Blastus
Encyclopedia
Blastus was the chamberlain
Chamberlain (office)
A chamberlain is an officer in charge of managing a household. In many countries there are ceremonial posts associated with the household of the sovereign....

 of Herod Agrippa
Agrippa I
Agrippa I also known as Herod Agrippa or simply Herod , King of the Jews, was the grandson of Herod the Great, and son of Aristobulus IV and Berenice. His original name was Marcus Julius Agrippa, so named in honour of Roman statesman Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, and he is the king named Herod in the...

 (Acts 12:20), and a mediator for the Sidon
Sidon
Sidon or Saïda is the third-largest city in Lebanon. It is located in the South Governorate of Lebanon, on the Mediterranean coast, about 40 km north of Tyre and 40 km south of the capital Beirut. In Genesis, Sidon is the son of Canaan the grandson of Noah...

ians and Tyrians. Blastus was involved in the events that led to Herod's death.

Biblical account

According to Acts 12:20, Herod was displeased with the people of Sidon
Sidon
Sidon or Saïda is the third-largest city in Lebanon. It is located in the South Governorate of Lebanon, on the Mediterranean coast, about 40 km north of Tyre and 40 km south of the capital Beirut. In Genesis, Sidon is the son of Canaan the grandson of Noah...

 and Tyre (Lebanon), and forbade the export of food to them. Dependent on the food exports, the Sidonians and Tyrians made Blastus "their friend" (possibly through bribery). Blastus helped them obtain an audience with Herod. Acts 12:23 states that Herod was struck dead by God when the people of Sidon and Tyre offered him worship.

Other contemporary accounts

The story of Herod's death is somewhat corroborated by the contemporary historian Josephus
Josephus
Titus Flavius Josephus , also called Joseph ben Matityahu , was a 1st-century Romano-Jewish historian and hagiographer of priestly and royal ancestry who recorded Jewish history, with special emphasis on the 1st century AD and the First Jewish–Roman War, which resulted in the Destruction of...

. However Josephus does not mention the involvement of Blastus.

In popular culture

The 2010 Cartoon Network
Cartoon Network
Cartoon Network is a name of television channels worldwide created by Turner Broadcasting which used to primarily show animated programming. The channel began broadcasting on October 1, 1992 in the United States....

 television show Robotomy
Robotomy
Robotomy is a Cartoon Network American animated television series created by Michael Buckley and Joe Deasy, directed by Christy Karacas , voice directed by Michael Sinterniklaas, and produced by World Leaders Entertainment. The series was developed after a long series of unaccepted ideas, and...

includes a character named Blastus, who is an "outsider" robot that lives on the planet of Insanus. Voiced by John Gemberling, Blustus is unlike most robots on Insanus, in being sensitive and non-homicidal. In his quest to become popular, he is incredibly impulsive and overconfident in his abilities. He is the sidekick
Sidekick
A sidekick is a close companion who is generally regarded as subordinate to the one he accompanies. Some well-known fictional sidekicks are Don Quixote's Sancho Panza, Sherlock Holmes' Doctor Watson, The Lone Ranger's Tonto, The Green Hornet's Kato and Batman's Robin.-Origins:The origin of the...

 to another robot, Thrasher.

Miles Franklin
Miles Franklin
Stella Maria Sarah Miles Franklin, known as Miles Franklin was an Australian writer and feminist who is best known for her novel My Brilliant Career, published in 1901...

 wrote a novella
Novella
A novella is a written, fictional, prose narrative usually longer than a novelette but shorter than a novel. The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Nebula Awards for science fiction define the novella as having a word count between 17,500 and 40,000...

 entitled "Old Blastus of Bandicoot" (1931), about a stubborn old Australian merino
Merino
The Merino is an economically influential breed of sheep prized for its wool. Merinos are regarded as having some of the finest and softest wool of any sheep...

farmer.
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