Laodice of the Sameans
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Laodice was a Queen of an unknown Kingdom in Asia. She lived at the time of the Seleucid king of Syria Antiochus X Eusebes who reigned 95 BC-92 or 88 BC.
Historical account
Laodice is known from the work of the first century historian Josephus. In about 92 BC, she sent a petition to Antiochus X Eusebes of Syria asking for help against Parthia. In response, Antiochus X marched against the Parthians but was killed in battle.[1]
The people and kingdom
The name of the tribe
It is hard to identify the people of Laodice;[2] each of the surviving manuscripts containing Josephus' work transmits a different version.[3] There are two names and different varieties of them depending on the manuscript.[4] In the Codex Leidensis (Lugdunensis), it is Γαλιχηνών (Gileadites).[note 1][4] The Codex Palatinus (Vaticanus) Graecus has the name Σαμηνών;[3] this rendering was used by Benedikt Niese in his edition of the work of Josephus.[9] Josef Dobiáš (historian) stated that the Niese's version is more plausible,[10] and this has become the academic consensus; Σαμηνών is rendered in English, depending on the historian, as Sameans, Sameni or Samenians.[4]
Identification and location
Σαμηνών from the Codex Palatinus is similar to the name of a people mentioned by Stephanus of Byzantium as the Σαμηνώί,[3] or Σαμηνoί (Dobiáš rendered it in French as Samènes);[11] Stephanus described them as Arabian nomadic people,[3] and Dobiáš accepted that the Σαμηνών are the same as the Σαμηνoί (Samènes); thus Laodice was the queen of an Arab tribe.[11][12] Bernhard Moritz rendered the people mentioned by Stephanus as the Samenoi, and identified them with the Samnei,[13] (Samnaei in the rendition of Dobiáš), who were an Arab tribe of southern Arabia according to Pliny the Elder; Dobiáš is sceptical about Moritz' identification.[11]
Notes
- William Whiston gave Gileadites as the name's form in his English translation of the work of Josephus;[5] he used the Latin translation of the Dutch classicist Siwart Haverkamp,[6] who in turn used masuscripts including the Codex Leidensis.[7] Haverkamp had Laodice Galadenorum regina in his translation from Greek to Latin.[8]