"Petsonk does more than tell stories -- she shows readers how to create their own..." Ari L. Goldman, author, The Search for God at Harvard
Thais, hetaira of Ptolemy I, painted by Joshua Reynolds, 1781
SEX and MONEY were top priorities in Hellenistic culture, with entertainment close behind. While Queen Salome Alexandra and the Pharisees in Judea insisted on long-sleeved high-necked veiled modesty, fidelity was not a big deal in most of the Hellenistic world. In Ptolemaic Egypt, top courtesans, hetairai, were celebrities, like rock stars....
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This portrait of Queen Salome Alexandra from 1553 CE may or may not resemble her. There are no portraits from her time. The only information we have about Queen Shalom-Zion’s reign comes in a few paragraphs by the first-century C.E. historian Josephus.
Josephus himself was rather an odd duck. He was a Jewish commander in first-century Galilee during the Jewish revolt against Rome. When the...
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I'm Judy Petsonk. I’m the author of Taking Judaism Personally: Creating a Meaningful Spiritual Life, and the co-author, with Jim Remsen, of The Intermarriage Handbook: A Guide for Jews and Christians. In my new novel, Queen of the Jews, I will introduce you to a real queen — dead, unfortunately — who ruled the independent nation of Judea in the century before Jesus was born. She was a contemporary of three Cleopatras, though not the one you’re thinking of. Though you may never have heard of her, she has had an enormous influence on your life and Western civilization in general. Her chaotic, colorful times may remind you a lot of our own. Like Queen Salome Alexandra (Shalom-Zion), the heroine of the novel, I am the mother of two young adults, I’ve been married for nearly 30 years, and I’m ‘a woman of a certain age.’ But my husband and children are truly lovable and bear no resemblance to the family of Shalom-Zion.
