Salome I


Salome I was the sister of Herod the Great and the mother of Berenice by her husband Costobarus, governor of Idumea. She was a nominal queen regnant of the toparchy of Iamnia, Azotus, Phasaelis from 4 BCE.

Life

Salome's second husband was Alexas Helcias, a gentleman of Herod's. She had three children by Costobarus, Antipater IV, Berenice A and an unnamed daughter. Like her more famous great-granddaughter Salome, she divorced her husband in contravention of what Josephus says were Jewish laws at the time:
"But some time afterward, when Salome happened to quarrel with Costobarus, she sent him a bill of divorce and dissolved her marriage with him, though this was not according to the Jewish laws; for with us it is lawful for a husband to do so; but a wife; if she departs from her husband, cannot of herself be married to another, unless her former husband put her away. However, Salome chose to follow not the law of her country, but the law of her authority, and so renounced her wedlock..."
Berenice's children were Herodias, Herod Agrippa I, king of Judea, Herod of Chalcis and Aristobulus Minor, and Mariamne III.
Upon the death of Herod the Great in 4 BCE, she was given a toparchy including the cities of Iamnia, Azotus, Phasaelis, and 5000 drachmae. The Roman emperor Augustus supplemented this with a royal habitation at Ashkelon. While nominally queen of these areas, they were ultimately subject to the Judaean prefect.
After Salome's death, Iamnia fell to Livia, the future Roman empress, and then to her son Tiberius.