Queen Helena of Adiabene

Queen Helena (d. ca. 50–56 CE) was the queen of Adiabene, a Persian province at the northern end of the Tigris River and a vassal of the Parthian Empire. Arbela, the province’s capital, was located in modern Erbil in Iraqi Kurdistan. She was also the wife of Monabaz I, who was also her brother. Queen Helena’s history is known from the writings of Josephus, the Talmud, and Armenian sources. 

She and other members of her family converted to Judaism around 30 CE. When her son Izates went to war, she made a vow that if he returned safely, she would become a nazirite for seven years (see Numbers 6:1–21), which m. Nazir says she did. Josephus and rabbinic sources describe her piety and generosity.

According to Eusebius (Ecclesiastical History 2.12), she eventually moved to Jerusalem, where she was buried. Her tomb is mentioned by Josephus, and in the nineteenth century an elaborate tomb excavated in Jerusalem was conjectured to be her burial place.