Herodias I

HERODIAS I

(c. 15 BCE - CE 39+) ¹

ORIGINS

King Herod's second wife, Mariamme I, was a grandaughter of Hyrcanus II, ruler of Judaea and high priest from c. 79 BCE to 40 BCE. This was a political marriage in so much as it gave a certain legitimacy to Herod's rule.

The mariage produced five known children:

1. Alexander I (m)
2. Aristobulus I (m)
3. Salampsio (f)
4. (m) name unknown, died in Rome before reaching maturity
5. Cyprus II (f)

Alexander I and Aristobulus I were executed by Herod in about 8 BCE for plotting against him. Their mother Mariamme I was also executed.

Before his death, Aristobulus I had married Berenice and produced a family.

1. Herodias I (f)
2. Mariamme IV (f)
3. Agrippa I (m)
4. Herod (V) (m) "Herod of Chalcis"
5. Aristobulus II (m)

Despite the ignominous end of Aristobulus I, his descendants became immensely important in the region.

MARRIAGES

1. Herod III

Herod III was the son of King Herod and his fourth wife, Mariamme II, the daughter of Simon, a high priest of Jerusalem and a son of Boethus of Alexandria.

When King Herod had conquered Judaea he had eliminated any potential opponents to his rule including the then high priests of Jerusalem. The vacancies had been filled by the Boethus family, Simon being appointed High Priest of Jerusalem. Herod's marriage to Simon's daughter Mariamme was in effect a means of bestowing patronage to (and therefore control over) the high priesthood.

The marriage between Herodias and Herod III was arranged by King Herod, the betrothal taking place probably when Herodias was about 8 in 8/7 BCE, and the marriage c. 1 BCE when she came of marriage age. Herod III would be about 27.

The marriage didn't last. The usual assumption is that Herodias divorced Herod III, however there is the possibility that the divorce and her next marriage may have been arranged as part of the inter-family struggle that occurred around the time of King Herod's death.

2. Philip, tetrarch of Iturea and Trachonitis

Following King Herod's death his kingdom was divided, his son Philip becoming tetrarch of Iturea and Trachonitis. Herodias probably married Philip around the time of King Herod's death. Nothing is known of her life with Philip.

For the possibility of a previous wife of Philip and the reasons for her divorce and Philip's subsequent marriage to Herodias see article Philip the tetrarch.

3. Antipas, tetrarch of the Galilee and Perea

The following is a summary of the main points. For a more detailed explanation see article Herod the tetrarch.

Philip died in CE 33. His territory was taken over by Rome until a successor could be appointed, and the income held on deposit. There were two main contenders: Antipas, the tetrarch of the adjacent territory of the Galilee and Perea, and Herodias younger brother, Agrippa I. Prior to Philip's death, Agrippa probably had been employed at Philip's court, his position being obtained via his sister's influence.

Herodias was faced with a choice. Her brother Agrippa was married with a family including male heirs, and if Agrippa inherited the territory, she and her children would be sidelined. The solution was a marriage between herself and Antipas. That would benefit both of them, maintaining Herodias' status as wife of a tetrarch, and giving some weight to Antipas' claim to Philip's territory.

Herodias owned private property and she may also have been concerned about her inheritance. In Roman law a widow had to be re-married within a year of her husband's death or she forfeited the majority of her property to the state. Whether this would have applied to Herodias is disputable, but she may have considered it prudent to follow this practice.

Tiberius may provisionally have approved Antipas' claim, but he died in CE 37 before it was formally ratified. His successor Gaius Caligula was more favourably disposed to Agrippa, and Agrippa was awarded Philip's territory.

The struggle between Agrippa and Antipas contiued and a few years later Antipas was sent into exile and Agrippa was given control of Antipas' territory. Herodias accompanied her husband into exile, probably at Lyons.

CHILDREN

Josephus mentions a daughter Salome (Salome III), offspring of Herodias' marriage to Herod III. He states that she became the wife of Philip, but this is almost certainly an error.

Salome III is sometimes assumed (following Josephus) to have been the wife of Aristobulus III. However this is unlikely as she would have been over 50 at the time of the marriage and yet still produced 3 sons.

Nothing else is known about this Salome III, although her name lives on in legend as the daughter of Herodias who was supposed to have danced before Antipas and helped instigate the execution of John the Baptist. This derives from Mark 6:21-28 and Matthew 14:6-11, but neither gospel mentions the daughter's name. Even if such a person had existed, she cannot been Salome III who would have been far too old to be described as a 'girl'.

No other children are known, although there is no reason to assume they did not exist. However it can safely be assumed that Herodias did not have any male children by Philip otherwise they would have featured in the claim for Philip's territory.

REPUTATION

Herodias always gets a bad press!

She figures in the gospels as a malicious woman tricking her husband to obtain vengeance on John the Baptist against whom she had a grudge. However this should not be taken as a reflection of her real personality as the origins of the story probably have more to do with anti-Herodian polemic than reality. At worst one can say that she was not looked on kindly by fundamentalists, which of course could have originated from when she was Philip's wife if she had been associated with a pro-Roman or pro-Hellenistic tendency.

Josephus also portrays her in a bad light. According to him she flouted "the ways of our fathers" (Loeb translation) by parting from her first husband while he was still living. Josephus was a Pharisee and this reflects a partisan view based on the Pharisees' interpretion of Jewish law. A more rational verdict should be based on the norms of the Graeco-Roman community in which Herodias was a member.

Josephus states that she was jealous of Agrippa when he obtained Philip's territory and nagged Antipas into making an ill-advised journey to Rome to oppose it, which resulted in Antipas losing everything. However this portrayal could have arisen because Josephus was embroidering the narrative to make Agrippa appear the innocent party in the dispute - no doubt with one eye over his shoulder on his own patron Agrippa's son, Agrippa II.

Josephus later appears to soften the image. Herodias is made to appear as a loyal Roman-style wife. She is given the opportunity of remaining in Rome but with a dignified response Herodias declares her intention of accompanying her husband into exile. However this is only another device on the part of Josephus. Gaius is portrayed as being angered by Herodias' response and condemns her to exile and also decrees that she should lose all her personal property. Her fate therefore can be blamed partly on herself and partly on Gaius, but not at all on Agrippa.

Clearly none of the assessments can be relied upon. Herodias, like so many other women of her time, is a soft target, one of many recipients of slurs and accusations which have no substantial foundation but whose sole purpose is to obscure the real political motives.

NOTES

1.	Unless otherwise stated all dates and numerical identifiers (e.g. Herodias I, etc.) follow those proposed in The Herodian Dynasty N. Kokkinos, 1998, Sheffield Academic Press.