Laodice of the Sameans


Laodice was a Queen of an unknown Kingdom in Asia. She lived at the time of the Seleucid king of Syria Antiochus X Eusebes who reigned 95 BC-92 or 88 BC.

Historical account

Laodice is known from the work of the first century historian Josephus. In about 92 BC, she sent a petition to Antiochus X Eusebes of Syria asking for help against Parthia. In response, Antiochus X marched against the Parthians but was killed in battle.

The people and kingdom

The name of the tribe

It is hard to identify the people of Laodice; each of the surviving manuscripts containing Josephus' work transmits a different version. There are two names and different varieties of them depending on the manuscript. In the Codex Leidensis, it is Γαλιχηνών. The Codex Palatinus Graecus has the name Σαμηνών; this rendering was used by Benedikt Niese in his edition of the work of Josephus. :cs:Josef Dobiáš |Josef Dobiáš stated that the Niese's version is more plausible, and this has become the academic consensus; Σαμηνών is rendered in English, depending on the historian, as Sameans, Sameni or Samenians.

Identification and location

Σαμηνών from the Codex Palatinus is similar to the name of a people mentioned by Stephanus of Byzantium as the Σαμηνώί, or Σαμηνoί ; Stephanus described them as Arabian nomadic people, and Dobiáš accepted that the Σαμηνών are the same as the Σαμηνoί ; thus Laodice was the queen of an Arab tribe. :de:Bernhard Moritz|Bernhard Moritz rendered the people mentioned by Stephanus as the Samenoi, and identified them with the Samnei,, who were an Arab tribe of southern Arabia according to Pliny the Elder; Dobiáš is sceptical about Moritz' identification.

Citations