Magazine Spring 2010 The Seven Layers of the Armenian Queen
The Seven Layers of the Armenian Queen
The orgy in Makheron had reached its peak. Impassioned by wine, the guests of Herod Antipas, ruler of Galilea and Perea, longingly stared at the dancing Salome. As a reward for her skillful performance, the Princess of Judea demanded the head of John the Baptist, a prisoner kept in the dungeon of the palace. Was Salome fully aware of her request? Or was this naive creature a tool of vegeance in the hands of the treacherous and ambitious Herodiade, who decided to get rid of the prophet? Seven layers cover the mystery of the biblical princess’s origin, who two decades after the bloody dance, ascended to the throne of Armenia Minor. Exactly who’s daughter was Salome — Herodiade’s or her second husband Herod’s?
“Lovingly, she leaned into his chest with her whole body. But the tetrarch pushed Herodiade away — her love was the source of all his misfortunes.”
From Herodiade by Gustave Flauberte
The ambitious grandaughter of Herod the Great, Herodiade, captivated the heart of Herod An-tipas — the stepbrother of her lawful husband Phillipe — with the “squeak of her sandals and contrivances of her sensuality.” Their fateful and passionate relationship began in Rome. Antipas could not resist the charms of Herodiade, and she too yielded to the illicit desire “not by the law of her country, but by her own decision” (Joseph Phlavius). Herodi-ade accepted Antipas’ proposal to marry him on one condition — he had to divorce his first wife, daughter of the King of Nabatea, Areta the Fourth. In fact, according to historians, the lovers were not even bothered by the fact that Herodiade’s spouse was still alive. It was prohibited by law for a woman to divorce her husband and marry someone else. It was also prohibited for a man to wed the widow of his deceased brother. One can only imagine how offensive the union of Herod and Herodiade was for Jewish people. And considering the fact that Herodiade had at least one child with Philippe — with the name of Salome — her marriage with Antipas could not have been justified even by the laws of levirat — the ar-ticle of the law allowing a widow to marry the brother of her deceased husband in the event that there was no heir to the family estate from the previous marriage.
Herod Antipas was perfectly aware that his reputation and 30 years of good neighborly relationships with Nabatea ensured by his previous marriage were at stake. Neverthe-less, he decided to marry again. Perhaps the tetrarch found reassurance in the many ex-amples of other frowned-upon relationships: Abesalom who married his father’s wives, Jude — his daughter-in-law, Amon — his sister, and Lot — his own daughters…
“John was destroying her life. When they imprisoned him…they let snakes into his cell — but they all died. Herodiade was annoyed by the futility of her schemes.”
From Herodiade by Gustave Flauberte.
According to the Evangelists Marc, Mathew and Lucas, John the Baptist was the avenger of broken law. He condemned the indecent behavior of the tetrarch and Herodiade and came to Herod Antipas with “a bitter re-proach.” The prophet’s accusations in front of the crowds were rapidly passed from mouth to mouth, spreading across the Prom-ised Land. With John’s supporters increasing in number, Antipas was becoming more anx-ious about the possibility of political unrest caused by John the Baptist’s angry preaching on the right bank of the Jordan River, where he had also baptized Jesus of Nazareth and his followers. The Bible indicates that the place of the ritual was near a water spring and there was a ferry crossing nearby. The depiction of the spring, ferry, and watch-tower are preserved on the oldest map of the Holy Land — the large fourth century mo-saic, discovered by the archeologists under the marble tiles of Saint Gregory Church in Madaba, Jordan. The prophet chose the location strategically: the ferry crossing was on a busy trade route allowing a large number of people to hear his prophecies and observe the rituals of baptism. Herodiade, too, could have heard John’s “unflattering” opinion of her — she often crossed the river by ferry. One can only imagine the humiliation and fury that the queen experienced hearing these speeches and catching the condemning looks of the crowd. The ambitious and power-hungry schemer, infuriated by the revelations of John the Baptist, demanded his arrest — and thus, the prophet of the Messiah was incarcerated in a cell in Makherone. Later, Herodiade succeeded in having him executed. However, she had to do it through someone else: for two thousand years Princess Salome was considered the murderer of John the Baptist, because until recently no one even questioned whether or not she was the daughter of Herodiade and Phillip.
