Antipater

/an tip"euh teuhr/, n.

398?-319 B.C., Macedonian statesman and general: regent of Macedonia 334-323.

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died 43 BC

Founder of the Herodian dynasty in Palestine.

Born in Idumaea, a region of southern Judaea, he gained power by helping the Romans, and in return, Julius Caesar appointed him procurator of Judaea in 47 BC. He was assassinated by a rival four years later, but his son, Herod the Great, was made king of Judaea.

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▪ Idumaean governor of Judaea

died 43 BC

      Idumaean founder of the Herodian dynasty in Palestine. Antipater gained power in Judaea by making himself useful to the Romans. In return for Antipater's support, Caesar appointed him procurator of Judaea in 47 BC. Although Antipater was assassinated by a political rival four years later, his son, Herod I the Great, was later made king of Judaea by the Romans.

▪ regent of Macedonia

born c. 397 BC

died 319

      Macedonian general, regent of Macedonia (334–23) and of the Macedonian Empire (321–319) whose death signalled the end of centralized authority in the empire. One of the leading men in Macedonia at the death of Philip II in 336, he helped to secure the succession to the Macedonian throne for Philip's son, Alexander the Great, who upon departure for the conquest of Asia (334) appointed Antipater regent in Macedonia with the title of general in Europe. Antipater's main task was to hold the northern frontiers against hostile tribes and to keep order among the Greek states. He ruled Greece by cooperating with the League of Corinth but was unpopular because he supported oligarchic governments. The settlement of the satrapies (provinces) of the Macedonian Empire by the new regent, Perdiccas, at Babylon in 323, immediately after Alexander's death, left Antipater in control of Macedonia and Greece, though as former regent his status in relation to Perdiccas was not clearly defined. Antipater then took the side of the Macedonian generals Antigonus, Seleucus, and Ptolemy, who were opposed to the claims of Perdiccas. By the settlement at Triparadisus, Syria (321), after Perdiccas' death, Antipater became regent of the Macedonian Empire for the two kings: the intellectually retarded Philip III Arrhidaeus and the infant Alexander IV.

▪ son of Herod the Great

died 4 BC

      son of Herod the Great, who conspired against his half brothers Aristobulus and Alexander for the succession to the throne of Judaea and secured their execution (7 or 6 BC). The following year he was tried for plotting against Herod and Pheroras, Herod's brother, and was executed five days before his father's death.

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