Laodice was a Queen of an unknown Kingdom in

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

. She lived at the time of the

Seleucid The Seleucid Empire (; grc, Βασιλεία τῶν Σελευκιδῶν, ''Basileía tōn Seleukidōn'') was a Greek state in West Asia that existed during the Hellenistic period from 312 BC to 63 BC. The Seleucid Empire was founded by the ...

king of Syria

Antiochus X Eusebes Antiochus X Eusebes Philopator ( grc, Ἀντίοχος Εὐσεβής Φιλοπάτωρ; – 92 or 88 BC) was a Seleucid monarch who reigned as King of Syria during the Hellenistic period between 95 BC and 92 BC or 89/88 BC (224 ...

who reigned 95 BC-92 or 88 BC.

Historical account

Laodice is known from the work of the first century historian

Josephus Flavius Josephus (; grc-gre, Ἰώσηπος, ; 37 – 100) was a first-century Romano-Jewish historian and military leader, best known for ''The Jewish War'', who was born in Jerusalem—then part of Roman Judea—to a father of priestly d ...

. In about 92 BC, she sent a petition to

of Syria asking for help against

Parthia Parthia ( peo, 𐎱𐎼𐎰𐎺 ''Parθava''; xpr, 𐭐𐭓𐭕𐭅 ''Parθaw''; pal, 𐭯𐭫𐭮𐭥𐭡𐭥 ''Pahlaw'') is a historical region located in northeastern Greater Iran. It was conquered and subjugated by the empire of the Med ...

. In response, Antiochus X marched against the Parthians but was killed in battle.

The people and kingdom

The name of the tribe

It is hard to identify the people of Laodice; each of the surviving manuscripts containing Josephus' work transmits a different version. There are two names and different varieties of them depending on the manuscript. In the Codex Leidensis (Lugdunensis), it is ''Γαλιχηνών'' ( Gileadites). The Codex Palatinus (Vaticanus) Graecus has the name ''Σαμηνών''; this rendering was used by

Benedikt Niese Jürgen Anton Benedikt Niese (24 November 1849 – 1 February 1910), also known as Benedict, Benediktus or Benedictus Niese, was a German classical scholar. Niese was born in Burg, on the island of Fehmarn, then part of the German Confederat ...

in his edition of the work of Josephus.

Josef Dobiáš Josef Dobiáš (24 December 1886 in Mladá Boleslav – 31 January 1981) was a Czech chess player. At the beginning of his career, he took 5th at Prague 1908 (B tournament), tied for 4-5th at Pilsen (Plzeň) 1911, tied for 5-7th at Breslau 1912 ...

stated that the Niese's version is more plausible, and this has become the academic consensus; Σαμηνών is rendered in English, depending on the historian, as Sameans, Sameni or Samenians.

Identification and location

Σαμηνών from the Codex Palatinus is similar to the name of a people mentioned by

Stephanus of Byzantium Stephanus or Stephan of Byzantium ( la, Stephanus Byzantinus; grc-gre, Στέφανος Βυζάντιος, ''Stéphanos Byzántios''; centuryAD), was a Byzantine grammarian and the author of an important geographical dictionary entitled ''Ethni ...

as the ''Σαμηνώί'', or ''Σαμηνoί'' (Dobiáš rendered it in French as Samènes); Stephanus described them as

Arabian The Arabian Peninsula, (; ar, شِبْهُ الْجَزِيرَةِ الْعَرَبِيَّة, , "Arabian Peninsula" or , , "Island of the Arabs") or Arabia, is a peninsula of Western Asia, situated northeast of Africa on the Arabian Plate. ...

nomadic people, and Dobiáš accepted that the Σαμηνών are the same as the Σαμηνoί (Samènes); thus Laodice was the queen of an Arab tribe. Bernhard Moritz rendered the people mentioned by Stephanus as the Samenoi, and identified them with the Samnei, (Samnaei in the rendition of Dobiáš), who were an Arab tribe of southern

Arabia The Arabian Peninsula, (; ar, شِبْهُ الْجَزِيرَةِ الْعَرَبِيَّة, , "Arabian Peninsula" or , , "Island of the Arabs") or Arabia, is a peninsula of Western Asia, situated northeast of Africa on the Arabian Plate. ...

according to

Pliny the Elder Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/2479), called Pliny the Elder (), was a Roman author, naturalist and natural philosopher, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the emperor Vespasian. He wrote the encyclopedic '' ...

; Dobiáš is sceptical about Moritz' identification.

Notes

References

Citations

Sources

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