Kingdom of Chalcis

Chalcis was a relatively small ancient Iturean kingdom, situated in the Beqaa Valley. The city of Chalcis was located midway between Berytus and Damascus.[1] The modern town of Anjar in Lebanon is believed to be the site of ancient Chalcis (a.k.a. Chalcis sub Libanum, Chalcis of Coele-Syria), although this has not been definitively demonstrated. The ruins of a Roman temple are located a few km South-West of Anjar.

Independent kingdom

Originally, Chalcis was a city in Coele-Syria. When the Seleucid influence in the area began to dissipate, the Itureans created the Kingdom of Chalcis, which stretched from the Mediterranean Sea to near Damascus. They made Chalcis the capital of their realm, Baalbek was the center of worship. The founder of the kingdom seems to have been Ptolemaeus, son of Menneus, an Ituraean dynast.

During the rule of the Hasmonaean king Alexander Jannaeus Ptolemaeus had to cede part of his territory to the Hasmonaeans. This area was later known as Iturea (Iturea, in an ethnic sense, covered a much larger area). In 64 BCE Ptolemaeus bribed the Roman general Pompeius to refrain from annexing his kingdom and allow him to continue to rule as Tetrarch. Pompey also returned to him the areas lost to Jannaeus when he brought an end to the independent Hasmonaean state in 63 BCE.

Under Roman rule

Chalcis, Iturea and Trachonitis in in the first century CE.

Chalcis was a vassal state under Roman rule during the remainder of Ptolemaeus' reign. In 40 BCE He was succeeded by his son Lysanias, who entered into a treaty with Antigonus, who wanted to restore the prestige of the Hasmonaean state in Judaea, against Herod the Great. This course eventually led to his execution by Mark Antony in 36 BCE.

In the years after the reign of Lysanias the territory of Chalcis continually shrank. Nevertheless, an remnant realm of Chalcis persisted, with the most important cities being Chalcis and Abilene. Initially it was given to Cleopatra VII of Egypt by Antony, but she leased it to Zenodorus, possibly a son of Lysanias. After Cleopatra's suicide in 30 BCE, Augustus allowed Zenodorus to rule as Tetrarch. After he conducted raids into Trachonitis, leading to complaints from his neighbors, Augustus deposed him in 23 BCE and gave some or all of his lands to Herod, including Iturea, Batanaea, Trachonitis and Auranitis.

Little is known about Chalcis in the time immediately after Herod's death. It may have been made part of the Roman province of Syria or continued to be ruled by tetrarchs during this period. It is also uncertain if Chalcis had one tetrarch (who would in that case have ruled the whole realm) or multiple tetrarchs simultaneously (who would each have ruled a part of the realm). Another Lysanias is mentioned in the Gospel of Luke (3:1) as tetrarch of Abilene in the time of John the Baptist, though this may be an anachronistic reference to the Lysanias put to death by Antony.

In 37 CE, Emperor Caligula gave Herod Agrippa I the former tetrarchy of Gaulanitis, Auranitis, Batanaea, and Trachonitis, previously held by his uncle Philip the Tetrarch, with the addition of Abila. His realm was augmented by Galilee and Peraea, formerly ruled by Herod Antipas, in 39.[2][3] The next emperor, Claudius, gave Agrippa dominion over Judea and Samaria and at his request gave Chalcis to Agrippa's brother Herod of Chalcis, to whom allowed the title of basileus.[4] Thereafter rule of Chalcis passed first to Agrippa's son Herod Agrippa II and then to Herod of Chalcis's son Aristobulus of Chalcis. After the death of Aristobulus, Chalcis was absorbed into the province of Syria.

Rulers of Chalcis

References

  1. ↑ Livius.org: Herod Agrippa II http://www.livius.org/articles/person/herod-agrippa-ii/.
  2. ↑ Schwartz, Daniel R. Agrippa I Mohr 1990
  3. ↑ Rajak, Tessa (1996), "Iulius Agrippa (1) I, Marcus", in Hornblower, Simon, Oxford Classical Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ↑  One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Agrippa, Herod, I.". Encyclopædia Britannica. 1 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 425.
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