third wife of
Herod
mother of Herod II
grandmother of
Salome II
Beautiful
daughter of a Sadducean priest who had come from Alexandria to
Jerusalem. She
attracted Herod a few years after he had executed his
Hasmonean wife
of the same name. Since the second Mariamne's father, Simon ben
Boethus, was of lower social status than the family of his
previous wife, Herod deposed the high priest (Jeshu ben Phabi) &
replaced him with Simon before marrying his daughter (24 BCE).
Since Mariamne & her father depended solely on Herod's favor
they did nothing to provoke him & apparently were not involved
in the court intrigues involving the first Mariamne's sons.
Herod even briefly made his third wife's son, who had been named
for him, his designated successor, after deposing his
presumptive heir (Antipater
III) for treason. But when Herod learned that Mariamne had
been aware of Antipater's plot to kill him and had done nothing
to warn him, he divorced her & removed the younger Herod from
his will, just days before his own death (4 BCE).
References: Josephus,
Antiquities
15.318-322;
17.19,
78.
_____, War
1.588,
599-600.
Other resources on
line:
Perspective on the World of Jesus 