The grand-daughter
of Herod
& Mariamne
I became the center of one
the most well-known family scandals in history. While still young
she had become the wife of Herod's fourth son, one of two children
whose birth-name was that of the king.* After the
execution of the sons of Mariamne I (7
BCE), the king had named
Herod II second to Antipater
III in succession to the
kingship. His marriage to Herodias was probably intended to
strengthen the ties of Herod's heirs to the line of Jerusalem's
high-priests. Herod II's maternal grandfather [Simon ben Boethus],
had been elevated to the high-priesthood simply to give the family
social status, so that King Herod could marry his beautiful daughter
[Mariamne II].
Herodias, on the other hand, was of more venerable
Hasmonean lineage on her father's mother's side. Herodias' ambitions
were frustrated, however, when King Herod disinherited her husband
& divorced Mariamne II for being implicated in Antipater's treachery
(4 BCE). So later, when Herod II's half-brother,
Antipas,
who ruled a quarter of their father's realm, persuaded Herodias to
divorce her husband & marry him, she agreed, on the condition
that he divorce his own wife, a Jordanian princess. While such
mate-swapping was not uncommon in Roman society, under Jewish law a
woman was not permitted to leave a living husband to marry another [Josephus,
Antiquities
18.136].
Neither Antipas nor Herodias had been raised as
religious Jews, but many of their Galilean subjects were. When
Antipas---who was as ruthless as his father in stifling
dissent---executed the popular folk prophet, Johanan (John) the
Baptizer, some Jews blamed Herodias. [That gossipy interpretation of
these events was preserved for posterity in the gospels of Mark
& Matthew; but it is not supported by the Jewish historian Josephus,
who does not draw a causal connection between the Antipas' marriage
& his decision to execute John.].
When the new emperor,
Gaius
(Caligula) made Herodias'
brother, Agrippa
I, "king" of the
provinces that Antipas' deceased half-brother, Philip,
had ruled, her jealousies & ambitions made her push her husband
to demand royal rank (39 CE). Instead of promoting Antipas, however,
the emperor sent both him & Herodias into exile & added
their former territory to Agrippa's realm.
References: Josephus,
Antiquities
18.110-111,
136,
148,
240,
246, 253-255;
_____, War
1.552,
2.182.
Mark 6:17-28 // Matt 14:3-11.
Other resources on line:
[* Note: See Salome
II]