Doris

First wife of Herod, whom he married about 45 B.C. The names of her parents are not mentioned, probably because they belonged to the masses, for Josephus says expressly ("Ant." xiv. 12, § 1) that Doris came from the people (δημότις) and that she was a Jewess (ἐκ τοῦ ἔθνους), this statement contradicting "B. J." i. 12, § 3, where it is said that she was not of mean origin (οὐκ ἄσημος); she was a native of Jerusalem ("B. J." i. 22, § 1). After Herod came to the throne in 37 B.C., he put Doris, by whom he had his eldest son Antipater, away, and married the princess Mariamne (ib.). But he preferred Antipater, and recalled Doris in order to humiliate Mariamne's sons ("Ant." xvi. 3, § 3; "B. J." i. 23, §§ 1, 2). Doris, as Antipater's mother, was now much honored at court ("B. J." i. 24, § 2), but she was the first to feel the king's wrath. Herod being aroused by a conspiracy, she was deprived of all her jewels, worth several talents, and was again put away (ib. i. 30, § 4); however, she still found means to warn her son against his father's anger (ib. i. 32, § 1). Her subsequent fate is unknown.

Bibliography:

  * Grätz, Gesch. 4th ed., iii. 195;
  * Schürer, Gesch. 3d ed., i. 407.



G. S. Kr.