Aristobulus (son of Herod)

Also known as: Aristobulus · Family: Herod's family · Role: son of Herod · First appears: Book I, Chapter 24

In Book I, Chapter 24, Aristobulus and Alexander were excluded when Antipater received confirmation of the first-born privilege, and Herod’s affection shifted toward Antipater. Herod admonished the brothers as a father, but accusations that they plotted against him led to Aristobulus being implicated alongside Alexander. Antipater made Pheroras and Salome their enemies, and Aristobulus also raised a quarrel with Salome, who was both his aunt and mother-in-law. “Alexander and Aristobulus were much grieved that the privilege of the first-born was confirmed to Antipater.”

In Chapter 26, Eurycles drew Aristobulus into saying things that could be used against him, then accused him and Alexander before Herod. Though Herod found the proofs weak, he ordered his sons kept in custody. At Berytus, the assembled court condemned them, and at Sebaste Herod had Aristobulus and Alexander strangled, ordering their bodies buried at Alexandrium with Alexander, their maternal grandfather. “He also sent his sons to Sebaste, a city not far from Cesarea, and ordered them to be there strangled.”

In Chapter 28, Aristobulus was recorded as the father of Herod, Agrippa, Aristobulus, Herodias, and Mariamne, all by Bernice, Salome’s daughter. In Book II, Chapter 11, Herod, king of Chalcis, was recorded as his parent; the same passage also names another Aristobulus who left behind a daughter, Jotape.