Herod Philip (Ἡρῴδης Φίλιππος, Hērōdēs Philippos). A name that appears sometimes in scholarship on the Gospels but not in the biblical text. “Herod Philip” likely reflects a conflation of two individuals:

• Herod II (son of Herod the Great and Mariamme II), about whom we know virtually nothing (see Kokkinos, Herodian Dynasty, 223); and

• Philip the Tetrarch (son of Herod the Great and Cleopatra of Jerusalem), who ruled over a portion of his father’s former kingdom.

Only the latter appears in the New Testament (Mark 6:17; Matt 14:3; Luke 3:1).

There is no extant historical record that attests to an individual in the Herodian dynasty with the double name “Herod Philip.” The confusion derives from conflicting accounts of Herodias’ marriage(s) found in Josephus and the Gospels of Mark and Matthew. Josephus consistently records that Herodias was married to Herod II (Antiquities 18.136), while the authors of Mark and Matthew record that she was married to Philip the Tetrarch and then to Herod Antipas (Mark 6:17; Matt 14:3). These conflicting records have led some scholars to harmonize the accounts (Hoehner, Herod Antipas, 136; Perowne, Later Herods, 20; also see Jensen, Herod Antipas, 44). Kokkinos suggests the possibility that Herodias was married first to Herod II, then to Philip the Tetrarch, and finally to Herod Antipas (Kokkinos, Herodian Dynasty, 237), but there is no historical evidence to support this view.