Marcus Julius Agrippa, the son of Antipater, whose suspicious father, Herod the Great, had put him to death, had been sent for education and safety to Rome, where he had grown up in company with the future emperor Tiberius' son Drusus.

After the death of his mother, Agrippa had quickly spent his family's wealth and acquired serious debts.

Agrippa had been obliged to flee Rome in 23 when Drusus died and had settled near Beersheba.

After a brief seclusion, through the mediation of his wife Cypros and his sister Herodias, he had been given a sum of money by his uncle, Herodias' new husband, Herod Antipas, Tetrarch of Galilee and Perea, and had been allowed to take up residence in Tiberias, receiving the rank of aedile in this city, with a small yearly income.

Eventually quarreling with his brother-in-law, he had fled to Flaccus, proconsul of Syria.

Agrippa is convicted soon afterwards through the information of his brother Aristobulus, of having received a bribe from the Damascenes, who wish to purchase his influence with the proconsul, and is again compelled to flee.