See also

Family of Sohaemus + of EMESA and Drusilla +

Husband: Sohaemus + of EMESA (15- )
Wife: Drusilla + (20- )
Children: Alexio + JULIUS (45-78)

Husband: Sohaemus + of EMESA

Name: Sohaemus + of EMESA
Sex: Male
Father: Sampsiceramus II + (48- )
Mother: Iotapa + (43- )
Birth 0015

Wife: Drusilla +

Name: Drusilla +
Sex: Female
Father: Ptolemy + (1-40)
Mother: Julia + URANIA (5- )
Birth 0020

Child 1: Alexio + JULIUS

Name: Alexio + JULIUS
Sex: Male
Name Prefix: Gaius
Spouse: Claudia + (50- )
Birth 0045
Occupation King of Emesa
Title King of Emesa
Death 0078 (age 32-33)

Note on Husband: Sohaemus + of EMESA

Sohaemus of Emesa, sometimes known as Sohaemus of Sophene or to give his full name Gaius Julius Sohaemus (Greek: ? Ga??? ??????? S?a?µ??, Sohaemus Arabic for little dagger) was a prince and a Roman Client King from Syria who lived in the 1st century.

 

Sohaemus was a prince and a member of the Royal Family of Emesa from Emesa (modern Homs, Syria). He was the second born son and child to King Sampsiceramus II who reign Emesa from 11 BC until 42 and Queen Iotapa. His eldest brother was the childless Emesan King Gaius Julius Azizus, who was the first husband of the Herodian Princess Drusilla, while his sister Iotapa married the Herodian Prince Aristobulus Minor. He was born, raised in Emesa and was of Syrian, Armenian, Greek and Medes ancestry. Through his mother, Sohaemus was a descendant from the Kingdom of Commagene, his maternal grandparents were King Mithridates III of Commagene and Queen Iotapa of Commagene.

 

Azizus had died in 54 and Sohaemus succeeded his brother as King. He ruled from 54 until his death 73. At an unknown date in his reign, Sohaemus became the patron of Heliopolis (modern Baalbek, Lebanon). In honor of his patronage to the city, this honorary inscription was dedicated to him: [translated from Latin]

 

To the great king Gaius Julius Sohaemus, son of the great king Sampiceramus…patron of the colony.

Around 56, Sohaemus married his relative and the Mauretanian Princess Drusilla of Mauretania, who was the child of the late Monarchs Ptolemy of Mauretania and Julia Urania of Mauretania. Drusilla was the great granddaughter of Ptolemaic Greek Queen Cleopatra VII of Egypt and Roman Triumvir Mark Antony. Drusilla bore Sohaemus a son, prince Gaius Julius Alexio who would be future King of Emesa. Through his son, Sohaemus would have various descendants ruling on the Emesan throne and among those who claimed his family’s ancestry would have been Queen of Palmyra, Zenobia.

 

In the first year of his reign, under either Roman Emperor Claudius or Nero, Sohaemus received the Roman province of Sophene to rule. In 72, Sohaemus supplied troops to the Roman General Lucius Caesennius Paetus who was the head of the Legio VI Ferrata, in the annexation of the Kingdom of Commagene. When Sohaemus died, he was buried in the tomb of his ancestors at Emesa and was succeeded by his son.

 

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