Miriam the Hasmonean was 12 years old when she married King Herod, a match that was probably behind her grandfather, the high priest Yochanan Hyrcanus II, and this is only the beginning of a tract of intrigue and political murders that destroyed the House of Hasmoneans
The current chapter appears to be a secondary appendix to the plots of the Hasmonean house since it is about one character, Miriam the Hasmonean, who has nothing in common with the descendants of the Hasmoneans, since she acted in the shadow of King Herod. Rather, there is a Hasmonean continuity in her actions, in that, when an opportunity arose, she dreamed of returning the crown to its former glory - to transfer the power to the Hasmonean house, and perhaps-perhaps the figure of Shlomzion, Yanai's wife, stood before her eyes as an example to emulate.
In 42 BC, Miriam the Hasmonean (the girl/girl about 12 years old), the granddaughter of Hyrcanus the High Priest and Herod, got engaged. Herod's intention was to integrate himself with the Hasmonean house, the mythical Jewish royal house, in order to forge his royal foundations, to place himself in a higher position compared to his brother Petzal, beyond his relations with the Romans and certainly to be acceptable to his expected subjects. And in addition, according to Yosef ben Matthiyahu, his love for her burned like fire in his bones.
And what about Miriam? What were her intentions, if any? Yosef ben Matatiyo fills his mouth with water in this matter beyond his reference by saying that the passion of love was close between the two. However, knowing Herod and knowing that two weeks after the birth of his eldest son, Antipater, he expelled the birth mother, Doris, the Edomite-Jew, the wife of his youth and poisoned her, Miriam, who was more beautiful than Doris and approximately ten years younger than her, and as evidenced by this Nikolaus of Damascus, the court historian: "With the beauty of her body and the splendor of her (walks) (and that) in conversation and achievement she exceeded the girls of her time more than can be expressed in words" (Yosef ben Matthiyahu Kademoniy Ha-Jewidis, 237, XNUMX). Whether Miriam was supposed to know and understand that he did not marry her out of love for the Hasmonean house, which should have turned on some warning lights and suspicion in her soul, is unknown. In any case, questions and doubts about this from Miriam's point of view were not expressed, at least in terms of our knowledge of the historical development from then, and again, from the eyes of Joseph ben Matthew.
And yet why? It seems to me that the answer can be found from the following assumptions, one of them or a combination of some of them. Well, first of all - Miriam's young age in the context of understanding various intrigues; Second - it must be assumed that behind the engagement and marriage was the Hasmonean grandfather, Yohanan Hyrcanus II, the high priest, weak in character and weak in strength, who strived for industrial peace, and was in close contact with Antipater, Herod's father; Thirdly - the lust for power, such as may have dripped in her home - to be the king's wife, put her on her mind; Fourth - an immanent return of youth, also related to the aforementioned trickle of a strong belief in the possibility of the continuation of the Hasmonean rule in the future.
In any case, in his book about the divorce of Doris and his marriage to Miriam, Joseph ben Matthieu inclines to some side by saying that "because of her (because of Miriam) quarrels broke out in his (Herod's) house, which intensified after his return to Rome" (Jewish Wars, 432. XNUMX). "Not pretty"! The chain of events from the mouth of Joseph ben Mattheyahu himself prove that the cause of the quarrels was actually Herod, and perhaps Joseph ben Mattheyahu is hinting to us, so among the Shetin, that Miriam and perhaps at the instigation of her mother Alexandra, was good at rowing against Herod and under him, a sort of ancient Hasmonean decree, mainly rebellious.
From the mouth of Josephus we learn that there were rumors that Miriam was committing adultery and cheating on him with other men, including the Roman Marcus Antonius, to whom, according to the gossipers, she sent her picture.
Another question that arises is why a relatively long period of time passed, i.e. 5/6 years between the engagement of Herod and Miriam, and their wedding. Prof. Aryeh Kosher answers the question in his joint book with Prof. Eliezer Weitzum, and answers that the time gap is related to the great political storms that took place in those years in the Roman Empire and in Israel itself and were linked to the Parthian invasion. But in fact, the second claim (Kosher Wiztom), Herod had severe personal inhibitions as a result, and these were expressed in insecurity and paranoid anxieties of various kinds (Herod, King of Pursuer and Persecuted, 2007, p. 95). And yet, I would add, that Miriam certainly had a reason to be mad about the time interval that had passed.
rebelliousness? you are welcome! Matthias Antigonus worked hand in hand with the Parthians, the sworn enemies of Rome, to depose Herod and rule under him. And what did Matthias Antigonus think, doubting his innocence, doubting his political opacity, if the Parthians win, will his throne be secure, and if they are defeated by the Romans, who will pay the price? All of Judah
When Herod was threatened by Matthias Antigonus and the Parthians (40 BC) in the aftermath of the flood, Miriam and her mother Alexandra encouraged Herod to flee together to Edom also due to their fear of Matthias, Antigonus, the rival of the Hasmonean house, a partner of the Parthians, and also perhaps in their desire to ensure that far away from the Parthian danger he could Herod will be ripe for the romantic engagement, an engagement, as it immediately seems, that has a clear political orientation.
Indeed, the marriage of Miriam and Herod was held in 37 BC in the city of Samaria (Samaria, Sebaste) during the siege of Jerusalem. For Herod, the way to marry and dwarf as much as possible the expected opposition to him in Jerusalem. And surely he will come in the marriage alliance in the center that supports his status and positions.
With the marriage, the inheritance option of Herod's kingdom passed to Miriam's 17-year-old son, Alexander, and not to Antipaterus, the son of his previous wife, Doris, which strengthens the above argument regarding Miriam the Hasmonean's consent to her betrothal to Herod, and it may be that she was behind her divorce of Doris, only two weeks after she gave birth to her firstborn Antipaterus, both on the basis of obsessive jealousy of a girl/girl and due to domestic incitement.
In the meantime, the various frictions and disputes between Alexandra and her daughter Miriam increased due to their forced absence from Jerusalem. Tensions with Herod rose to heights as a result of the death/murder of Aristobulus III. Hela, 16 years old, Alexandra's son and Miriam's younger brother, who was about to be appointed high priest. It was through the intercession of Alexandra both with Cleopatra VII Queen of Egypt and in the battle of the Roman retreat Marcus Antonius. Herod immediately saw this move as an attempt against him and his heart was filled with fear that Aristobulus might be crowned king under him. Added to this was the fact that young Aristobulus was the public's favorite in Jerusalem and was considered handsome (which corresponds to the Greek-Hellenistic mythological classification as appropriate for royalty).
In order to block and neutralize Aristobulus, Herod appointed Hananal the Babylonian to the office of the high priesthood. Miriam and her mother exerted pressure on Herod to dissuade him from this march and they succeeded, albeit for a short time. Herod was therefore forced to approve the appointment of Aristobulus in 35 BC.
On the Sukkot holiday of that year, Aristobulus carried the waves of admiration of the public when he was officiating in conducting the sacrificial ceremony at the altar, when his beauty and tall stature captivated the attention of the public, and it seemed to them as if Aristobulus II, his grandfather, had risen from the rest of his world to lead the public. This status only increased Herod's sense of threat.
But it is difficult when Saul was jealous and Herod treated this with deep anxiety, especially in light of Aristobulus II's rebellious past. Herod made sure to drown Aristobulus in the swimming pool in his palace in Jericho, when the execution of the task was assigned to his mercenary soldiers.
This criminal act could not have been put on the agenda in the absence of some kind of response from both Alexandra and Miriam. It is not because with the anchoring of Herod's succession in the Hasmonean house as a result of the determination of Alexandra's grandson, Alexander, as Herod's heir, and Alexandra's plan, and then with her daughter, to "drive" Herod crazy, they - they are the channels of the grandmother's revenge.
After the fall of Egypt at the hands of the Roman Octavianus and its transformation into a Roman province in 31 BC, Herod's heart rewarded him with a decision to eliminate Yochanan Hyrcanus, Miriam's grandfather, who, despite his disqualification for the high priesthood by mutilating his ear, was seen by Herod as a personal risk, as an existential threat to him. Hyrcanus was not crowned as king since the Roman conquest, in 63 BC, but as Atanarchus (a kind of president, head of the people), as a title officially approved by the Romans.
Herod was looking for a pretense and an excuse to finally neutralize Hyrcanus, who had already passed the age of seventy, which was then considered extremely old in those days. And when he takes advantage of the Parthian invasion of the region and puts the guilt of pro-Parthian and anti-Roman treason on the forehead of Hyrcanus. Herod summoned him to the court of the Sanhedrin, which was neither a court nor a Sanhedrin. The panel found him guilty and sentenced him to death. Hyrcanus was executed in 30 BC.
The reaction of Miriam and her mother Alexandra as well as of Alexander and Aristobulus was zero. However, the rising tensions between the two and Herod, perhaps on the background of the two murders committed by Herod in the Hasmonean family, resulted in Herod placing Alexandra and her daughter Miriam in the Alexandrian fortress as prisoners/captives under the supervision of his confidant, the house agent Yosef. Mad or not, Herod was struck with fear and anxiety that the two were planning to bring about a wave of rebellion against him. This move was carried out before Herod's meeting with Octavian on the island of Rhodes, when Herod feared, not without justice and logic, that he would be found guilty of supporting Octavian's opponent, aka Marcus Antonius, and would be sentenced to death by beheading befitting a rebel. In such a case, Herod ordered Joseph to murder the two.
One year later, in 29 BC, when Herod's suspicions about Miriam's loyalty increased and weighed heavily, he decided to execute her. Miriam was handed over to a pro-Herodesian tribunal, whose verdict and sentence were known in advance. She was sentenced to death and it was done.
Herod was attacked by black bile and severe insanity accompanied by scurvy, which forced him to be absent from Jerusalem and retire to the desert. In response, when the water was already up to the heart's content, Alexandra, Miriam's mother, appealed to the commanders of the forts with a request that they hand over the management of the forts around Jerusalem and command them under the assumption that Herod's days were numbered and if he died, they would be inherited by Herod's young sons, who are known to be her grandsons , the legitimate heirs are Alexander and Aristobulus, the sons of Miriam her daughter. Yosef ben Mattathieu notes the importance of the fortresses in connection with the administration of the sacrificial rites in the Temple, and from this the significant plan of Alexandra becomes clear. Alexandra decided, it seems, to declare a rebellion against Herod, both as a daughter of the rebellious Hasmonean family and as strong in her soul the feeling of revenge against the murderer of her family, which is Herod. This manipulative plan was reported to Herod and he immediately ordered its execution without trial. The sentence was carried out in 27 BC.
A short time later, in 24 BC, after the dedication of the city of Caesarea Maritima, Herod presented Mary's two sons, Alexander (12 years old) and Aristobulus (11 years old) as his successors to Augustus the emperor. These lived in Rome, very close to the emperor's private residence, as was customary for the king's heirs, where they would absorb the Roman cultural education and manners and in time, at least one of them, would be trained to succeed Herod. This was a kind of commitment for the future to continue the friendly policy with the Herodian dynasty (Kosher Wiztum, 189).
Between 18 and 17 BC, Herod sailed to Rome with the intention of returning his two sons to Israel, to Jerusalem. Their return aroused the jealousy of Shlomit/Shalom/Salome, Herod's sister that here-and-now the promise of inheritance, which has some Hasmonean link, would be realized, and in the climax Herod gave the two to aristocratic maidens who were not from the Hasmonean house.
It is surprising though that not one of the pair of sons, the potential heirs, expressed reservations, if not more so about the series of murders of the family members - Aristobulus III, Miriam, Hyrcanus and Alexandra. For Shatikam, perhaps the roaring one, Yosef ben Mattiyahu does not offer any explanations, openly or secretly.
A significant turning point in the plot woven here occurred in 12 BC, when Herod met with the emperor Augustus, and presented his sons to him as seeking his life and especially his inheritance, and this was a dozen years after he presented them as heirs for the first time in the eyes of Augustus. Upon hearing these words, the two almost suffocated and burst into bitter tears. Alexander appealed directly to Herod and asked to dissuade him from his decision. He completely rejected the accusation that he and his brothers are seeking the soul of their father and his kingdom and in his eyes it is better to end his life than to live under such guilt. In this moving speech, there is no hiding, not even the slightest hint about Herod's vile actions towards their family. Whether it is a product of fear, of Roman state-imperial education, of deliberate disregard in order to win an inheritance, we cannot know.
In any case, the emperor and the others present were moved by Alexander's speech, and the Roman ruler asked Herod to forgive his sons and get rid of all the false rumors he had previously stated. Herod embraced them both as a sign of accepting the emperor's advice and the very compassion that befell him.
Upon his return to Jerusalem, Herod convened the assembly of the people in the Temple and informed them that his son Antipater would be the main heir, the first, while the two brothers, sons of Mary, would be secondary heirs.
In 10 BC, Alexander was suspected of attempting to assassinate Herod by contacting three eunuchs in Herod's palace who would poison the king. Whether it was or not is not known, except that during this period, when Herod was suffering from paranoia and bipolar attacks, any imposition of blame was questionable. The atmosphere of terror that prevailed in his palace finds many expressions in Josephus.
Similar to Herod's jealousy of Miriam's brother, Aristobulus III, and his murderous end, so also happened in connection with Alexander. Herod envied him due to his beauty and exceptional physical and athletic qualities.
Archilaeus, king of Cappadocia, came to Alexander's aid, also due to their closeness (Alexander was his son-in-law) and managed to appease Herod and calm his spirit in everything related to his obsessive jealousy of Alexander.
This calm lasted only a short time and once again, both due to his bad spirit and due to the rumor mill that was spread in his palace against his two sons, Herod was overcome with a hatred of Leo and conquest towards Alexander and Aristobulus. In the end, Herod ordered them to be handcuffed and separated from each other in detention in one of the villages near Sidon.
In 7 BC, the two were tried in a special court in Britus (today Beirut), which was a Roman colony, with the Roman commissioner in Syria at the head of the panel of judges. The trial could not proceed without the approval of Emperor Augustus, which remained with Herod, because he is obligated to try his sons on the condition that there is enough solid evidence to accuse them of attempting to murder Herod the Elder.
As expected, the two boys were found guilty and they were executed by strangulation in Sebastia in the dead of night one winter night and their bodies were hastily moved for burial in the Citadel of Alexandria. Alexander left behind two sons when he died - one of them, Tigranes was appointed by Augustus as the king of Armenia and Aristobulus left behind two daughters and three sons when he died, all under Herod's supervision. One of them, Agrippa, will be king of Judea, and more on that in the next chapter.
It was indeed a period of time when no rebellious conduct was known in Judah, although voices continued to rumble beneath the surface wishing for the moment when Judah would return to the atmosphere of rebellion that characterized the Maccabean era.
