Herod and His Wife Mariamne

Herod enjoyed the so-called success of his kingdom, but things in Judea were far from peaceful. While he was at Rhodes, Mariamne had found out from one of Herod's friends named Soemus that Herod gave the order for her to be killed if he was executed. Therefore when Herod returned she was bitter toward him. Herod was very aware of all these things. His sister Salome and their mother Cyprus had always hated Mariamne and they began to spread slanderous stories about Mariamne in order to fill Herod with rage and jealousy. Herod did not listen to the stories.

Salome bribed Herod's cup-bearer to say that Mariamne had prepared some sort of love-potion for the king. When King Herod heard this he desired to know what sort of potion this was. He tortured the cup-bearer and found out nothing about the potion, but he did find out that Mariamne despised him for wanting to put her to death if he was executed. Herod immediately realized that his friends had betrayed him and he ordered them to be executed immediately.

Herod never really wanted to put Mariamne to death while he was alive, and Herod would not kill her but had her put in prison. Because of all this his emotions were so stirred that Salome took advantage of and somehow persuaded King Herod to have her finally executed.

Josephus describes that Herod was never the same after Mariamne's death:

"For he would frequently called for her, and frequently lament for her in a most indecent manner."

Herod had gotten very sick to the point of death and Alexandra began to plot how that when he died she could secure the throne. When she had begun to make plans, they had been reported to King Herod and he immediately had her executed.