5 - The Royal Family

Summary

To a ruler, his family is not only his natural entourage, but also an assurance of continuing future power of the ruling house. Sources concerning Hasmonean rulers contain a number of references to relatives of each of them. Yet actual information on respective family members is very scant and in most cases incidental. As a result, our knowledge of the Hasmoneans' family life is so fragmentary that we cannot even reconstruct their full genealogical tree. The wives of the Hasmoneans remain almost entirely obscure. No source hints at whether any of the kings had more than one wife. This scarcity of information is made more adverse by preventing our understanding of family relations among the Hasmoneans. Such an understanding would enable us to learn more about the dynasty's links with the outside world. Marriages of members of the ruling house were usually made to win the support of influential families among their nation's elite or to build closer ties with other ruling houses. We are denied the knowledge of who were the wives of Hasmonean rulers and their sons and from what families the husbands of their daughters originated. Sometimes all we know are only their names.

From among the consorts of all those Hasmoneans who reigned in Judea, we only know one name – that of Alexandra Salome, the wife of Aristobulus I and Alexander Jannaeus. Best known though she is among the Hasmonean women, sources have nothing to say about her background, or her parents or siblings.