Salome (sister of Herod)
Salome (* around 65 BC; † around 10 AD) was the only sister of the Jewish king Herod the Great .
Marriages and the fight against Mariamne
Salome was the daughter of the Idumean Antipater and Kypros, a Nabataean woman . She had four brothers: Phasael, Herod the Great , Joseph and Pheroras . Since Herod had ousted the long ruling Hasmonean family from power and was unpopular with the Jewish people, he feared plots against his rule throughout his life. Although he married in 37 BC In order to increase his prestige, the Hasmonean Mariamne , who also bore him two sons Alexandros and Aristobulus , remained suspicious and had many family members executed in the course of his long reign, in which Salome is said to have played a major role.
First Salome married her uncle Joseph, the brother of Antipater. When Herod traveled to Laodikeia to the triumvir Mark Antony to justify himself for the accused murder of the Hasmonean sprout Aristobulus , he appointed Joseph as his deputy and also entrusted him with the supervision of Mariamne. Salome, however, harbored great anger against Herod's wife, because she was treated disparagingly by her because of her lower origin. But she also sought to get rid of her husband and therefore accused him of having committed adultery with Mariamne when Herod successfully returned from Laodikeia (around 35 BC). She was spared again, but Salome's husband Joseph was executed without interrogation.
In his second marriage, Salome married the noble Idumean Kostobaros , who was promoted to governor of Idumea and Gaza . At first she was very fond of her husband and, when he was accused of treacherous negotiations with the Ptolemaic Queen Cleopatra VII , successfully stood up for him with her angry brother. Herod as a loyal ally of Antony was in a difficult position after his defeat in the battle of Actium , transferred the government to his brother Pheroras and quartered Salome and his children in the castle of Masada before he greeted the victorious Octavian , to whom he converted wanted to travel to Rhodes (30 BC). After Octavian had confirmed him in his rule, his relationship with Mariamne became increasingly tense after his return. Salome used this to intrigue. On their behalf, a cupbearer told Herod in confidence that Mariamne had sent him with a love and poison potion. Because of this and because of further rumors about Mariamne's alleged infidelity, Herod had his wife executed under pressure from Salome (29 BC).
Salome also fell out with her second husband Kostobaros, wanted to divorce him contrary to Jewish law and finally accused him of plotting against her brother. To underline her accusation, she told Herod that for ten years her husband had been hiding the sons of a Baba who had once stood against the Jewish king and who have been wanted by him ever since. Kostobaros is now planning a revolution with the sons of Baba, who are respected among the Jews. After the discovery of these sons, Herod had them executed together with Kostobaros (28/27 BC).
Later, a shapely man named Syllaios, the governor of the Nabatean king Obodas III met. , Met Salome at one of Herod's feasts and the two fell in love. They are also said to have developed an unseemly relationship. A little later Syllaios asked the Jewish king for the hand of his sister, who was happy to do so. But since the Arab prince did not convert to Judaism, i.e. did not want to be circumcised , the marriage did not take place. Pheroras and some ladies-in-waiting accused Salome of rampant behavior. Now Salome was supposed to take one of the confidants of her brother named Alexas as a third husband and finally agreed under the influence of her friend, the Roman Empress Livia , in order not to mess with her brother.
Salome gave birth to several daughters (including Berenike ) and a son, Antipater.
Intrigues against Mariamne's sons
Herod had his sons, whom he had from Mariamne, brought back from Rome to be reconciled with them and married in 17 BC. Alexandros with the Cappadocian king's daughter Glaphyra and Aristobulus with Berenike , the daughter of Salome and Kostobaros. Despite this, Salome (allegedly) persecuted Mariamne's sons with the same hatred as their mother once did. Because she had been an instigator for the murder of Mariamne, she was afraid of the revenge of the presumptive heir to the throne, if they would come to power. She even had her daughter Berenike spy on the princes, whom she also estranged from her husband. Berenike told Salome that Alexandros and Aristobulus hated their father because of his execution order for Mariamne and that, once they came to power, Herod's female relatives, who wore their mother's clothes, wanted to have them put in sacks and imprisoned. Salome immediately reported this to her brother, who was annoyed but had not yet done anything against his sons. Salome also harbored a deep dislike for the proud Glaphyra because, like Mariamne, she boasted of her noble origins and scoffed at the more modest ancestry of the members of the Herodic family.
Supported by her brother Pheroras, Salome incited Herod, when he returned from his stay with Agrippa (14 BC), against his sons of Mariamne, who had openly stated that they wanted to avenge their mother's execution. On the other hand, Pheroras told Alexandros that he had heard of Herod's great love for Glaphyra through Salome. Therefore, Alexandros was upset against his father as intended and complained bitterly to him. But the innocent Herod confronted his brother Pheroras and threatened him. In order to justify himself, Pheroras claimed to have heard these slanders against Herod from his sister. Although Salome immediately denied this by using lively body language, she could no longer get rid of the suspicion and also incurred the anger of Herod.
The perpetual inflammatory speeches against Mariamne's sons and perhaps their proud demeanor finally had an effect. Herod had Alexandros imprisoned because he believed in a plot against him by his son. Alexandros wrote in his desperation that he had really planned a conspiracy against his father, but that Pheroras and Salome had been privy to it; Salome also forced him into an extramarital relationship. Before his second arrest, Aristobulus claimed that Salome had once served Syllaios as a spy against her brother. But both of Mariamne's sons could not save themselves by trying to accuse their enemy Salome in the manner described. Instead, Herod's sister decided to participate in the execution of the princes (7 BC).
Destruction of Antipater
Later, Pheroras and the eldest son of the king, Antipater , cultivated a good understanding, in which Salome saw a danger for her brother. In order not to arouse the wrath of the king, Pheroras and Antipater now apparently argued constantly in public, but in secret they remained friends. Salome saw through this game and told Herod of secret meetings and an alleged plot between the two men. The fact that the Pharisees Herod's fall and the transition of the kingdom of Pheroras predicted would have put to death behind Salome brought her brother, who then leading Pharisees and other interested persons. Again Salome took part in the trial against Antipater, which was led by the Roman governor of Syria, Publius Quinctilius Varus . The accused prince was particularly burdened by the fact, which had just become public at the time, that he had had a letter to the Empress Livia forged and had wanted to name Salome as the alleged author in order to accuse her of high treason and thus bring about her downfall. Finally Antipater also had to die (4 BC).
Life after Herod's death
But Herod himself was already dying and is said to have given his sister and her husband Alexas the order to have the most distinguished Jews locked up in the hippodrome at Jericho murdered immediately after his death so that his death can be properly mourned in a lament for the dead worthy of him as king will; for the Jews would look forward to his death and would only mock him without this massacre. However, this mass murder was not carried out by Salome and her husband. This account of Josephus is generally regarded by today's research as unhistorical or as a later invention of Salome in order to make itself popular with the respected Jews who were actually imprisoned in the hippodrome by the dying Herod.
According to Herod's last will, Salome received the cities of Iamnia, Azotos and Phasaelis and a cash fortune of 500,000 drachmas. Like other members of Herod's dynasty, Salome traveled to Rome with her children after her brother's death to defend their interests. There she intrigued against another son of Herod the Great, Herodes Archelaus , who, according to his father's last will, was to succeed him as ruler of Judea and wanted to obtain confirmation from Augustus. Instead, Salome supported the government claims of Herod's son Antipas, who, according to an earlier will of his father, should have been his successor. The Roman emperor decided in favor of Herod Archelaus as ruler of Judea (without a royal title) in the spirit of the deceased king, but honored Salome and her daughter Berenike; and besides the confirmation of her testamentary claims she was assigned the royal palace of Askalon . From this legacy she received a pension of sixty talents a year .
Salome died around AD 10 when Marcus Ambibulus was procurator of Judea . She bequeathed the district of Iamnia (probably with the city of Azotos), Phasaelis and the city of Archelais, in the vicinity of which were large palm forests, to her friend, the Empress Livia.
literature
- Felix Stähelin : Salome 1. In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classical antiquity (RE). Volume IA, 2, Stuttgart 1920, Sp. 1995-1997.
- Duane W. Roller: Cleopatra's daughter and other royal women of the Augustan era. Oxford University Press, Oxford / New York 2018, ISBN 978-0-19-061882-7 , pp. 59-78.
Remarks
- ↑ Josephus , Jüdische Antiquities 14,121; Jewish War 1.181.
- ↑ Josephus, Jüdische Antiquities 15.81; 15,254; Jewish War 1.441.
- ↑ Josephus, Jüdische Antiquities 15: 81-87; Jewish War 1.441; 1.443.
- ↑ Josephus, Jüdische Antiquities 15,254; Jewish War 1.486.
- ↑ Josephus, Jüdischer Antiquities 15,258.
- ↑ Josephus, Jüdische Antiquities 15,183 f.
- ↑ Josephus, Jüdische Antiquities 15,213; 15,223-231.
- ↑ Josephus, Jewish Antiquities 15: 259-266.
- ↑ Josephus, Jewish antiquities 16, 220-226 and ö .; Jewish War 1.487; 1.534; 1,566.
- ↑ Josephus, Jüdische Antiquities 17:10; Jewish War 1.566.
- ↑ Josephus, Jüdische Antiquities 17,22; 17,230; 18,130; Jewish War 1,566; 2.26.
- ↑ Josephus, Jüdische Antiquities 16.8; 16.11; 17.12; 18,133; Jewish War 1.446; 1.552.
- ↑ Josephus, Jüdische Antiquities 16,201-205.
- ↑ Josephus, Jüdische Antiquities 16,193; Jewish War 1,475-479.
- ↑ Josephus, Jüdische Antiquities 16: 66-73; Jewish War 1.483; 1.545.
- ↑ Josephus, Jüdische Antiquities 16: 206-212.
- ↑ Josephus, Jewish Antiquities 16: 213-219.
- ↑ Josephus, Jüdische Antiquities 16,256; Jewish War 1.498.
- ↑ Josephus, Jewish War 1.534 f.
- ↑ Josephus, Jewish War 1.538.
- ↑ Josephus, Jüdische Antiquities 17.36 ff .; 17.44; Jewish War 1.569-573.
- Jump up ↑ Josephus, Jüdische Antiquities 17,93.
- ↑ Josephus, Jüdische Antiquities 17: 137-142; Jewish War 1,641-644.
- ↑ Josephus, Jüdische Antiquities 17, 175-179; Jewish War 1,660.
- ↑ Josephus, Jüdische Antiquities 17, 193 f .; Jewish War 1.666.
- ↑ Josephus, Jüdische Antiquities 17,189.
- Jump up ↑ Josephus, Jüdische Antiquities 17, 220; 17, 224; Jewish War 2, 15; 2, 20; 2, 24.
- ↑ Josephus, Jüdische Antiquities 17, 321; Jewish War 2, 98; Strabo 16, 765.
- ↑ Josephus, Jüdische Antiquities 18:31; Jewish War 2.167.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Salome |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Sister of Herod the Great |
| DATE OF BIRTH | around 65 BC Chr. |
| DATE OF DEATH | at 10 |