ERODIADE. — Daughter of Aristobulus, son of Herod the Great. She married her uncle Herod Philip, son of Herod the Great and Mariamne II, daughter of the high priest Simon.
Herod Antipas (v.), the tetrarch, having come to Rome and been received by his aforementioned brother Herod Philip, who lived there with his wife E., fell in love with her, promised her that he would repudiate his own wife, daughter of the Nabataean Arab king Aretas IV, and marry her. But the legitimate wife, having learned of her husband’s intentions, fled to her father before being repudiated; shortly thereafter E., driven by ambition, went to live with the tetrarch, taking her daughter Salome with her. John the Baptist publicly protested against this adultery and was imprisoned.
But E. watched for an opportunity to take revenge: when, during a banquet on the occasion of his birthday, Antipas promised Salome whatever she might desire as a reward for her dancing, the girl, on her mother’s advice, asked for the head of John, who was immediately beheaded (Mc. 6, 17-29; Mt. 24, 3-12). This took place in the fortress of Machaerus. Although Flavius Josephus gives only the political reason as the cause of the Baptist’s imprisonment and death, this does not exclude the other reason given by the Gospels.
When Agrippa, E.’s brother, was made king by Caligula, E. could not bear that Antipas should remain a mere tetrarch, and urged him to go with her to the Emperor to obtain that title. Appearing before Caligula at Baiae, Antipas found himself confronted with an accusation of treason brought by Agrippa, against which he was unable to defend himself. He was therefore deposed and sent into exile at Lyon. E. did not accept the pardon offered her by Caligula and followed Antipas into exile. Nothing is known of their end.