We have already begun to see how the Christian editor of Josephus developed his narrative. According to our thesis he took bits and pieces of authentic historical fragments in order to 'disprove' the original understanding of Agrippa as the messiah. The invention of his wife or mother 'Cypros' is another case in point. According to the existing texts of Josephus Aristobulos and Berenice were the parents of Agrippa I while Agrippa and his wife Cypros had Agrippa, Berenice and two other daughters named Drusilla and Mariamme.
Under our one Agrippa thesis there can be only Marcus Agrippa son of Aristobulos (himself possibly surnamed Agrippa). Already in the existing texts of Josephus there is a report which seems to tackle the 'rumor' that at least one half of the two brothers murdered by their father Herod the Great actually survived into the next era. Could there have been a rival tradition which held that Marcus Agrippa's father Aristobulos also survived like his uncle? There are only tantalizing clues but no definitive answers.
I find it hard to see that the Alexandrian tradition identify Aristobulos and Mary as the parents of St. Mark. The Mary in question is clearly Mary Salome the mother of the disciple John (also called Mark?) as the Copts still infer. The fact that St. Mark is always said to be related to Alexander the Abilarch might also account for his disappearance (he may have moved to Alexandria where he became an influential citizen?). More significant is the fact that the first century Acts of Isidore from Alexandria identifies Salome as the mother of Agrippa. Buried in the Herodian genealogies of Josephus is an Agrippa the son of Aristobulos and Salome.
For the moment however we had better confront the claim of ancient Jewish numismatics experts that "in recent times" Agrippa coins have been discovered which make reference to "Queen Kypros." The first time that this claim was made was in Maltiel-Gerstenfeld's Ancient Jewish Coins (1982) and it was quickly followed by numerous other discoveries of the same coin type and championed by the great Israeli expert on Jewish coins Ya'akov Meshorer.
What almost inevitably gets lost in all the hype is the fact that many scholars aren't as sure as these two that the coins actually say "Queen Kypros." In Andrew Burnetts' much more cautious treatment of the same coin type Roman Provincial Coinage (RPC 1 1992 listed as no. 4975) we read that 'the identity of the portrait is uncertain' and Burnett reads the obverse as [ ]NA SEBAST[ .
As Andrew Burnett noted in a personal correspondence with me recently "Yaakov was a great man but at times he was a bit optimistic in his coin readings." The sentiment has been echoed to me by many other experts in the field as well. Indeed Burnett is honest enough to admit that "the coins are very hard to read" and that is why he goes to such lengths to avoid simply writing out his hunches as definitive readings as we see with Maltiel-Gerstenfeld and Meshorer.
As he notes even though he became more convinced of the arguments of those scholars regarding the "Cypros" reading it is by no means definitive. He notes that in his supplement to RPC (1996):
S-4975 The obverse is probably to be read as
ΚYΠΡΟC ΒΑССI[ΛIССΑ]. 4975/1 can be read
better as [ ]POC ΒΑ-СI[ ], as M. Amandry has
confirmed ; 2. (see Maltiel-Gerstenfield) is illegible; 3.
(Meshorer, Suppl.) can be read [ ]ΚYΠΡΟС [ ; 4.
(Gamala find) perhaps reads [ΚYΠ]ΡΟ[С ] (note
that the illustrations of Gamala 33 and 34 have been
mixed up, as the darkness of the relevant photos
shows)
So what are we to make of the coin? Burnett's approach is the right one. It might say BASILISSA KYPROS but it doesn't definitively say this. It is only the solution which is readily available owing to scholar's unfortunate dependence on Josephus. What is an alternative hypothesis? To dig deeper within the father-son relationship that the one Agrippa had with the Emperor Caligula.
If we go back to the Christian corruptions of Josephus for a moment it is difficult not to wonder at the claim that Agrippa had at least one other sister beside Berenice . Her name was Drusilla and we only know about her because the texts of Josephus make rather starling claims about her. A careful examination of all the references makes clear in my mind that "Drusilla" was only invented as a way of distracting attention from the fact that she evidences more of the Agrippa "son of Caligula" relationship. You see Caligula had a sister named Drusilla as well as a daughter which given Agrippa's status as "his son" would lead to him to be brother to at least one of Caligula's "Drusillas."
What does this have to do with the "Queen Cypros" coins? It is a well documented fact that Caligula - the "Basileos" - married his sister Drusilla - the "Basilissa" - and had a baby by her before she died in 38 CE. After her death she was deified as Aphrodite whose most famous title in antiquity was "Queen OF Cypros." The title appears as early as the Homeric Hymns, Xenophon, Sappho and many others.
Did Agrippa ever honor the Claudian Drusilla in his coinage. He most certainly did as we see from the most ready source - Meshorer's Treasury of Jewish Coins (2001):
Far closer to the "BASILISSA KYPROS" coin we will encounter later is the Drusilla coin listed as RPC I 4977; Meshorer 117; SNG ANS Dated RY 5 (AD 40/1) of Agrippa I of Judaea. Draped bust of Caesonia/Antonia left, wearing hair in long plait / Drusilla standing facing, head right, holding something and staff:
The point is that there are a number of Agrippa coins which acknowledge and revere the sisters of Caligula (notice the number is THREE the number of sisters attributed to Agrippa in Josephus too):
Yet the RPC I 4977; Meshorer 117 bears a striking resemblance to the so-called BASILISSA KYPROS coins. The fact that she is not explicitly named will be answered shortly. At the very least we must recognize that if there are Agrippa coins which EXPLICITLY honor Drusilla the sister of Caligula it is not out of the question that there are others which honor her COVERTLY as the personified Aphrodite - i.e. "Queen of Cyprus" or "Queen on Cyprus" or by some such similar title.
We can already see the line begin to get blurred when we read Allen Kerkeslager's Agrippa and the Mourning Rites for Drusilla in Alexandria [Journal for the Study of Judaism, Volume 37, Number 3]. He connects the riots in Alexandria in 38 CE with the Jewish communities refusal to venerate Drusilla as Aphrodite. The issue of the aforementioned Drusilla coin three years after his death is puzzling to him. Why should Agrippa have waited so long to finally recognize the divine Sister of Caligula given the Emperor's suspicion regarding their loyalty. Treating the "Queen (of) Cypros" coins as memorials of Drusilla's divine status neatly plugs up that hole for him.
It is interesting that if we look at the Agrippan "Queen (of) Cypros" coins that there is some remarkable similarity with official Roman Drusilla coins from the period. The same woman is depicted carrying a staff in all images and holding an object (an apple?) in her other hand (see bottom coin):
MESHORER 118
MALTIEL-GERSTENBERG 134
This image is supposed to be the Jewish wife of the king!!!! It is utterly ridiculous. Other images of contemporary queens feature only their heads:
It is downright unbelievable that this provocative image of AN UNVEILED WOMAN is that of the wife of the supposedly law-abiding 'Agrippa I'!!! Why is she holding that staff? What is that strange cultic object on her head?
At the very least we have to begin to recognize that the Drusilla carrying a staff and holding something in her other hand coin:
begins to look remarkably similar to the "Queen (of) Cyprus" coins issued under Agrippa in the same regnal period:
and these in turn imitate the standard Aphrodite/Venus prototype that repeats itself over and over again throughout the Roman period (i.e. a woman holding a staff in one hand and an apple in the other):
Before we get there we should note that the original image of "BASILISSA CYPROS" has a one wearing a hairstyle identified by scholars as belonging to Aphrodite:
The point is of course that there is a very good explanation for the uncanny resemblance between (a) the Drusilla coins (b) the so-called BASILISSA KYPROS coins and (c) coins featuring Aphrodite/Venus the Queen of Cyprus. DRUSILLA, THE SISTER OF CALIGULA WAS VENERATED AS APHRODITE "THE QUEEN OF CYPRUS" AFTER HER DEATH. Agrippa's reference to her in his coinage was as close as he could go to acknowledge the divinity of Caligula's household without infuriating his Jewish subjects.
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