ALEXANDRÉION

ALEXANDRÉION. – A Palestinian fortress built near the Jordan where the Qarn Sartabe ends, by Alexander Jannaeus (d. 76 B.C.). It often served as a refuge for the last Hasmoneans in critical moments of their troubled reign (Flavius Josephus, Ant. Jud., XIV, 49, 83 ff.; Bell. Jud., I, 134, 163, 171). Destroyed by Gabinius (57 B.C.), it was rebuilt in 38 B.C. by Phasael, Herod the Great’s brother, and became the scene of that king’s family tragedy (Ant. Jud., XV, 185). MARIAMME (v.) was confined in 30 B.C. by Herod, jealous of his wife’s survival in case of his own misfortune; there Alexander and Aristobulus, the young princes slain by their father in 7 B.C., were buried (Bell. Jud., I, 551). Herod kept his treasures there (Ant. Jud., XVI, 317).