Pheroras

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PHERORAS

PHERORAS (d. c. 5 b.c.e.), son of Antipater and Cypros, younger brother of Herod the Great. During the war of Herod against Antigonus, Pheroras was put in command of the Roman soldiers and charged with fortifying Alexandrion, and was later appointed by Herod tetrarch of Transjordan. Pheroras was actively involved in the intrigues in the court of Herod. Together with his sister Salome, he did everything in his power to accentuate the differences between Herod and the sons of *Mariamne the Hasmonean. Herod hated Pheroras' wife and demanded that he divorce her. Unwilling to accede, Pheroras was compelled to return to his tetrarchy where he died by poisoning. After his death his wife testified that he had plotted to poison Herod.

bibliography:

Jos., Wars, 1:181, 308, 475ff.; Jos., Ant., 14:121; 15:362; Schuerer, Hist, 150, 153, 156; Klausner, Bayit Sheni, 4 (19502), 58, 153, 155–7, 162f.; A. Schalit, Koenig Herodes (1969), index.

[Edna Elazary]