Cleopatra of Jerusalem
Cleopatra of Jerusalem was a woman who lived in the 1st century BC during the Roman Empire. She was the fifth wife of King of Judea Herod the Great.[1]
There is a possibility that Cleopatra could have been a daughter of a local noble from Jerusalem. She was born and raised in the city and could have been of Jewish or Edomite-Phoenician origins .[citation needed] Cleopatra was called Cleopatra of Jerusalem, to distinguish her from the Ptolemaic Greek Queen Cleopatra VII of Egypt.
Josephus mentions "Cleopatra of Jerusalem" twice: once in his Antiquities of the Jews 17.1.3 and once in his Jewish War 1.28.4. Cleopatra of Jerusalem was not related to the Hasmonaean Dynasty .[citation needed] She had married King Herod the Great in 25 BC.[2] Herod most probably married her as a part of a political alliance.
Cleopatra bore Herod two sons who were:
- Herod (b. 24 BC/23 BC), of which very little is known.[citation needed]
- Herod Philip II (b. 22 BC/21 BC – 34)[3] who later became the Tetrarch of Ituraea and Trachonitis.
Cleopatra’s children by Herod were raised and educated in Rome. After the death of her husband in 4 BC, her second son inherited some of his father’s dominion and ruled as a Roman client king until his death in 34.[3] If she was always in life, Cleopatra became the mother-in-law of Philip’s wife and niece Salome. Philip and Salome had no children.
References
Sources
- Josephus: Antiquities of the Jews 17.1.3
- Josephus: The Jewish War 1.28.4
- http://virtualreligion.net/iho/herod2.html
- http://www.historyofthedaughters.com/69.pdf
- http://www.livius.org/he-hg/herodians/herod_the_great02.html
- http://jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=537&letter=C
- [1]
- [2]
