Mariamne (daughter of Simon Boethos)

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Mariamne (II; * around 43 BC in Alexandria ; † after 4 BC), the daughter of Simon Boethos , was a wife of the Jewish king Herod the Great and the grandmother of Salome . She was considered the "most beautiful woman of the time", came from a humble background and should not be confused with Herod's second wife, Mariamne (I), who came from the royal family of the Hasmoneans .

origin

As reported by the Jewish historian Flavius ​​Josephus , the Mariamnes family was one of the Jews living in Alexandria , Egypt . However, her father Simon Boethos lived around 23 BC. As a respected priest in Jerusalem .

Marriage to Herod the Great

Mariamne, the daughter of Simon Boethos, must have been of extraordinary beauty, because she was - as Josephus writes - "the most beautiful woman of that time". Josephus describes the development of her relationship with King Herod as follows: “Since she became the subject of general discussion in Jerusalem for this reason, Herod also heard of her and was delighted when he saw her in her blooming beauty. But he did not want to use force to serve his desires because he feared that he would be resented if he went to work with tyrannical arbitrariness. He therefore thought it more advisable to take her into marriage. "

Since Mariamnes' father was just a simple priest, a connection with the royal family would not have been appropriate. Herod solved this problem by dismissing the previous high priest Jesus, the son of Phabes (also called Jesus ben Phiabi), and replacing Simon Boethos, the father of Mariamnes, 23 BC. Appointed high priest at the Temple of Jerusalem. Nothing stood in the way of a proper marriage between the king and Mariamne.

progeny

From the marriage of Mariamne and Herod (around 22 BC) the son Herod Philip I (also called Herod Boethos ) emerged, who later became the father of Salome through his later marriage to Herodias . Salome, the granddaughter of Mariamne (II), is known from the legend about her participation in the beheading of John the Baptist . Mariamne's son Herodes Boethus was a half-brother of the princes Aristobulus and Alexander, who came from the marriage of Herod the Great with the Hasmonean Mariamne (I).

Herod the Great apparently valued the son of his seventh wife, Mariamne. Because after the execution of his two half-brothers Aristobulus and Alexander because of alleged plans for a coup in 7 BC. In his will, he put Herod Boethus, who was around 15 years old at the time, in second place, immediately behind his eldest son Antipater (from his marriage to his first wife Doris).

Entanglement in intrigues

As 5 v. When Antipater's plans to overthrow Herod the Great were uncovered and the king was no longer eligible as an inheritance, Herod Boethus even advanced to the first position in the succession. But only for a short time: During the various highly embarrassing interrogations to which numerous people at the royal court were subjected, it was discovered that Mariamne (II), the mother of Herod Boethus, was not involved in the planned poison attack on the king, but by him Had received knowledge and had concealed this. This behavior of Mariamne indicates that her relationship with the characteristically difficult king, who in the oriental style had gathered a harem of several (eight to ten) women around him, must have cooled considerably in recent years. King Herod banished Mariamne from his court as a punishment, disinherited her son Herod Boethos and deposed her father Simon Boethos as high priest. Due to her lack of solidarity with Herod the Great, Mariamne (II) had robbed her son of the chance to succeed him as king.

End of life

Herod the Great died a little later (4 BC). The sources provide no information about the further life of Mariamne or her subsequent death. This indicates that she could calmly end her life as a widow in the circle of her family, which remained influential and from which high priests continued to be called.

swell

  • Flavius ​​Josephus: Jewish antiquities . (Antiquitates iudaicae) . Fourier Verlag, Wiesbaden o. J.
  • Flavius ​​Josephus: The Jewish War . (De bello iudaico) . Wilhelm Goldmann Verlag, Munich, 2nd edition 1982.

literature

See also

Remarks

  1. ↑ Flavius ​​Josephus: Jewish antiquities (Antiquitates iudaicae) . Fourier Verlag, Wiesbaden undated, XV 9.3.
  2. ↑ ibid.
  3. ↑ Josephus, XVII 4.2.
personal data
SURNAME Mariamne
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Mariamne II
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Daughter of Simon Boethos, third wife of Herod the Great
DATE OF BIRTH around 43 BC Chr.
PLACE OF BIRTH Alexandria
DATE OF DEATH after 4 BC Chr.