The Order to Execute Mariamme (Ant. 15.57-87)

In the Antiquities Josephus is explicit about Herod’s involvement in the dramatic death of the newly installed high priest Aristoboulus III, Mari­amme’s brother, in one of the royal swimming pools at Jericho (Ant.

Once again Alexandra appealed to Cleopatra, Herod’s powerful adver­sary, who was most eager to help Alexandra (15.62-63). This time Herod’s rule was seriously threatened because Antony ordered the king to give ac­count of Aristoboulus’s death (15.64), probably in Egypt. This happened before Antony took off for Laodicea on the Syrian coast in connection with a planned second campaign against the Parthians.^[480] Herod apparently took Antony’s order very seriously and realized that there was a serious danger of losing his kingdom or even his life.^[481] Josephus reports that he chose his uncle Joseph as the person who would take care of the administration of the kingdom and also keep an eye on Alexandra and Mariamme.^[482] Herod also gave Joseph a secret order to kill Mariamme in case he would not re­turn from his trip to Antony (15.65; likewise War 1.441).

As a matter of fact, Herod’s cruel order to execute Mariamme connects this episode to the section about Mariamme and Aristoboulus’s portraits sent to Antony. Herod’s motivation for his decision anticipates a possible relationship between Antony and Mariamme:

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For he [Antony], he [Herod] said, felt great affection for his wife [Mariamme] and feared the outrage (SeSoikevoi t^v u^piv) that somebody else would court her^{[483] [484] after his death because of her delicate appearance (supop^ia). (67) All this indicated Antony’s desire for the woman, because he happened to have heard accidentally of her delicate appearance (supop^ia) long before. (Ant. 15.66-67)}

The repetition of enpop^ia “beauty of form, appearance” in this passage once more emphasizes Mariamme’s exceptional beauty and it also echoes the first reference to the queen in Book 15 of the Antiquities (15.23, see above). It is important to read this passage with Herod as focalizer; that is, Josephus presents the considerations in 15.66-67 from Herod’s perspec­tive. Scholars have proposed emendations of Josephus’s text in Ant. 15.67 because this passage would contradict Josephus’s earlier report about An­tony getting to know about the beautiful Mariamme (Ant. 15.23-28).^[485] The reading uapaKqKOMs... as “he [Antony] happened to have heard acci­dentally” in 15.67 makes sense if one reads the passage with Herod as fo- calizer.^[486] How Antony had heard about Mariamme was not important for Herod in this situation. Josephus puts Herod’s feelings into words about what Antony could do with Mariamme after Herod’s death, when there would no longer be restraints for Antony to approach her. Herod’s compli­cated motivation also refers to his passion for Mariamme, which is also emphasized elsewhere in the Antiquities (e.g., Ant.

Josephus tells us that Joseph had many conversations with Mariamme about the matters of the kingdom, during which he also expressed Herod’s affection for her (15.68-69). Josephus also notes that Mariamme and Al­exandra did not believe Joseph: “When they ridiculed his words^[489] in the way women usually do (γυναικείων), especially Alexandra.” In 15.68 Jo­sephus mentions only Mariamme as Joseph’s conversation partner, but ap­parently mother and daughter again operated as a pair. The continuation of the sentence focuses upon Alexandra, suggesting that she took the lead in ridiculing Joseph. The phrase γυναικείων (literally “womanly”) suggests here that women are known for a typical female kind of sarcasm. It is one of Josephus’s parenthetical remarks that constructs a stereotypical and negative image of women. Another example is the adagium “women can­not be trusted,” of which Herod’s son Alexander accuses his wife Glaphyra in the latter’s dream (Ant. 17.352).^[490] It is important to note that Alexandra appears once more as the bad character in this passage. The outcome of the ridiculing of Joseph was that the poor man revealed Herod’s secret order to have Mariamme killed in case he would not return from his visit to Mark Antony (Ant. 15.69). This unwise revelation ultimately led to Joseph’s own death (see below).

Josephus further notes that when a rumor circulated that Herod had been executed by Antony, Alexandra took the lead once more and tried to per­suade Joseph to leave the palace with her and Mariamme and to flee to the Roman legion that was stationed near Jerusalem (Ant.

For because of this (plan), she [Alexandra] said, they would, in the first.place, remain safer because the Romans were friendly to them, in case some disturbance³ would occur in connection to the palace. In the second place they had firm hopes to get everything if Antony would see Mariamme, and through him they would receive the rule again and would not lack anything that is expected for persons of royal birth. (Ant. 15.73)

This passage and its continuation suggests once more that Alexandra had the ambition to end Herod’s rule and restore the Hasmonean house as rul­ing family of the Judean kingdom.^{[491] [492] [493] The final part of Alexandra’s motiva­tion links up with her repeated complaint that she and others of her family were not treated properly in accordance with their royal descent by Her- od.[494] This motif can be connected with remarks elsewhere in Josephus that Herod himself had been born as a commoner.[495] Cleopatra’s accusation of Herod before Antony, which is presented in Ant. 15.63, seems to match Alexandra’s own reasoning well: “For it was not right that Herod, who was king thanks to him [i.e., Antony][496] over a territory that in no way belonged to him [i.e., Herod], displayed such unlawfulness to the ones who were re­al kings.”[497] Cleopatra argues here, according to Josephus, that Herod was not entitled to be king of Judea because of his descent. She hints at an op­position between Herod and the Hasmonean family, referring indirectly to the death of Aristoboulus III. The implication of her reasoning is that Her­od was not of royal descent, as Aristoboulus was, and therefore was not entitled to act against the Hasmoneans. Importantly, Ant. 15.73 once again suggests that Alexandra was willing to use her daughter’s beauty as a tool to have her own way.}

The climax of the story about Herod’s secret order and Joseph high­lights the adultery motif in another way. Herod’s visit to Mark Antony was a great success according to the narrative. Thanks to Herod’s gifts (Ant. 15.75), Antony kept supporting the king (15.74-79). When Herod returned to Jerusalem, Salome and Cyprus immediately revealed to Herod (Ant. 15.80) the plan of “Alexandra and her associates (οί περί την Αλεξάνδραν)” to flee to the Romans (Ant. 15.71-73, see above). This is one of the passages in the Antiquities where we see women factions being at one another’s throats. It is also important to note that this is the first time that Salome is mentioned in Book 15 of the Antiquities. The way Sa­lome appears here in Antiquities 15 suggests that she let no one stand in her way, not even her own husband. There is a huge gap between the first reference to Salome in Ant. 14.122 and this passage in Book 15. The gap makes one wonder what had happened between Salome and Joseph in or­der to induce Salome to accuse her own husband of adultery, but Josephus does not inform us about that.^[499] The parallel passage in War 1.441-443 is slightly less negative about Salome’s role; it reports that she confirmed Herod’s suspicion that Joseph and Mariamme must have had an affair.^[500] In the Antiquities narrative, Josephus emphasizes that Salome accused her own husband in order to harm Mariamme. Josephus describes the motiva­tion for her accusation as follows:

Salome also gave an account against her husband Joseph, accusing^[501] him of continuing to see Mariamme (και τό Μαριαμμη συγγενόμενον διατελείν).

The Greek verb συγγίγνομαι followed by the reference to a woman is ambiguous; it can simply mean “to see/converse with a woman,” but it can also have a sexual connotation meaning “have intercourse with.”^[503] The continuation of the narrative ending with Joseph’s execution supports the latter meaning (Ant. 15.86-87). Thus, Salome accused Joseph and Mari- amme of having committed adultery, which is a capital crime according to biblical law, with stoning as the usual punishment.^[504] Salome’s motive as rendered by Josephus is that she wanted to hurt Mariamme as a revenge for her arrogant behavior towards Salome and her relatives. The reproach of Salome’s family’s low birth matches Alexandra’s view (see above) and also fits in with Josephus’s characterization of Mariamme elsewhere (Ant. 15.212, 236, 238).^[505]

Josephus’s narrative of “the Joseph affair” suggests that Salome and Mariamme hated each other, and also that Salome apparently did not stop at anything in her attempt to harm Mariamme (see also §3). Her accusation did not produce the desired result: Joseph was executed, but Mariamme came off fairly well. Herod first believed Mariamme that she had remained faithful to him (Ant. 15.82-85). When she mentioned the secret order to him (15.86), he cried out and tore his hair and said that “he had clear and damning evidence of Joseph’s sexual relationship with her (περιφανές φωριον εχειν τή$ του Ίωσηπου προ$ αυτήν κοινωνία^).”^[506] Herod apparently almost killed Mariamme, but Josephus notes that he controlled himself out of passion for her.^[507] Joseph was executed immediately and Al­exandra put into custody, because Herod presumed that she was involved in all of this (15.87). According to the War narrative, however, Salome’s accusation is fully successful.^[508] In the War Salome confirmed Herod’s own suspicion that Joseph and Mariamme had had sex with each other. Being driven mad with jealousy, as Josephus notes, Herod decided to have them both executed immediately (War 1.443-444).

C.