Polemon (Cilicia)

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Polemon of Cilicia was king, first of the Pontus and the Bosporan kingdom, then of the Pontus and Cilicia, and lastly of Cilicia alone; he died in 74 C.E. Together with other neighboring kings and princes, Polemon once visited Herod Agrippa I in Tiberias (Josephus, Jewish Antiquities xix. 8, § 1). The Herodian princess Berenice of Cilicia, of whom it was reported that she held forbidden relations with her brother, chose Polemon for a husband, in order to mend her reputation. She was at the time the widow of Herod of Chalcis. Polemon married her not so much for her beauty as for her riches; and he adopted Judaism, undergoing the rite of circumcision. His wife soon left him, however, and Polemon abandoned his Judaism (ib. xx. 7, § 3). According to the Christian Bartholomeus legend, he accepted Christianity, but only to become a pagan again. If there is any truth in the story, the numerous Jews living in the Bosporus kingdom must have taken an interest in his conversion to Christianity and also in its being made known in the mother country.