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Mariamne Herod's ancestors can be traced back on her grand- mother's (Mariamne I) side to the Hasmonean "priest-kings" and "hereditary priests" from the tribe of Benjamin. She, her sister and her brothers were descendants of the legitimate Hasmonean dynasty and "carried the Hasmonean blood".* They also carried the blood of the Nabatean Arabs, so much so that King Aretas IV, who was legally confirmed a Nabatean Arab king by Emperor Augustus,* divorced his wife to marry Herodias (who died after AD 41) to maintain the Nabatean bloodline, but she declined him. It was Herodias who was involved in the Gospel story of the beheading of John the Baptist, for which she received a level of notoriety and defamation similar to that of Mary Magdalene. The available records reflect an intricate tangle of marriages, intermarriages and divorces between the Herods and the Romans. In the account of the Gospel of Mark (6:17), for example, Herodias later married Herod Philip I, her own uncle, by whom she had a daughter, Salome. Salome was named after her Hasmodean ancestor Salome Alexandra, herself a "priestess- queen".* Later in time, Herod Antipas ("without-land") apparent- ly fell in love with Herodias and proposed to her. Seeing that his fortunes were rising faster than her husband's, Herodias accepted his hand. She longed for social distinction, and accordingly left her husband and initially entered into an adulterous union with Herod Antipas, who was also her uncle.* She was not married to Antipas at this time, but married him at a much later stage (c. 38). When Herodias saw how well her brother Agrippa I had fared in Rome, whence he returned a king, she urged her husband Herod Antipas to go to Caesar and obtain the royal title, for she believed his claim to it was far greater than that of her brother. Antipas was not king, but only Tetrarch of Galilee.** Contrary to his better judgement he went, and soon learned by messengers that Agrippa I had accused him before Emperor Caligula of con- spiracy against the Romans. The Emperor banished Herod Antipas to Lyons, Gaul (France), in 41, and although he permitted Herodias to return to her home in Rome she chose to accompany her husband into exile. It was recorded that the male offspring of the House of Herod were forced to become circumcised Jews in the reign of John Hyrcanus, a Hasmonean of the earlier Maccabean period. In other words, the Herod family adopted the religion of Judaism. The religious movement of the Essenes was also connected to the Hasmonean bloodline through the High Priest Mattathias, the father of the military king Judas Maccabeus. We know that Herod the Great was favourable towards the Essenes, maybe because they made it their invariable practice to refrain from disobedience to the political authority. The Jewish historical writer Philo recorded that they had never clashed with any ruler of Palestine, however tyrannical, until his lifetime in the mid-first century. This was a passive attitude which could not fail to commend itself to King Herod, and it was reported he even went so far as to exempt the Essenes, like the Pharisees, from the oath of loyalty to himself. In the reconstruction of the story, and drawing upon the concept of the Safed Scroll, the pregnant Stadea (Mariamne Herod, née Mary) secretly went to one of the Essene communities until the time of the birth, and bore twin boys. Numerous groups of Essenes existed "all over, as they were a very numerous sect" and were found in secluded country areas as well as cities. Upon the birth of the twins, she then moved into the palace of Emperor Augustus and there she lived until the boys were old enough to receive schooling. It was due to their solidarity and the family affinity that the young Mariamne Herod had her illegitimate twin boys educated within the Essene community. The Essene hierar- chy were her blood relatives and expounded similar principles and traditions to the Herodian philosophy. "They perpetuated their sect by adopting children...above all, the Essenes were the educa- tors of the nobility, their instruction being varied and extensive."* To avoid confusion in developing the premise provided in this work, Mary, the mother of Jesus in the New Testament, shall be called Mariamne Herod, except when quoting from the Gospels. Endnotes 18. Schwab, Moise, Translations in Progress (the About the Author: 1. Waddell, L.A., The Phoenician Origin of Britons, Jerusalem Talmud). . . Tony Bushby, an Australian, became a highl Scots and Anglo-Saxons, 1924, p. 393. p pete CSS Mary in Go eeiglontinn tear, SNES EuPinesne and entrepreneur a 2, Shakespeare, Henry IV. Also W. McElwee, a) Gitcars 2E, early in his life. He established a magazine Declaratio Pro lure Regio, 1615; Sully, King James I, oe aa The Nan the Furi publishing business and spent 20 years 1566-1625. yy aie Geeta ties wes. researching, writing and publishing his own 3. Williams, Charles, James I, c. 1640. 3 Babylonian Shabbath, 104b. magazines, primarily for the Australian and New a enn ne CUAL aca 24, Hieronymus, Commentary to Matthew, book ii, Zealand markets. | . . . . . Migston, Wek i % chapter xii, 13. With strong spiritual beliefs and an interest in paca Alfred, The Martyrd Francis B 25. Eisenman, James, the Brother of Jesus, Faber & metaphysical subjects, Tony has developed long . Dodd, Alfred, The Martyrdom of Francis Bacon, c. Faber Ltd, 1997, p. 471. relationships with many associations and eu p. Lal. F a a" 26. See Syrian Bible, for example. societies throughout the world. He has been 7. Rawley, Dr William, Resuscitatio, or Bringing into 94, Catholic Encyclopaedia, vol. XV, 1 October 1912, given access to rare biblical manuscripts in the Publick Light, Several Pieces Hitherto Sleeping, 1657. 450.479. archives of numerous private libraries and 8. Smedley, William T., The Mystery of Francis 28. Encyclopaedia Judaica Jerusalem, 1971, p. 443. museums. The Bible Fraud involved him in 12 iiaariyG ENG, (p a, 29. ibid., p. 601. years of full-time, painstaking research at great 9. Encyclopaedia Britannica, ed. IX, vol. X, p. 814. 30. ibid., pp. 740-744. personal expense. His extensive travels have Also Papias, Ecclesiastical History. 31. Farrar, Dean, The Herods. Also Skeats, Joseph of taken him to Egypt, the Middle East, England 10. Morton Smith, Prof., Jesus the Magician, San Arimathea, 1933. Wales, Scotland rane Germany 9 Belgium, are 1978. 32. Catholic Encyclopaedia, vol. V1, 1910, pp. 291- Italy, Australia, New Zealand and the USA. He is » ibid. 292. , ° Fs nya 12. Origen, Contra Celsum (Against Celsus), 1:28. 33. Josephus, Antiquities, 16:355. comely pees aria further manuscripts 13. See notes on both passages (Origen 1:28 and 1:32) 34, Jones, A.H.M., The Herods of Judea, Oxford, OWSIS Ua LAG Gees . by Lommatzech in his Origen Contra Celsum, Berlin, 1938. As Tony Bushby vigorously protects his 1845. 35. Catholic Encyclopaedia, ibid., p. 292. privacy, any correspondence should be sent to 14. Epiphanius, Haer (Heresies), Ixxvii, 7. 36. The New Testament, however, sometimes called him care of Joshua Books, PO Box 5149, 15. The Jebamoth, 49A. him "king" (Matt. 14:9; Mark 6:14). Maroochydore BC, Qld 4558, Australia, tel +61 7 16. Michaelis, Jonathon D., Commentaries on the Law 37. Doane, T.W., Bible Myths, 1882 (reprinted 1949, 5444 1971, fax +61 7 5444 1491. Copies of The of Moses, vols I-IV, 1814. Charles P. Somerby, Truth Seeker Co.), p. 431. Bible Fraud are available from NEXUS offices, 17. Babylonian Shabbath, 104b, repeated in almost 38. Catholic Encyclopaedia, vol. V, 1909, p. 546. Joshua Books and via the website www.the identical words in the Babylonian Sanhedrin, 67a. Also Josephus, Jewish Wars, II, p. 120. biblefraud.com (see review in NEXUS 8/06). 46 = NEXUS Continued next issue... www.nexusmagazine.com DECEMBER 2001 — JANUARY 2002