He had had nine wives, and many
children, of whom he had himself put three to death. Archelaus and Herod
Antipas were the sons of one mother, Herod Philip of another, and the
murdered son of Mariamne had left two children, named Herod Agrippa and
Herodias. Archelaus took the kingdom, but had not power to control
either the people or the army. Three thousand Jews were massacred by the
soldiers in the Temple, and Archelaus went to Rome to beg to be
confirmed on his throne, and assisted in keeping his people in order;
but his brother, Herod Antipas, was there already, begging for a share
in the kingdom, and the Jews sent after Archelaus, saying, "We will not
have this man to reign over us!" Augustus thereupon refused to give to
either the title of King, but split Palestine into four divisions called
tetrarchies, from _tetra_, the Greek word for four, giving to Archelaus
Judea, Samaria, and Idumea; to Antipas, Galilee; to Philip, Iturea, the
part beyond the Jordan; and to a Greek named Lysanias, Abilene, in the
north, near Mount Hermon. After this, Joseph returned from Egypt, but
avoided the dominions of the cruel Archelaus, by going to his former
abode in Galilee.
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