Herod Agrippa

Marcus Julius Agrippa spent his childhood at the imperial court in Rome befriending the princes Claudius and Drusus, then fell into disgrace after Drusus died and was forced back to Judea. By 35 he had returned to Rome, where Tiberius made him guardian of Tiberius Gemellus; Agrippa hedged his bets and also courted Caligula, the other heir. Caligula's ascent in 37 rewarded him with the old tetrarchies of Philip and Lysanias, then Galilee and Perea in 40 after his uncle Herod Antipas fell from favor. When Caligula was assassinated in 41, Agrippa played kingmaker for Claudius and was granted Idumea, Judea, and Samaria - a realm as vast as his grandfather's. Straddling Jewish and Roman identities, he interceded for Jews with Rome and funded major works across Greek cities, though his ambitions antagonized the legate of Syria and some of his own subjects. In 44, three years in, he died suddenly from what the source calls an infestation of worms.