HEROD AND HIS LAND
The Herodian dynasty began with Herod the Great, who was appointed the King of the Jews -- and was, himself, raised Jewish – by Rome. After being named as such, he reclaimed the kingdom of Judea from Antigonus, the last Hasmonean King, thereby ending an autonomous Israeli kingdom. His rule was characterized by controversy: while he was responsible for a lot of building projects (including the Temple Mount, of which the Western Wall remains) that improved economic stability and supplied jobs, he was also considered to be tyrannical and more interested in benefiting Rome than taking care of his Jewish population. After Herod the Great’s death in 4 BCE, his kingdom was divided among his three sons. The eldest, Archelaus, ruled Judea, Edom, and Samaria but was banished in 6 CE due to his tyranny and unpopularity; his territory was reorganized into the Roman province of Judea. After Archelaeus’ failings, Rome sent in a Prefect to oversee the politics of the state and thus Pontius Pilate was sent in early on to fix things. Philip I ruled the northeast until 34 CE, and Antipas - the Herod of Salomé, ruled Galilee and Perea. Herod’s land was separated by the Decapolis, ten separate city-states, thus he had to deal with conflict in his oddly shaped kingdom. While sometimes insensitive to Jewish cultures – such as his foundation of the capital, Tiberias, on a graveyard –none of his coins had images on them which respected the rule against idolatry and thus he evidently made some concessions, which may account for his more successful reign than that of his brother. The story goes that, after his nephew and Herodias' brother, Agrippa, was granted Philip's land as king by his friend, Emperor Caligula, jealous Herodias convinced her husband to ask for the title himself. Unbeknownst to them, Agrippa claimed conspiracy against Antipas and he was exiled in 39 AD. Judea itself was often under the rule of foreign powers, and thus the Roman rule was nothing new, although it did put an end to the hundred-year Hasmonean dynasty as begun during the Maccabean Revolt (whose success was the origin for Hanukkah). Beginning in 1 BCE, Judea became a satellite state, then tributary, of Roman rule. As a province of Rome, it didn’t originally include Antipas’ land, but was vital in order to access Egypt and Jews were allowed some form of religious independence. |
Sea of Galilee.
Dome of the Rock and the Western Wall. |
Religion
CHRISTIANITY
Despite the seemingly eternal conflict between Jews and Christians, the first Christians were all Jewish converts and it developed into its own religion after the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE. Judaism maintains a belief that a messiah would come to restore the former Kingdom of God/Israel and thus Christians believed Jesus was the one who would do so; his death was seen to be a failure to and thus this was the main split in early Christianity from Judaism. While Christians believe the Kingdom of God will happen at the second coming, Jewish people believe him to be a false messiah in which the veneration of him is an act of idolatry due to his false divinity. Jesus himself was Jewish and preached to Jewish communities. Furthermore, the church was becoming more gentile and abandoning Jewish customs which was difficult to reconcile with their previous way of life.
Vs. the Pharisees: They often appeared in the New Testament in conflict with early Christians and were accused of caring more about man-made laws than divine love, but seem to have had a more than civil relationship in other ways. For example, Nicodemus the Pharisee helped prepare Jesus’ body for burial and Paul the Apostle was a Pharisee before converting. However, it is important to note that the Bible was written after the fall of Herod’s Temple when Christianity and the Pharisees were the only really strong remaining religious sects and thus the portrayal for the Pharisees was written with a political intent in the CEs. Historians believe Jesus may have been a Pharisee.
Vs. Sadducees: Definite hostility and contradiction, with John calling them “a brood of cipers”
Despite the seemingly eternal conflict between Jews and Christians, the first Christians were all Jewish converts and it developed into its own religion after the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE. Judaism maintains a belief that a messiah would come to restore the former Kingdom of God/Israel and thus Christians believed Jesus was the one who would do so; his death was seen to be a failure to and thus this was the main split in early Christianity from Judaism. While Christians believe the Kingdom of God will happen at the second coming, Jewish people believe him to be a false messiah in which the veneration of him is an act of idolatry due to his false divinity. Jesus himself was Jewish and preached to Jewish communities. Furthermore, the church was becoming more gentile and abandoning Jewish customs which was difficult to reconcile with their previous way of life.
Vs. the Pharisees: They often appeared in the New Testament in conflict with early Christians and were accused of caring more about man-made laws than divine love, but seem to have had a more than civil relationship in other ways. For example, Nicodemus the Pharisee helped prepare Jesus’ body for burial and Paul the Apostle was a Pharisee before converting. However, it is important to note that the Bible was written after the fall of Herod’s Temple when Christianity and the Pharisees were the only really strong remaining religious sects and thus the portrayal for the Pharisees was written with a political intent in the CEs. Historians believe Jesus may have been a Pharisee.
Vs. Sadducees: Definite hostility and contradiction, with John calling them “a brood of cipers”
PEOPLE
Salomé
Salome’s name derives from the Hebrew word for peace, shalom. While facts about the real woman’s life are little, historians agree she lived from 14 AD to 62 – 71 AD and was the daughter of Herod II and Herodias. She married Philip the Tetrarch, her uncle, who was 32 years older than her. After his death in 34 AD, when Salome was 20, she married Aristobulus of Chalcis and became a queen. While the biblical story doesn’t mention a name for the daughter who danced for Herod, most associate her with Salome, and Herodias is more complicit in the murder than in Wilde’s play. Despite her minor appearance in the bible, the arts have had a great impact on making her what she is today – at times an evil seductress, other times a powerful woman. She was an incredibly popular figure in the 18th and 19th centuries, and thus the portrayals of her are many. Wilde’s version of her story is easily one of the most well-known and influential, having been adapted into a Strauss opera, among other things, despite his debt to his artistic contemporaries (which is addressed in more detail on the play page of this website). Interestingly, his stage direction is the originator of Salomé’s “Dance of the Seven Veils”; while she does perform a dance in the original story, the addition of veils were likely a reference to Westernized adaptations of Middle Eastern dance styles, as performed by those like Loie Fuller. Furthermore, the use of veils has a connotation of striptease, and some even believe this play is the origin of modern striptease performance as Salomé, to the French, at least, is lust personified. John the Baptist According to Luke, John was miraculously born to elderly parents; his coming was foretold arriving by the angel Gabriel. Accounts of him in the four Gospels all feature his life in the wilderness, how he prophesied the coming of and baptized Jesus – although accounts vary as to if he knew who he was baptizing –, and conflicting stories of his beheading that all involve Antipas. Furthermore, based on geography, scholars believe he was influenced by the Essenes. He is often associated with an earlier prophet, Elias, who lived in the 9th century BCE and defended the Jewish God over Canaanite Baal against Ahab and Jezebel, and was carried up into heaven. Despite his personal denial of their linkage, Jesus referenced their relationship, although whether he is Elias is up to debate. Herodias: According to the historical record, Antipas met Herodias on a visit to his half-brother, Herod II, and the two decided to marry after divorcing their current spouses, although there is debate on whether or not it was before or after their deaths, it was mutual. John the Baptist heavily criticized this move and Aretas, the father of Antipas’ first wife, started a war about border disputes. This led to her animosity towards John; actually, in the biblical story, Herodias' convinces her daughter to ask for John's head, and this co-habitual relationship seems to carry over into Wilde's work. Salomé seems genuinely upset about all the things John says about her and the two women are against Herod’s lust for her. As a character, Herodias herself seems logical with her line “the moon is like a moon (p15)” and doesn’t believe in prophecy. She has not been associated strongly with her sexuality before Wilde's play. |
Coin of Salome minted in 56 or 57 AD.
Loie Fuller. Leonardo da Vinci's St. John the Baptist
Herodias by Paul Delaroche |