Salome

15.80–81, 87

When these letters were brought, the women stopped their efforts to flee to the Romans, which they had conceived under the assumption that Herod was dead. Yet their plan did not escape notice, for after the king accompanied Antony on his way against the Parthians, he returned to Judaea, whereupon his sister Salome and his mother informed him of Alexandra’s intentions. Salome also spoke out against her husband Joseph, accusing him of often having sexual relations with Mariamme. The reason for her saying this was that for a long time she had hated Mariamme, for when they had differences with one another, Mariamme took great liberties and reproached Salome’s family regarding the low status of their birth. [ . . . ] While [Herod] was in this state [of jealousy], he would have liked to have killed [Mariamme], but still being overcome by his love for her, he restrained his passion, though not without lasting grief and an unstable mind. However, he ordered Joseph to be killed without even coming into his sight. [ . . . ]

15.253–261

Costobarus was an Idumean by birth and a man of first rank among them, and one whose ancestors had been priests of Koze, whom the Idumeans had esteemed as a god. But after Hyrcanus affected a change in their government and made them accept the Jewish customs and law, Herod made Costobarus governor of Idumaea and Gaza and gave him his sister Salome as a wife. This was after the execution of Joseph, who held that position before, as we have already explained. [ . . . ]

When Costobarus got to be so highly advanced, it pleased him and was more than he hoped for, and he was increasingly puffed up by his success. In a little while, he exceeded all bounds and did not think fit to obey what Herod, as their ruler, commanded him, or that the Idumeans should follow the Jewish customs or be subject to them. He therefore wrote to Cleopatra informing her that the Idumeans had always been under his progenitors and that for this reason it was only just that she should request that country for him of Antony, and for that he was ready to transfer his friendship to her. [ . . . ] So Cleopatra requested the territory from Antony but failed in gaining it. An account of this was brought to Herod, who was ready to kill Costobarus. However, at the pleading of his sister and mother, he forgave him and granted him a full pardon, although he continued to hold him suspect afterward on account of his attempt.

Sometime afterward, when Salome happened to be quarreling with Costobarus, she sent him a bill of divorce and dissolved her marriage with him, though this was not in keeping with the Jewish laws. For it is lawful among us for a husband to do this, but a wife, if she departs from her husband, cannot be married to another man unless her former husband allows it. However, Salome chose to follow not the law of her country but the law of her own authority and so renounced her wedlock, and she told her brother Herod that she had left her husband out of her goodwill to [Herod], because she perceived that [Costobarus] was planning sedition against him with Antipater, Lysimachus, and Dositheus. [ . . . ]

16.8–9, 66–74

So [Alexander and Aristobulus] soon aroused the envy of Salome, the king’s sister, and of those who had raised calumnies against Mariamme, for those people were concerned that they would be punished for the wickedness they had been guilty of against [Alexander and Aristobulus’] mother when [the brothers] came to power. This fear also motivated them to raise calumnies against [the brothers]. [ . . . ]

But now the discord within Herod’s family continued to increase and became more severe for him due to the hatred of Salome for the young men, which descended as if by inheritance [from their mother Mariamme]. As she had fully succeeded against their mother, she proceeded with the same degree of madness and insolence to endeavor that none of her posterity who might have the power to avenge her death be left alive. The young men also had something of a bold and hostile disposition toward their father, due to the memory of what their mother had unjustly suffered and their own desire for dominion. The old grudge was also renewed, and they cast reproaches at Salome and Pheroras, who contrived malicious plans against the young men and actually plotted treacherous snares against them. This hatred was equal on both sides, but each expressed it differently. The young men were rash, reproaching and affronting the others openly, and were inexperienced enough to think it was most generous to speak their minds in that open manner. But the others did not adopt that method but rather made use of slander in a subtle and spiteful manner, still provoking the young men and imagining that their boldness might in time lead to violence against their father. For as [Alexander and Aristobulus] were not ashamed of their mother’s crimes and believed that she suffered unjustly, [Salome and Pheroras] supposed that might at length exceed all bounds and induce them to think they ought to take revenge on their father, even if it meant getting rid of him with their own hands. Ultimately, the whole city was filled with discussion about these matters, and, as is usual in such contests, the inexperience of the young men was pitied, but Salome’s careful plans prevailed against them, and the claims she cast upon them came to be believed through the evidence of their own conduct. For they were deeply affected by the death of their mother and said that both she and they were in a pitiful state, and they vehemently complained of her regrettable end—which it truly was—and said that they themselves were in a pitiable state as well, because they were forced to live with her murderers and to have a share in their affairs.

The situation worsened, and the king’s absence abroad left an opportunity for it to escalate, but as soon as Herod returned and delivered the previously mentioned speech to the masses, Pheroras and Salome immediately met him with talk that he was in great danger, that the young men had openly threatened that they would not spare him any longer but would avenge their mother’s death on him. They also added another detail: their hope that Archelaus, the king of Cappadocia, would help them go to Caesar and bring accusations against their father. [ . . . ]

16.193, 200–210, 213–228

As for the women, Glaphyra, Alexander’s wife, the daughter of Archelaus, hated Salome, both because of her love for her husband and because Glaphyra seemed to have a somewhat insolent attitude toward Salome’s daughter, who was the wife of Aristobulus, since Glaphyra resented her equality with herself. [ . . . ]

The king no longer had a single quiet day or hour when one new quarrel or another did not arise among his relations and those who were dearest to him. For Salome showed bitter hostility and ill-nature toward Mariamme’s sons and would not permit her own daughter, who was the wife of Aristobulus—one of the young men [that is, Herod’s sons]—to show goodwill toward her husband but persuaded her to inform her if he said anything to her in private. And when any misunderstandings took place, as is common, she sowed a great many suspicions [in her daughter] from them, by which means she learned all their concerns and made the young woman ill-natured toward the young man. In order to gratify her mother, she often said that the young men used to mention Mariamme when they were by themselves and that they hated their father and were continually threatening that if they were ever to hold power over the kingdom, they would make Herod’s sons by his other wives country schoolmasters, since the education that they currently had and their diligence in learning made them suitable for such employment. As for the women, whenever [the young men] saw them adorned with their mother’s clothes, they threatened that, instead of their present gaudy apparel, they should be clothed in sackcloth and confined so closely that they should not see the light of the sun. These stories were immediately reported by Salome to the king, who was troubled to hear them and endeavored to make matters right. But he was afflicted by his suspicions, and becoming more and more uneasy, he began believing everyone against everyone. However, after rebuking his sons and hearing their defense of themselves, he was more at ease for a while, though a short time afterward much worse accidents came upon him.

For Pheroras came to Alexander, the husband of Glaphyra (who was the daughter of Archelaus, as we have already said), and said that he had heard from Salome that Herod was enslaved by his love for Glaphyra and that his passion for her was incurable. When Alexander heard this, he was all on fire from his youth and jealousy, and he interpreted the instances of Herod’s obliging behavior to her, which were very frequent, in the worst way because of the suspicions he had on account of the report he had received from Pheroras, and he could not conceal his grief over the matter but informed him of what Pheroras had said. As a result, Herod was more distressed than ever, and, unable to endure such a false and defamatory charge, became quite disturbed. He often lamented the wickedness of his relatives, and how good he had been to them, and how poorly they had treated him.

So he sent for Pheroras and reproached him, saying, “You vilest of all men! Have you come to such an unmeasurable and extravagant degree of ingratitude as not only to think such things of me but to speak of them? Now I understand your intentions. Your purpose when you use such words to my son is not only to reproach me but to persuade him to plot against me and have me killed by poison. [ . . . ]”

Thus did the king speak. Whereupon Pheroras, who was caught in the very act of his villainy, said that it was Salome who had come up with the plot and that the words came from her. But as soon as she heard this—for she was nearby—she cried out, like one who would be believed, that no such thing had ever come out of her mouth, that they had all earnestly endeavored to make the king hate her and to take her away because of her goodwill toward Herod and because she was always foreseeing the dangers that were approaching him, and that at present there were more plots against him than usual, for since she was the only person who tried to persuade her brother to dismiss his current wife and take the king’s daughter, it was no wonder that she was hated by him. As she said this, often tearing her hair and beating her breast, her expression made her denial believable, but at the same time, the perverseness of her manner showed her dishonesty. Pheroras was caught between them and had nothing plausible to offer in his own defense. He confessed that he had said what he was accused of but was not believed when he said he had heard it from Salome, so the confusion among them increased, as did their quarrelsome words to one another. At last the king, out of his hatred for his brother and sister, sent them both away, and after commending his son for his moderation and for telling him about the report, he went to refresh himself in the evening. After this argument broke out among them, Salome’s reputation suffered greatly, since she was supposed to have raised the calumny first. The king’s wives resented her, knowing that she was a very ill-natured woman and would sometimes be a friend and sometimes an enemy, so they perpetually said one thing or another against her. And then something took place that made them bolder in speaking against her.

16.320–324

So the king produced those who had been tortured before the masses at Jericho so that they would accuse the young men, and many of the people stoned them to death. When they were about to kill Alexander and Aristobulus in the same way, the king would not permit them to do so but restrained the masses by means of Ptolemy and Pheroras. However, the young men were put under close guard and kept in custody so that no one would come to them, and all that they did or said was watched, and the reproach and fear they were in was little or no different from those of condemned criminals. One of them, Aristobulus, was so deeply distressed that he brought Salome, who was his aunt and his mother-in-law, to lament with him over his misfortune and to hate the man who had allowed such things to be done, when he said to her, “Aren’t you also in danger of being killed, given the report going around that you disclosed all our affairs to Sylleus when you were still hoping to be married to him?” She immediately conveyed these words to her brother, and he was out of patience and commanded that the young men be put in chains, and enjoined them both, now that they were kept separate from one another, to write down the bad things they had done against their father and bring the documents to him. When they received this command, they wrote that they had neither devised nor prepared any treacherous plots against their father but that they had intended to flee, and that was out of necessity, because of the distress they were in, as their lives were now uncertain and tedious to them. [ . . . ]

17.36–40

[ . . . ] But the king’s sister [Salome] was [Pheroras and Antipater’s] antagonist. For a good while, she had observed all their affairs, and she was informed that their friendship was formed for the purpose of doing Herod some harm and intended to inform the king of it. Since they knew that their friendship was very disagreeable to Herod, as they intended to do him harm, they arranged for their meetings not to be discovered, and they pretended to hate one another and to abuse one another when the opportunity arose, especially when Herod was present or when anyone was there who might tell him, but still their intimacy was stronger than ever when they were in private. This was the course they took. But they could not conceal their initial plotting from Salome, either when they made their plans or when they had made some progress in carrying them out. She searched out everything and, aggravating relations with her brother, told him about their secret meetings and drinking sessions as well as their clandestine counsels, which, if they were not for the purpose of destroying him, should have been open and public. [She explained that] they appeared to be in conflict and spoke about one another as if they intended one another harm but that they got along well together when they were out of sight of the masses. For when they were alone by themselves, they acted in concert and professed that they would never abandon their friendship but would fight against those from whom they concealed their designs. Thus she searched out these things and got a perfect knowledge of them and then told them to her brother, who had also learned a great deal of what she said on his own but still did not act on it because of the suspicions he had of his sister’s calumnies. [ . . . ]

17.188–189, 193–194

And now Herod altered his will due to his change of mind, appointing Antipas, to whom he had previously left the kingdom, to be tetrarch of Galilee and Peraea, and granting the kingdom to Archelaus. He also gave Gaulonitis, Trachonitis, and Paneas to Philip, who was his son and the brother of Archelaus, as a tetrarchy, and bequeathed Jamnia, Ashdod, and Phasaelis to his sister Salome, with five hundred thousand [drachmas] of silver that was coined. [ . . . ]

But then Salome and Alexas, before the king’s death was made known, dismissed those who were imprisoned in the hippodrome and told them that the king had ordered them to go away to their own lands and to take care of their own affairs, which the nation considered a great benefit. The king’s death was made public when Salome and Alexas gathered the army together in the amphitheater at Jericho, and the first thing they did was read Herod’s letter to the army thanking them for their fidelity and goodwill to him and exhorting them to grant his son Archelaus, whom he had appointed as their king, the same fidelity and goodwill. [ . . . ]

17.219–220, 224, 321

So Archelaus went down to the sea with his mother and took with him Nicolaus and Ptolemy, and many of his other friends, and left Philip his brother as governor of all things belonging both to his own family and to the public. Salome, Herod’s sister, also went with him, bringing along her children and many of her relatives, who went under the pretense of assisting Archelaus in gaining the kingdom but in reality to oppose him, mainly to make loud complaints against what he had done in the Temple. [ . . . ]

At the same time, Antipas, another of Herod’s sons, sailed to Rome in order to gain the government, being buoyed up by Salome with promises that he could take the throne and that he was a much more honest and suitable man than Archelaus for such authority, since Herod had, in his previous will, deemed him the worthiest to be made king, which ought to be considered more valid than his later will. [ . . . ]

And so much came to Herod’s sons from their father’s inheritance. But Salome, in addition to what her brother left her in his will—which were Jamnia, Ashdod, and Phasaelis, and five hundred thousand [drachmas] of coined silver—was given a present of a royal residence at Ashkelon by Caesar. In total, her revenues amounted to sixty talents by the year, and her house was within Archelaus’ government. [ . . . ]

18.31

A short time after this accident, Coponius returned to Rome and Marcus Ambivius came to be his successor in that government. During his reign, Salome, the sister of King Herod, died and left Jamnia, all its toparchy, Phasaelis in the plain, and Arehelais, where there are many palm trees with the most excellent fruit, to Julia [i.e., Livia, Augustus Caesar’s wife].

Translated by William Whiston, adapted byAaron Samuels.