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Anti-pa(tro)s
Anti = “in the place of,” “equal to,” “like” | patēr = “father”
Antipas was a nickname of a first-century ruler of Galilee and Perea. His full name, Herod Antipatros (Greek: ̔Ηρᾡδης ̓Αντίπατρος, Hērōdēs Antipatros; 21 B.C.E.–39 C.E.), can be loosely translated as “Herod who is equal to his father.” This father was none other than King Herod the Great. More Hellenistic and Roman rulers (especially in the East) bore composite epithets that expressed a family status, relationship, or affection: Philadelphos (“brother-loving”), Philometor (“mother-loving”), Eupator (“of noble father”), etc.
Although the original sense of the Greek preposition anti is “over against” or “opposite” (see Sanskrit ánti or Latin ante), anti in the present sense serves to liken a bearer to someone else—in this case, the larger-than-life figure of Antipas’s father. Because anti governs the genitive case, “father” (patēr) in his name takes the form of patros.
In the New Testament, Antipas is involved in the executions of John the Baptist and Jesus of Nazareth (Matthew 14:1-12; Luke 23). Although Mark 6:14 refers to him as “King Herod” (Greek: Βασɩλɛύς ̔Ηρᾡδης), he never bore the title of king, unlike his father. Instead, his elder brother Archelaus succeeded Herod the Great as the king of the Roman client kingdom of Judea, and Antipas was confirmed by the Roman emperor Augustus as tetrarch (“ruler of a quarter”) of Galilee and Perea. Antipas died in Gaul (present-day France), where he had been exiled by Emperor Caligula.
Anti-pa(tro)s
Anti = “in the place of,” “equal to,” “like” | patēr = “father”
