A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology

Smith, William

A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. William Smith, LLD, ed. 1890

(Σαλώμη).

1. Also called alexandra was the wife of Aristobulus I., king of the Jews, on whose death, in B. C. 106, she released his brothers, who had been thrown by him into prison. and advanced the eldest of them (Alexander Jannaeus) to the throne (Joseph. Am. 13.12.1. Bell. Jud. 1.4.1). By some she has been identified with Alexandra, the wife of Alexander Jannaeus, who, according to this hypothesis, married her, in obedience to the Jewish law, to raise up seed to his brother. Such a conjecture, however, is disproved by the fact, that Hyrcanus 11., son of Alexander Jannaeus and Alexamidra, was past 80 when he died, in B. C. 30, and therefore must have been born several years before the death of Aristobulus I. (See Joseph. Ant. xv, 6.3.)