After the death of Herod the Great in 4 BC, Augustus confirmed the testament of the dead king by making Antipas tetrarch of Galilee and Perea, a region he would rule for the next forty-two years.
The two territories were separated by the region of the Decapolis, with Galilee to the north and Perea to the south (see map).
Threats to stability in both areas would have been clear to Antipas when he took office.
While he had been making his case to Augustus in Rome, dissidents led by Judas, son of Hezekiah, had attacked the palace of Sepphoris in Galilee, seizing money as well as weapons which they used to terrorize the area.
In a counterattack ordered by Quinctilius Varus, Roman governor of Syria, Sepphoris was destroyed by fire and its inhabitants sold as slaves.
Perea, meanwhile, bordered on the kingdom of Nabatea, which had long had uneasy relations with Romans and Jews.

Part of Antipas' solution was to follow in his father's footsteps as a builder.
He rebuilt and fortified Sepphoris, while also adding a wall to Betharamphtha in Perea.
The latter city was renamed Livias after Augustus' wife Livia, and later Julias after his daughter.
However, the tetrarch's most noted construction was his capital on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee, Tiberias, so named to honour his patron Tiberius, who had succeeded Augustus as emperor in 14 AD.
Residents could bathe nearby at the warm springs of Emmaus, and by the time of the First Jewish-Roman War the city's buildings included a stadium, a royal palace and a sanctuary for prayer.
It gave its name to the sea and later became a centre of rabbinic learning.
However, pious Jews at first refused to live in it because it was built atop a graveyard and therefore a source of ritual impurity.
 Antipas had to colonize it with a mixture of foreigners, forced migrants, poor people and freed slaves.

At other times Antipas was more sensitive to Jewish tradition.
His coins carried no images, which would have violated Jewish prescriptions against idolatry.
When Pontius Pilate, governor of Judea from 26 AD to 36 AD, caused offence by placing votive shields in the Antonia palace at Jerusalem, Antipas and his brothers successfully petitioned for their removal.
After the death of Herod the Great in 4 BC, Augustus confirmed the testament of the dead king by making Antipas tetrarch of Galilee and Perea, a region he would rule for the next forty-two years. The two territories were separated by the region of the Decapolis, with Galilee to the north and Perea to the south (see map). Threats to stability in both areas would have been clear to Antipas when he took office. While he had been making his case to Augustus in Rome, dissidents led by Judas, son of Hezekiah, had attacked the palace of Sepphoris in Galilee, seizing money as well as weapons which they used to terrorize the area. In a counterattack ordered by Quinctilius Varus, Roman governor of Syria, Sepphoris was destroyed by fire and its inhabitants sold as slaves. Perea, meanwhile, bordered on the kingdom of Nabatea, which had long had uneasy relations with Romans and Jews.
Part of Antipas' solution was to follow in his father's footsteps as a builder. He rebuilt and fortified Sepphoris, while also adding a wall to Betharamphtha in Perea. The latter city was renamed Livias after Augustus' wife Livia, and later Julias after his daughter. However, the tetrarch's most noted construction was his capital on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee, Tiberias, so named to honour his patron Tiberius, who had succeeded Augustus as emperor in 14 AD. Residents could bathe nearby at the warm springs of Emmaus, and by the time of the First Jewish-Roman War the city's buildings included a stadium, a royal palace and a sanctuary for prayer. It gave its name to the sea and later became a centre of rabbinic learning. However, pious Jews at first refused to live in it because it was built atop a graveyard and therefore a source of ritual impurity.  Antipas had to colonize it with a mixture of foreigners, forced migrants, poor people and freed slaves.
At other times Antipas was more sensitive to Jewish tradition. His coins carried no images, which would have violated Jewish prescriptions against idolatry. When Pontius Pilate, governor of Judea from 26 AD to 36 AD, caused offence by placing votive shields in the Antonia palace at Jerusalem, Antipas and his brothers successfully petitioned for their removal.
Herod Antipas