miles to the S.E. Difl'ering widely in history and character, these three cities were evangelized together soon after the middle of the 1st centuiy. Hierapolis was probably an old Lydian city, but in the Roman period it was always regarded as Phrj-gian. A change in the spelling of the name is significant. While the older form — Hieropolis, the city of the hieron — limits the sanctity to the shrine, the later form — Hierapolis, the sacred city — conveys the idea that the whole place was holy.
In such an environment Christianity had to con- tend not merely with a superficial Hellenic culture, but with a deep-rooted native superstition. Politic- ally of little account, Hierapolis was important as the home of an ancient Anatolian nature- worship, the cult of Leto and her son Sabazios. The strik- ing physical phenomena of the place were clear indications to the primitive mind of the dreaded pre.sence of a numen which required to be propiti- ated. The numerous hot streams tumbling down the side of the hill on which the city stood are
566
HIGH PEIEST
HOLINESS, PUEITY
strongly imprecated with alum, and the snow- white incrustations which cover the rocky terraces present the appearance of ' an immense frozen cascade, the surface wavy, as of water in its head- long course suddenly petrified ' (R. Chandler, Travels in Asia Minoi^, 1817, p. 287). From a hole in the ground — probably filled up by Chris- tians after A.D. 320 — tliere issued fumes of mephitic vapour, which seemed to come from Hades, so that the awe-inspiring spot was called the Plutonion or Charonion (Strabo XIII. iv. 14). On account of its marvellous hot springs — regarded as a divine gift — the city was associated with the medicinal art of .^sculapius, and under the Empire it became a famous health resort. It was the birth-place of Epictetus the Stoic.
Hierapolis is mentioned once in the NT (Col 4^^), as a city causing grave concern to Epaphras, who was apparently the founder and first pastor of its church. The cities of the Lycus valley no doubt received the gospel at the time of St. Paul's pro- longed mission la Ephesus, the city from which the liglit radiated over the whole province of Asia (Ac lO'"- *). Having acted as St. Paul's delegate in the Lycus valley (Col V [RV]), Epaphras knew that the Apostle regarded its churches as in a manner his own, and after some years of strenuous labour the 'faithful minister of Christ' made a journey from Asia to Rome to seek counsel and help in dealing with errors of doctrine and practice which threatened to undo his work.