Which Herod murdered John the Baptizer? Here is a brief look at the Herodian dynasty. Herod the Great was a madman who murdered his enemies and even members of his own family. He was client king to Rome over Judea. His son Herod Antipas was tetrarch of Galilee. A tetrarchy is a “government by four persons ruling jointly”.1 It was Herod Antipas, son of Herod the Great who killed John the Baptist. When Herod Antipas divorced his first wife Phasaelis to marry his niece Herodias, John the Baptizer condemned it as evil (Mark 6:14-29) and was murdered for his comments. The divorce incited war with Phasaelis’ father the King of Nabatea, which Herod lost and that provoked the bloodthirsty Roman Emperor Caligula to charge him with treason and send him and Herodias into exile in Gaul, where Antipas died.
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