A Biographical Dictionary of the Celebrated Women of Every Age and Country/Alexandra
ALEXANDRA, Queen of the Jews, Wife of Alexander Janneus, second King of the Jews, of the Asmonean or Maccabean Race, reigned Nine Years. Died, B. C. 70.
When this king, who had a bloody and turbulent reign, was near death, Alexandra came weeping to him, lamenting the situation of herself and children, exposed, unprotected, to the hatred of the people, who bore so much ill-will towards him. He counselled her to keep his death secret, till she had secured the fortress; and, then to go to Jerusalem in triumph, as it were upon a victory; to pay court to the Pharisees, his bitter enemies, who had so much influence over the people, and whom he acknowledged he had injured; and, promise to undertake nothing without their advice. He advised her, also, to render up his body to them, either to be treated with indignity, or otherwise, as they should think fit: in which case, he assured her he should obtain a more glorious sepulture than she could give him; and herself, to whom he left the government, and children, would be happy and secure.
Alexandra pursued this counsel, and all succeeded as he had foretold. She had ever appeared averse to the severities of her husband, and therefore easily obtained favour with the people. Her eldest son, Hyrcanus, was inactive, and little formed for reigning; him she made high-priest: but the Pharisees, under her, had all the power of the state; and sometimes urged her to revenge them upon the advisers of her late husband, who, on their part, thought themselves aggrieved at the little favour shown them. Her younger son, Aristobulus, a bold and spirited man, also murmured loudly against her authority, wishing rather to be called to the throne himself. Alexandra appears to have managed these untoward circumstances in the most prudent and conciliatory manner: and to have used every wise precaution to preserve the nation in safety against foreign enemies.
Being a very old woman, she fell into a fit of sickness; during which, Aristobulus, resolving to secure the government, stole away secretly by night, and possessed himself, one by one, of the strongest fortresses, which were held by the enemies of the Pharisees, and former friends of his father. Alexandra, at first missing him, did not suspect his intentions; but they soon became too evident to be mistaken; and, after securing his wife and children in a fortress in the city, Hyrcanus, and the elders of the Jews, waited upon Alexandra, desiring she would give them her opinion on the present posture of affairs, stating that Aristobulus was, in effect, lord of the kingdom, by possessing so many strong holds; and, that it was absurd in them to take counsel among themselves, on the impending danger, however ill she was, while she remained alive. The poor old queen desired them to do what they thought best. They had yet an army, and money in their several treasuries. For her part, she had little concern about public affairs now, when her strength was nearly exhausted. She died soon after she said this, aged seventy-three. She reigned nine years—and had preserved the nation in peace, though Josephus, who allows her great wisdom and sagacity in governing, thinks her management conduced to occasion the troubles which followed her death; but, to this period of the Jewish history, tranquillity appears to have been almost a stranger; and the address of softening the horrors of faction, for a time, appears to be justly attributed to Alexandra.