His mother was the Hasmonean princess Mariamne. As heir presumptive to the throne by right of descent on his mother's side, he was sent to Rome for his education in the year 23 BC. Shortly afterward Alexander received in marriage the Cappadocian Princess Glaphyra, the daughter of King Archelaus of Cappadocia.
The unfortunate fate which persistently pursued the Hasmonean house overtook this prince also. Glaphyra bore Alexander three children, two sons: Tigranes, Alexander and an unnamed daughter. Alexander's handsome presence and frank bearing made him a favorite with the people, and they longed for the day when the house of the Maccabees should mount the throne instead of the half-Jew Herod.
But, on the other hand, a certain degree of vanity and a spirit of vindictiveness, which marked him no less than his prepossessing qualities, rendered him extremely unpopular with the partisans of Herod, who had much to fear from a future King Alexander. Herod's attempt to humiliate Alexander by restoring to honor Antipater, an older son by another wife, resulted disastrously. A reconciliation was brought about, but it was of short duration.
And shortly afterward (about 10 BC) Alexander was thrown into prison upon the evidence of a tortured witness who accused him of planning the murder of Herod. Intercepted letters were produced which revealed Alexander's bitterness against his father. In vain did Archelaus, Alexander's father-in-law, endeavor to bring about better relations between them.
The reconciliation was again a brief one, so that once more the intrigues of Antipater and Salome succeeded in securing the incarceration of Alexander and Aristobulus (about 8 BC). Herod lodged formal complaint of high treason against them with Augustus, who put the matter into Herod's own hands, with the advice to appoint a court of inquiry to consist of Roman officials and his own friends. Such a court of hirelings and favorites was naturally unanimous for conviction.
