granddaughter of
Salome Alexandra
& Alexander Jannai
daughter of Hyrcanus II
widow of Alexander II
mother of Mariamne
I &
Aristobulus III.
Persistent
daughter of a compliant father, Alexandra tried valiantly to
restore her family's fortunes but ultimately fell victim to her
own political meddling. When
Herod took
control of
Jerusalem (41
BCE)
Alexandra betrothed her beautiful daughter to him to win his
support. But four years later when her new son-in-law installed
the non-Hasmonean, Hananel, as high priest, she enlisted
Cleopatra to get
Herod's patron, Mark
Antony, to overrule him & give her teenaged son the position
that his family had held for more than a century. Though Herod
was eventually persuaded to comply, he resented Alexandra's
maneuver to override his hard won authority & kept her under
constant surveillance. When Alexandra complained to Cleopatra,
the latter invited her to bring her family to Egypt, which only
increased Herod's suspicion that Alexandra was plotting to
overthrow him. To prevent her son from becoming his rival, he
had him drowned, making it appear a lamentable accident. But
Alexandra again appealed to Cleopatra to bring her son's killer
to justice. So Herod was summoned to defend himself before
Antony. He returned having regained Antony's trust but even more
alienated from his mother-in-law for initiating that trial.
After Antony's defeat in the battle of Actium (30
BCE),
Alexandra allegedly urged her father (Hyrcanus) to appeal to the
governor of Arabia to come to their aid. But Herod
intercepted his letter & used it as a pretext to execute
Hyrcanus on charges of treason. Then he had Alexandra & Mariamne
held in custody in their ancestral fortress of Alexandrium,
while he went to Rome to pledge support for
Octavian.
Though Herod had Mariamne executed on charges of infidelity when
he returned, he temporarily spared Alexandra after she joined in
denouncing her daughter. But when Alexandra heard that Herod was
sick at Sebaste,
she tried to gain control of the temple & Jerusalem's
fortifications. Informed of this, Herod ordered her immediate
execution (28
BCE)
even before he had fully recovered.
References: Josephus,
Antiquities
15.23-70,
165-170,
183-185,
202,
232,
247-251.
Other online
resource:
Perspective on the
World of Jesus 