Salome Alexandra, or Shlomtzion (Ancient Greek: Σαλώμη Ἀλεξάνδρα; Hebrew: שְׁלוֹמְצִיּוֹן‎, Šəlōmṣīyyōn, "peace of Zion"; 141–67 BC),[1] was a regnant queen of Judaea, one of only three women in Jewish historical tradition to rule over the country, the other two being Deborah and Athaliah.

[6] Hyrcanus II was eventually successful after enlisting the help of the Nabataean king, Aretas III; bribing Roman officials, including Scaurus; and gaining the favour of Pompey, who defeated his brother and took him away to Rome.

[7] According to the Jewish Encyclopedia, Salome Alexandra was instrumental in arranging the assassination of her brother-in-law, Antigonus, by convincing her husband that his brother was plotting against him.

During the reign of Alexander, who (according to the historian Josephus) apparently married her shortly after his accession,[9] Alexandra seemed to have wielded only slight political influence, as evidenced by the hostile attitude of the king to the Pharisees.

"[10] Nevertheless, the married life of the royal pair seems to have ended cordially; on his deathbed Alexander entrusted the government, not to his sons, but to his wife, with the advice to make peace with the Pharisees.

By this step she avoided any public affront to the dead king, which, owing to the embitterment of the people, would certainly have found expression at the interment.

Salome Alexandra received the reins of government (76 or 75 BC) at Jannaeus' camp before Ragaba, and concealed the king's death until the fortress had fallen, in order that the rigour of the siege might be maintained.

Salome Alexandra, who desired to avoid all party conflict, removed the Sadducees from Jerusalem, assigning certain fortified towns for their residence.

Salome Alexandra increased the size of the army and carefully provisioned the numerous fortified places so that neighbouring monarchs were duly impressed by the number of protected towns and castles which bordered the Judean frontier.

The sages collected specimens of these grains and preserved them to show future generations the rewards of obedience to the Law, and what piety could achieve.

In the 1977 Knesset elections Ariel Sharon accepted the advice of Kenan to name his new political party "Shlomtzion" (it later merged with the Likud).