Herod Agrippa mother Berenice (daughter of Salome)
Biography
Origins
Family
Herod Agrippa was born in Caesarea, around the year 11 BC. He was the son of Aristobulus IV, one of the children that Herod the Great, king of Judea had with Mariamne the Hasmonean. His mother is Berenice, daughter of Salome, daughter of Antipater and sister of Herod the Great, who is close to Antonia Minor, daughter of Marcus Antonius and Octavia, sister of Augustus. Herod the Great is therefore both the paternal grandfather and the maternal great-uncle of Agrippa, who was born around 11 or 10 BC, probably in Judea. His parents mark the Roman status of this Jewish prince by giving him the name of a close collaborator of the Emperor Augustus, Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa.Herod the Great, a ruler perceived as a ruthless usurper by his subjects, was a devoted supporter of the Roman Empire and promoted its cause throughout his kingdom. His reign was characterized by violence and numerous family intrigues as he had ten wives. In 29 BC, Herod executed his wife Mariamne, Agrippa's grandmother, out of jealousy. The following year, he executed Agrippa's mother. In 7 BC, when Agrippa was just three or four years old,  Herod had Agrippa's father and uncle Alexander executed following palace intrigues.   These events also led to the executions of Antipater, a son Herod had with Doris, and Costobarus, Agrippa's maternal grandfather, three years later. Herod was responsible for the deaths of numerous members of the Hasmonean dynasty and its supporters, almost wiping them out entirely. However, he spared the children of Aristobulus, including Agrippa, Herod and Aristobulus Minor as well as the daughters, Herodias and Mariamne.Agrippa thus descends from both the Hasmonean and Herodian dynasties, but his father's death sentence for treason seems to set him aside from a logic of succession.The unions of Agrippa's daughters are part of a matrimonial strategy consisting in allying with the most fortunate party possible which is not exempt from competition between the sisters. The first of the daughters, Berenice [b. AD 28-after 81] married Marcus Julius Alexander, son of Alexander the Alabarch  of Alexandria, nephew of the philosopher Philo of Alexandria and brother of Tiberius Alexander, who was appointed procurator of Judea in 46 by Claudius. ·  This first husband died shortly afterwards and Berenice was then united to her paternal uncle Herod of Chalcis, with whom she had two sons, Berenician and Hyrcan · . After the death of Herod of Chalcis and the insistent rumors of incest with her brother Agrippa, she proposes to Marcus Antonius Polemo, client king of Cilicia (south of Cappadocia), to marry her. Polemon accepts because Berenice has the status of queen and especially according to Flavius Josephus, because she is very rich. On both sides, it is only an alliance to increase their power. Polemon however made a major concession, he converted to Judaism and had himself circumcised. But very quickly, she abandons him to return with her brother, “out of levity, they say” specifies Flavius Josephus. She finally becomes the famous mistress of Titus who dismisses her before he reaches the imperial office. · The second daughter, Mariamne [b. 34/35-], married Julius Archelaus son of an officer of the court of Agrippa named Chelkias They had a daughter Berenice (daughter of Mariamne) who lived with her mother in Alexandria, Egypt after her parents' divorce. Mariamne left her husband and married Demetrius of Alexandria, "the first of the Jews of Alexandria by birth and fortune who was then Alabarch” from the city.,and had a son from him named Agrippinus.The last, Drusilla, born around 38, was first promised to Gaius Epiphanes, son of Antiochus IV of Commagene, but the prince refused to be circumcised for the occasion. Drusilla is then united with Gaius Julius Azizus, King of Emesa, another oriental prince, whom she leaves to marry the procurator of Judaea Antonius Felix, around 50 who, according to Flavius Josephus, would have taken her away from her husband. ·  ·  ·  ·  The couple had a son called Agrippa (probably Marcus Antonius Agrippa) died in Pompeii or Herculaneum with his wife during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius en 79.
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