ABSTRACT
The life of Agrippa II, its few successes, numerous failures and missed opportunities, is briefly recapitulated. The reasons for Agrippa baulking at approaching Nero to dismiss a much-hated governor of Judaea are examined. Agrippa’s alienation from the Jewish elite is explained; besides his very different cultural and political orientation, the weaknesses in his character and intellect are also relevant factors which come to the fore when Agrippa II is compared with his father. It is for these reasons that Agrippa II has been largely consigned to obscurity in history and literature, in contrast to his more colourful sister, Berenice.
