Zenodorus (Tetrarch)

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Zenodorus (* around 75 BC; † 20 BC) was a regional ruler at the time of Emperor Augustus in the regions of Iturea , Batanea and Trachonitis bordering on Judea to the north and northeast .

Successor of Lysanias

The predecessor of Zenodorus in possession of these areas was Lysanias , the son of Ptolemaeus Mennaei , with whom Zenodorus was possibly related. After the Roman reconquest of the entire region after the invasion of the Parthians in 40 BC. The Roman general Marcus Antonius first confirmed the rule of Lysanias, whom he appointed ruler of Iturea with a royal title. Later, after Mark Antony had been in a relationship with the Egyptian queen Cleopatra , she accused Lysanias of having too close ties to the Parthians. Antony finally had Lysanias at the instigation of Cleopatra, who also raised territorial claims against Lysanias, in the year 34 BC. Execute. The territory of Lysanias was transferred from Antony to Cleopatra. Cleopatra leased the lands that had fallen to her to Zenodorus.

Punished for military unreliability

After the defeat at Actium in 31 BC BC and the suicide of Marcus Antonius and Cleopatra, this regulation was confirmed by the victorious Emperor Augustus. Presumably, Zenodorus guaranteed the Romans a considerable rent or tribute payment. Zenodorus, however, probably had great difficulty himself in regularly raising the promised sums. He therefore tolerated the raids of the robber gangs based in his area on the city of Damascus and its surrounding area and earned - as the victims of the robbers complained - even from the booty. Since the headquarters of the Romans for the province of Syria was in Damascus , Zenodorus came into conflict with the Roman occupying power. Augustus therefore horrified the unreliable regional prince of rule over a large part of his area and placed it under the administration of the energetic Jewish client king Herod. Zenodorus only left a small part of his previous property. Protests on his part against this imperial decision were in vain. Zenodorus died in 20 BC Suddenly in Antioch, where he wanted to greet Emperor Augustus.

Expansion of the Jewish sphere of influence

The lands remaining to Zenodorus (especially Ulatha, Paneas and their surroundings north and northeast of the Sea of ​​Galilee ) now also transferred Emperor Augustus to King Herod of Judea, whom he valued as a loyal ally and efficient general.

literature

  • Linda-Marie Günther: Herod the Great. Darmstadt 2005, ISBN 3-534-15420-7 , pp. 128-134 chapter “Zenodoros”.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Cf. Linda-Marie Günther, Herodes the Great. Darmstadt 2005. p. 128.
  2. ↑ Flavius ​​Josephus , Antiquitates , 15, 10, 1; De bello iudaico 1, 20, 4.
  3. ↑ Abraham Schalit: King Herod. The man and his work. Verlag Walter de Gruyter, Berlin and New York, 2nd edition 2001. ISBN 3-11-017036-1 , p. 327.
personal data
SURNAME Zenodorus
BRIEF DESCRIPTION regional ruler in Iturea and the surrounding area
DATE OF BIRTH around 75 BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH 20 BC Chr.