English: About 47, Antipater, Procurator of all Judaea, appointed his eldest son, Phasael, military governor (strategos) of Jerusalem, and Herod, his second, "with equal authority" in Galilee. During the war of Octavian and Antony against Cassius and Brutus, Antony appointed Herod fiscal superintendent (epimeletes) of "all Syria." Cassius (Legate 44-42) had "set up" tyrants all over Syria, including Marion over the Tyrians.

After the battle of Philippi, Antony came to Syria, which, except for the Parthian invasion, remained his till 31. He made Herod and Phasael Tetrarchs, a title which had lost its original meaning—"rulers of fourth-parts"—and was applied generally to dynasts below the rank of kings, "Quarterlings." In 40, Lysanias succeeded Ptolemy Mennaei over the Ituraean confederacy. With his help and that of the Parthians who conquered all Syria, Palestine and Phoenicia (except Tyre), Antigonus, son of Aristobulus II, seized Jerusalem. Herod, with his forces, withdrew to Oressa (so rightly Schlatter, for Thressa of xiv Antt, xiii. 9, or Ressa, xv. 2) and, while the Parthians destroyed Marissa, put his family in Masada with a few troops, disbanded the rest, and fled by Petra and Egypt to Rome; where Antony had him declared by the Senate King of the Jews (of Idumaeans and Samarians, Appian).

Ventidius having driven out the Parthians in 39, Herod landed at Ptolemais, collected an army, took Joppa, and brought his adherents in Masada and Oressa N. to Samaria, and after further campaigns in Idumaea and Galilee, visited Antony at Antioch. Hearing of revolts against his party—the Romans apparently held only Samaria and Gittha—Herod returned, and with two legions under Sosius subdued Galilee, won a battle at Isanas, N.W. of Bethel, and took Jerusalem, 37 B.C., slaying Antigonus, and so becoming king de facto as well as de jure (" Antony then turned them over to a certain Herod to rule," Dion Cass.).

In 34, Antony gave Cleopatra the Phoenician coast, except Tyre and Sidon, parts of the Nabataean and Ituraean domains, and Jericho, which last two she leased to Herod. In 32, he was sent by Antony against the Kabataeans, and defeated them at Diospolis or Dioupolis, near Kanatha, probably the present Suleim (as, in the Chronogr. of Joh. Malala, Salamine, a city of Palestine, is said to have been called Diospolis by Augustus), was routed by them near Kanatha and at Ormiza (unknown), but vanquished them at Philadelphia. He seized Heshbon and Medeba, but the Arnon remained the Nabataean frontier.