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Josephus is an important source about persons who belonged to local elites in the Near East and acted as so-called friendly kings of the Romans (Braund 1984; Jacobson 2001; Kokkinos and Politis 2007; Kaizer and Facella 2010; see also ssss1). Herod the Great, to whom Josephus devotes several books, is the historian’s prime example of such a king, but he does mention other friendly kings. Several friendly kings are mentioned in a report of a visit of five kings who came to visit Agrippa I in Tiberias (in 43 or 44 CE), because they admired him, as Josephus says: King Antiochus (IV) of Commagene, King Sampsigeramus (II) of Emesa, King Cotys of Armenia Minor, Agrippa’s brother Herod (Herod IV), King of Chalcis, and King Polemon (II) of Pontus (AJ 19.338–442). Together these kings controlled territories stretching from Judaea and Idumea in the South to Chalcis and Emesa within Syria, up to Commagene and Pontus by the Taurian Mountains and the Black Sea in the North – all important areas along the Roman border. These six kings were all installed by Claudius and obviously had common interests. They were also connected to each other by marriage arrangements. Agrippa’s daughter Drusilla and his brother Aristobulus (Aristobulus V), for example, were both married to children of King Sampsigeramus II (AJ 18.135; 20.139; Schwartz 1990: 138; Kokkinos 1998: 315, 321). However, Marsus, the Roman governor of Syria, happened to be around and he was not amused by the meeting in Tiberias and required the kings to return to their territories without delay. Perhaps he was afraid of a pact against Rome or he was worried about the Parthian frontier, for which he was responsible but also needed the loyal support of these kings. Another explanation would be personal: the Syrian governor may have considered Agrippa to be a threat to his own position as most important Roman in the East (Schwartz 1990: 137–140; cf. Kokkinos 1998: 300).