Adapted from the writings of the historian Josephus, it is set in ancient Jerusalem, and portrays the tragic death of Mariamne at the hands of her jealous husband, Herod the Great, king of Judea, who suspects her of an intrigue with Varus, the Roman governor of Syria.
[1] The play premiered with Adrienne Lecouvreur as Mariamne, Baron as Hérode and Duclos as Salome, but it was withdrawn after just one performance when the audience gave it a critical reception.
This failure encouraged Augustin Nadal to produce his Mariamne in February 1725, but that was also hostilely received, with calls for the return of Voltaire's version of the story.
[2] Within months of Nadal's play, Voltaire managed to revise his play (responding to criticisms in the characterisation, he made Herod a more self-doubting and introspective rather than monolithic figure, for example, and moved Mariamne's suicide off-stage) and his cast (changing Hérode from Baron to Dufresne).
Alluding to Voltaire's re-use of material from his earlier failed tragedy Artémire, Rousseau described the play as "the second delivery of an abortion, taken again into the womb of its mother to receive fresh nourishment...