Who art Thou Queen Alexandra?

Despite the rarity of a woman holding absolute power in antiquity, numerous basic details concerning the identity of the only sovereign Jewish queen in the Second Temple period, Queen Alexandra, are unknown both to scholars as well as to those who are not academics. Most people know little about Queen Alexandra aside from the fact that a street in Jerusalem (Shlomzion Hamalka) is named after her.

For example, when was she born? Who was her family? How old was she when she married? How many children did she have? What do we know about her appearance? Was she literate and/or educated? What was her Hebrew name? What was her attitude towards Judaism and Hellenism? How did Hasmonean society view her?

In order to answer these questions, we will utilize the following primary sources: Josephus’ Antiquities and War, the Dead Sea Scrolls and rabbinic literature. Inasmuch as these primary source materials provide only a limited amount of information and do not address many aspects of her identity, an interdisciplinary approach will be employed. We will rely upon other ancient literary works from the Hellenistic period dealing with women in general and aristocratic women in particular, along with coinage and archeological finds.

A focus upon Queen Alexandra’s reign is important not only in its (or her) own right but also for the implications it can have for the status of women during the Second Temple period as well as the ensuing attitude of Jewish society towards women in this era.