Salome Alexandra, also Shlomtzion, Shelamzion (; , Šəlōmṣīyyōn, "Shalom of Zion"; 141–67 BC),[Atkinson (2016), 138] Many suspect that she had previously been married to Alexander Janneaus's older brother, Aristobulus I, but this is most likely a misidentification.
Name
Josephus does not use the
Hebrew name of Shlomzion (Salome), referring only to her Greek name, "Alexandra" (Ἀλεξάνδρα). This is the only known Greek name among Hasmonean women. Salome's granddaughters also bore this name. Rabbinic literature, however, never uses the name Alexandra for her, instead referring to her with various Semitic names. The Dead Sea Scrolls have identified Alexandra as "Shlomzion" (שלמציון) in several texts, including 4Q331 and 4Q332.
Family
Salome Alexandra's personal genealogy is not given by
Josephus, nor does it appear in any of the Books of the Maccabees. Rabbinical sources designate the rabbi Simeon ben Shetach as her brother,
making her the daughter of Shetah as well. Salome Alexandra's oldest son by Alexander Jannaeus was
Hyrcanus II who fought his younger brother
Aristobulus II in 73 BC over the Jewish High Priesthood.
[Figure based upon Josephus ( Antiquities 14.1.2), where, in the original Greek, is written: "Hyrcanus began his high priesthood on the third year of the hundred and seventy seventh Olympiad..., when presently Aristobulus began to make war against him." The 177th Olympiad corresponded with the 238th year of the Seleucid era, or what was then 73 BCE.] After enlisting the help of
Nabataean king
Aretas III, bribing Roman officials (including Scaurus), and gaining the favour of
Pompey, Hyrcanus II was eventually successful in gaining that position.
[See Josephus, Jewish War (1.107–55)]
Consort
According to the
Jewish Encyclopedia, Aristobulus I's wife (herein misidentified as Salome Alexandra) was instrumental in arranging the assassination of her brother-in-law, Antigonus, by convincing her husband (
Aristobulus I) that the former was plotting against him.
[ "Aristobulus I", Jewish Encyclopedia]
During the reign of Alexander, Alexandra may have wielded some political influence, but she does not appear in Josephus's recounting until she is reigning on her own (after Alexander's death).
Josephus does not explicitly state Alexandra held any political authority before her reign. However, a passage about the Herodian dynasty in Antiquities of the Jews, where Josephus describes Antipas, the grandfather of Herod the Great, gaining political power when "King Alexander and his wife (= Alexandra) made him general of all Idumaea", suggests that Alexandra had some sort of power in Judea even before she inherited the kingdom.
Political ability
The frequent visits to the palace of the chief of the Pharisaic party, Simeon ben Shetach, who was said to be the queen's brother, must have occurred in the early years of Alexander's reign, before Alexander had openly broken with the Pharisees. Alexandra does not seem to have been able to prevent the persecution of that sect by her husband.
According to historian Kenneth Atkinson, "There are also some passages in the Talmud that say, during her husband's reign, that she protected Pharisees and hid Pharisees from his wrath."[ Silver, Carly. "The Peace of Zion", Iron Ladies of the Ancient World, the Archaeological Institute of America (2010)] Nevertheless, the married life of the royal pair seems to have ended cordially; on his deathbed Alexander entrusted the government, not to his sons, but to his wife, with the advice to make peace with the Pharisees.
Salome Alexandra's next concern was to open negotiations with the leaders of the Pharisees, whose places of concealment she knew. Having been given assurances as to her future policy, they declared themselves ready to give Alexander's remains the honors due to a monarch. In so doing, she avoided any public affront to the dead king, which — owing to the embitterment of the people — would certainly have found expression at the interment.
Sole reign
Salome Alexandra received the reins of government (76 or 75 BC) at Jannaeus' camp before
Al-Rajib, and concealed the king's death until its fortress had fallen, in order that the siege might be maintained. She succeeded for a time in de-escalating the internal conflicts in the kingdom that existed at the time of Alexander's death, and she managed to secure assent to a Hasmonean monarchy from the Pharisees, who had suffered under Alexander.
Re-establishment of the Sanhedrin
The Pharisees were now not only tolerated, but were allowed to flourish. Salome Alexandra installed her eldest son,
Hyrcanus II as High Priest. Hyrcanus II was wholly supportive of the Pharisees and the
Sanhedrin was reorganized according to their wishes, becoming a
supreme court for the administration of justice and religious matters, the guidance of which was placed in the hands of the Pharisees.
Internal and external policy
The
Sadducees petitioned Salome Alexandra for protection against the ruling party. To avoid all party conflict, she removed the Sadducees from
Jerusalem, assigning certain fortified towns for their residence.
Salome Alexandra expanded the army and provisioned fortresses so that neighbouring monarchs were deterred by the protected towns along the Judean frontier. She also sent her son Aristobulus II with an army to besiege Damascus, then beleaguered by Ptolemy Mennaeus. The expedition reportedly achieved little.
The last days of Salome Alexandra's reign were tumultuous. Her son, Aristobulus, endeavoured to seize the government, and succeeded her after her death.
Prosperity
Rabbinical sources refer in glowing terms to the prosperity which Judea enjoyed under Salome Alexandra. The Talmud (Ta'anit, 23a; Sifra, ḤuḲḲat, i. 110) relates that during her rule, as a reward for her piety, rain fell only on Sabbath (Friday) nights; so that the working class suffered no loss of pay through the rain falling during their work-time. The fertility of the soil was so great that the grains of wheat grew as large as kidney beans; oats as large as olives; and lentils as large as gold denarii. The sages collected specimens of these grains and preserved them to show future generations the rewards of obedience to the Law, and what piety could achieve.
Legacy
"Shlomtzion" () is sometimes used as a female first name in contemporary
Israel. Among others, the well-known Israeli writer
Amos Kenan gave the name to his daughter.
During the British Mandate of Palestine, a major street in Jerusalem was called Princess Mary Street, after the only daughter of King George V and Queen Mary.[1940 photo of Princess Mary Street with Rex Cinema in background, West Jerusalem on the Alamy website [3]] After the creation of Israel, the street was renamed "Queen Shlomzion Street," to commemorate the Jewish queen.
In the 1977 Knesset elections Ariel Sharon accepted the advice of Amos Kenan to name his new political party "Shlomtzion" (it later merged with the Likud).
Israeli zoologists carefully observing the of the Judean Desert bestowed the name "Shlomtzion" on a female leopard whose life, mating, and offspring were the subject of intensive, years-long study. In 1996, her body was found in Tze'elim Stream, having died of old age.
In medieval sources
According to some versions of the
Toledoth Yeshu, a medieval alternative-Christian life of Jesus, Salome is connected with Jesus of Nazareth, placing the death of Jesus 150 years earlier.
See also
Sources
-
Josephus, Antiquities xiii. 11, § 12; 15, § 16
-
idem, B. J. i. 5
-
Heinrich Ewald, History of Israel, v. 392–94
-
Heinrich Grätz, Geschichte der Juden, 2d ed., iii. 106, 117–29
-
Ferdinand Hitzig, Geschichte des Volkes Israel von Anbeginn bis zur Eroberung, ii. 488–90
-
Emil Schürer, Geschichte des jüdischen Volkes im Zeitalter Jesu Christi i. 220, 229–33
-
Joseph Derenbourg, Essai sur l'Histoire et la Géographie de Palestine, pp. 102–11
-
Julius Wellhausen, I. J. G. Geschichte Israels pp. 276, 280–85
-
F. W. Madden, Coins of the Jews, pp. 91, 92
-
Atkinson, Kenneth (2016), A History of the Hasmonean State: Josephus and Beyond, Bloomsbury T&T Clark
-
Hugo Willrich, Judaica: Forschungen zur Hellenisch-Jüdischen Geschichte und Litteratur, 1900, pp. 74, 96
External links
