CLEOPATRA AND KING HEROD

Elizabeth Taylor captured the allure
if not the formidable intelligence of Cleopatra

Cleopatra had a complicated relationship with the royal family of Judaea.

She was patron and friend of Alexandra, one of the Hasmonean royal family, but no friend of Herod's. She wanted to get rid of him altogether, but Antony could not do it because Herod was his 'client'.

In the ancient Roman world, people had a 'patron' who protected and helped them. In return, the 'client' supported the patron whenever they could. The system was an ancient, more formalized version of modern-day networking.

Mark Antony was the patron of King Herod; Herod was his client. Cleopatra was the patron of Alexandra; she was Cleopatra's client. Because of this relationship, Herod only dared to kill Alexandra after Cleopatra's suicide.

During their love affair/marriage, Cleopatra asked Antony for Herod's lands. She saw them as part of her rightful inheritance, since they had originally been part of her ancestor Ptolemy's domain.

Antony did not want to rock the boat by giving her all of Herod's territory, so he compromised and gave her the prized district of Jericho with its palm trees and balsam.

This was the most fertile part of Herod's kingdom, and he was loathe to part with it. So he leased it back from Cleopatra for 200 talents. This was an enormous sum of money, but the land had vast date plantations that produced probably the best dates in the ancient world.

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