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Why is Herod Antipas potrayed as a half pagan/aetheist?

posted 8 years ago by buttsronc
3 replies | jump to latest

In the film when Herod Antipas has John the Baptist brought before him he asks John "What god" or something to that affect. Nothing against Jose Ferrer's performance but why would they portray Herod as a total non-believer? Herod the great was not an ethnic Jew but he was Jewish. He did renovate the second temple. His son was Jewish. I understand that Herod Antipas is supposed to be shown as not being the most observant Jew but I find it strange that he would show non belief in front of his soldiers. Herod Antipas is supposed to be King of the Jews so I would think he would have to at least fake being an observant Jew in court. Antipas doesn't have a beard! He looks like a Roman.

[–] angmc43 8 years ago

Biblically speaking, the Herods weren't religious enough to accept Jesus (the baby massacre at Bethlehem) and John (chop!).

[–] HSauer 8 years ago

These are all very good points. I think Herod, the Pharisees, and the populace have to be portrayed as they are in order for the traditional story of Jesus to make sense. If these various parties had seriously legitimate objections to Jesus and John the Baptist and what they were preaching, then the story would lose much of its sentimental power.

[–] Eric-62-2 8 years ago

Herod Antipas was *not* the "king of the Jews." After the death of his father, Herod the Great, Rome decided that they didn't want Antipas or any of Herod's other sons for that matter to rule over the entire kingdom of Palestine so they took direct control of Judea (with Jerusalem where the Temple was located) and had a governor administrate it, while the other provinces were divided up among the sons with Antipas getting control of Galilee only. He was not "king of the Jews" in any sense of the term, he was just a provincial ruler, only half-Jewish by background (as was Herod the Great) and he had run afoul of the Jewish law by taking the wife of his brother Philip. So his behavior in fact was quite pagan for the most part.