Aristobulus (son of Herod of Chalcis)

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Aristobulus (* around 5 AD; † after 72 AD), the son of Herod of Chalkis , was a Roman client king in ancient Lesser Armenia from the Herodian dynasty . He was a great-grandson of the Jewish King Herod the Great and a grandson of Prince Aristobulus, who was executed by him .

origin

Herod of Chalkis , the father of Aristobulus, was appointed ruler by the Romans in the neighboring small kingdom of Chalkis at the request of his brother Agrippa I , who ruled as King of Judea . Aristobulus came from the first marriage of Herod of Chalkis with Mariamne, the daughter of Joseph and Olympias. (Joseph was the son of Herod's brother Joseph, who died in the war in 38 BC. Olympias was a daughter of Herod the Great from his marriage to the Samaritan Malthake .) From his father's second marriage to Berenike, the daughter of Herod Philippos ( Boethos) and Herodias , Aristobulus had two half-brothers, Bernikianos and Hyrcanos.

Marriage to Salome

Aristobulus married in 34 AD with Salome (* 10 AD), later notorious for her involvement in the death of John the Baptist . Her youthful veil dance in front of her stepfather Herod Antipas is said to have given her mother Herodias the opportunity to enforce her demand for the execution of the Baptist, who persecuted her as a popular preacher with his moral criticism (28 AD). From the marriage of Aristobulus and Salome three sons were born: Herod, Agrippa and Aristobulus.

King of Lesser Armenia

At the death of his father Herod (48 AD), Aristobulus was not allowed - as he had hoped - to succeed him in the kingdom of Chalcis. Due to a decision by the Roman Emperor Claudius , the dominion in the Lebanon Mountains was transferred to his cousin, Agrippa II .

The claims of Aristobulus were not forgotten in Rome . To compensate for the lost rule over Chalkis in 54 AD he was given the kingdom of Lesser Armenia by the Roman Emperor Nero , located west of Greater Armenia and at that time extending to the Black Sea. The main town of the country was Nicopolis, founded by Pompeius, which lay on the only natural east-west route in this area, which led from Ankyra via Nicopolis and Satala to northern Armenia and further into the Caucasus and northern Persia . With his wife Salome, Aristobulus must have moved to Nicopolis following his appointment as king.

There are three coins that prove the rule of Aristobulus in Lesser Armenia. A coin shows the engraved images of Aristobulus and his wife Salome, with the inscription "King Aristobulus, Queen Salome" on the reverse. The coins are dated after his reign. There are coins from the 8th and 17th years of his reign (70/71 AD), possibly also from the first year (54/55 AD).

As king of Lesser Armenia, Aristobulus took part with his armed forces in the Roman-Parthian War from 58 to 63 AD. This war focused on gaining supremacy over all of Armenia, which was an important buffer city between the Roman Empire and the Parthian Empire . For his participation in the war Aristobulus was resigned to part of Greater Armenia in 59 AD.

Lesser Armenia was probably incorporated into the Roman provincial system in 70/71 or 71/72 AD. It can be proven that in this context a new epoch count began there. The Jewish historian Flavius ​​Josephus mentions in his book about the Jewish war an "Aristobulus of Chalkidike" as a participant in a high-level meeting with the client king Antiochus of Kommagene, which took place in AD 72. If this person is Aristobulus, the son of Herod of Chalkis, as can be assumed, then he was probably no longer king of Lesser Armenia in the second half of AD 72.

swell

  • Flavius ​​Josephus : Jewish antiquities . Translated and provided with an introduction and notes by Heinrich Clementz. With paragraph counting according to Flavii Josephi Opera recognovit Benedictus Niese (Editio minor), Wiesbaden 2004. ISBN 3-937715-62-2 .
  • Flavius ​​Josephus: De bello Iudaico . Greek – German, ed. and with an introduction and annotations by Otto Michel and Otto Bauernfeind, 3 vol., 1959–1969.

literature

Remarks

  1. ^ Flavius ​​Josephus , Jüdische Antiquities 18, 5, 4.
  2. ^ Tacitus , Annals 13, 7.
  3. ↑ Wolfgang Leschhorn: Ancient eras: time calculation, politics and history in the Black Sea region and in Asia Minor north of the Tauros. Franz Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart 1993, p. 144.
  4. ^ Tacitus, Annals 14, 26.
personal data
SURNAME Aristobulus
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Aristobulus
BRIEF DESCRIPTION King of Lesser Armenia
DATE OF BIRTH at 5'o clock
DATE OF DEATH after 72