Agrippa I was the grandson of Herod the Great, grew up in Rome, and was educated together with members of the Roman aristocracy, including the future emperors, Caligula and Claudius. However, when he returned to Jerusalem in 37 CE, he behaved like a politically correct monarch.
This is particularly well reflected in the coins he struck.
He ruled over both Jewish and pagan populaces. For the pagan areas he struck coins bearing portraits and figures from Roman mythology. On the other hand the one coin he struck for his Jewish subjects depicted three sheaves of barley, one of the seven agricultural species of the Land of Israel. The other side, instead of depicting a portrait of the emperor which would be offensive to Jewish orthodoxy depicts a royal canopy, symbolic of the Emperor, and the Greek inscription, "of King Agrippa".

Josephus narrates that Agrippa attended the games in Caesarea's amphitheatre, held in honour of the emperor. He wore a robe of woven silver, which reflected the strong sun, and caused his followers to call out that he was a god. The flattery went to his head, and he indeed began to see himself as a god.