Mariamne I, also called Mariamne the Hasmonean, was a Hasmonean princess and the second wife of Herod the Great. Her parents, Alexandra Maccabeus and Alexander of Judaea, were cousins who both descended from Alexander Jannaeus. She was known for her great beauty, as was her brother Aristobulus III. Herod's fear of his Hasmonean rivals led him to execute all of the prominent members of the family, including Mariamne.
Mariamne is taken away to be killed, engraving by Jan Luyken, 1704 (Rijksmuseum)
Jerusalem Model, Palace of Herod the Great, The three towers: Phasael, Hippicus, Mariamne from left to right
Mariamne Leaving the Judgment Seat of Herod, oil on canvas by John William Waterhouse, 1887 (Forbes Galleries)
Miniature detail from the collection De mulieribus claris, by Giovanni Boccaccio
The Hasmonean dynasty was a ruling dynasty of Judea and surrounding regions during the Hellenistic times of the Second Temple period, from c. 140 BCE to 37 BCE. Between c. 140 and c. 116 BCE the dynasty ruled Judea semi-autonomously in the Seleucid Empire, and from roughly 110 BCE, with the empire disintegrating, Judea gained further autonomy and expanded into the neighboring regions of Perea, Samaria, Idumea, Galilee, and Iturea. The Hasmonean rulers took the Greek title basileus ("king") as the kingdom became a regional power for several decades. Forces of the Roman Republic intervened in the Hasmonean Civil War in 63 BCE and made it into a client state, marking the decline of Hasmonean dynasty; Herod the Great displaced the last reigning Hasmonean client-ruler in 37 BCE.
Hasmonean dynasty
Wojciech Stattler's Machabeusze (Maccabees), 1844
Coin with portrait of Antiochus IV. Reverse shows Apollo seated on an omphalos. The Greek inscription reads ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΑΝΤΙΟΧΟΥ ΘΕΟΥ ΕΠΙΦΑΝΟΥΣ ΝΙΚΗΦΟΡΟΥ (King Antiochus, the divine Epiphanus, Bringer of Victory.
Mattathias of Modi'in killing a Jewish apostate, engraving by Gustave Doré