General Notes

As eldest son of Herod by his favorite wife, the Hasmonean princess Mariamne, Aristobulus was slated to be Herod's successor but fell victim to his own arrogance & court intrigues. He was barely 3 yrs. old when his father executed his mother on false rumors of her infidelity spread by his paternal aunt Salome [29 BCE]. When he reached age 12, Herod sent him & his brother Alexander to Rome to be schooled in the household of Augustus [20 BCE]. When the handsome youths returned to Jerusalem 8 yrs. later, they attracted the adulation of many Jews. But the imperious manner of these Hasmonean princes who had lived for much of their lives at the very center of Roman imperial power frequently offended Herod & incited the jealousy of their older half-brother, Antipater III, who skillfully fed the aging king's fury with rumors of his favored sons' disloyalty. Finally in 7 BCE, after many failed attempts at reconciliation between the king & his designated heirs, the ailing Herod had Aristobulus & Alexander strangled on charges of treason & elevated Antipater to the rank of his co-regent & heir apparent. Yet Herod retained his affection for Aristobulus' children (his grand-children by Mariamne), three of whom -- Agrippa I, Herod III & Herodias -- rose to prominence in the politics of the next generation of Jewish rulers.