Queen (Hastings' Dictionary)

1. The nsual Heb. terra for 'queen ' in the OT is n;^D (in Dn 5" Aram. stat. eraph. nn?-;) ; LXX /SatriXKriro ; with the verb iSo 'to be queen,' Hiph. ' to make queen,' Est2- ". For nrte see art. Queen of Heaven. The other words' so trans- iited in AV are— 2. nysi (lit. 'mistres.s,' cf. Is 24-) 1 K ll'MLXXMifW"") 15>^(^oiiA<^i'7;),2 K 10"(8iwa(r- TcOovaa), 2 Ch 15'« (LXX om.), Jer 13'» (ol Sivaffrei- oiTfs) 29 [Gr. 30] 2 (|8o(r(Xiff<ra) [RV in the last two passages 'queen-mother']. 3. '?:;? (V;y = 'ra\'ish ' ; cf. Dt 28»\ Is 13", Zee 14=) only in P8 459 {fia<Tl\iff<ra), Neh 2° (jraXXoK^). The Aram, form of the word is found in Dn 5-'- " (Tlieod. in all ttciXXost), LXX om.). i. n-;-;' (lit. 'princess,' cf. AVm) Is 49^ {dpxovffai). In NT PaaiKuiaa is alone found — Mt 12^-, Lk 11", Ac 8-'', Rev 18'. In ordinary cases of synonyms it is well to trace the usage of each word in the original ; but as in this case the same Hebrew word is used to convey • Possibly in Jg 5^ (end) '73;? should be read for S^^ (bo Ewald, (oUowed by Bertheau, Oettii, Renan, Kautzsoh. For oLher proposed emendatious of the text see Moore, ad Ivc.). more than one meaning of our English ' queen,' it will conduce to clearness and also be found more suggestive if the usage of the English word in our Riljles be taken as our guide. This has three meanings : the queen reigning in her own right, the queen as the wife of the reigning king, and the queen as the mother of the reigning king. i. The queen reigning in her own rigid. — The general tendency of the Semitic as of the other groups of nations in strictly historical times haa been for women to take other than the first place in governing, and this tendency is very conspicuous in the history of Israel. Possibly the general close connexion in Semitic States of the king with the god (see ICiNG, i. 2) made it appear unseemly that a woman should rule ; and though among the Northern Arabians queens seem to have been frequent, as well as in the Southern Arabian king- dom of Sheba (see McCurdy, HPM g 3.34), there is no trace in Israel of any otiicial recognition of women as being capable of the chief govern- ment. It is just possible, indeed, that the word Hammolecheth (1 Gh 7"^), usually understood aa the proper name of a JIanassite woman, should be translated ' the queen' (so Targ. and many Rabbis, e.g. Kimchi and R. Solomon b. Melek, Vulg.), but corroborative evidence is wholly lacking. The position of Deborah as 'judge' (for parallels in Arabian history see W. R. Smith, Kinship, pp. 104, 171) was quite abnormal, and presumably due solely to her personal vigour and character. So too Athaliah, who reigned (n;^-) over Judah six years (2 K IF, 2 Cb 22'-), was a mere usurper, and traded on her earlier influence and position. Hence 'queen' in this first sense is used only of the non-Israelitish queen of Sheba (k^^ nj'rij 1 K 10'-'^ 2 Ch 9'-'-, Mt 12-'-, Lk IP'), Candace, queen of Ethioijia (Ac 8-''), and Babylon personitied (Rev IS'). ii. The queen as the wife of the reigning king. — Queen in this sense also is hardly found in Israel- itish history. In Egypt (1 K 11'") Pharaoh gives Hadad to wife the sister of Tahpenes the queen (n-i-;;n, but the text is very doubtful). In Persia Vashti (Est 1) and Esther (Est 2 and passim) are successively called the queen (i;^?) of Ahasuerus. And again ' queen ' is used in N eh 2 in reference to the royal consort ('?J?) of Artaxerxes Longi- manus. In Dn 5-' ^- ^, however, Sis' is used of royal wives of lower rank. In Israel, on the contrary, ' queen ' in this sense is used only indirectly and in poetry. So no^a (^ao-iXio-ffoi) in Ca 6- ' of wives who enjoyed some higher (perhaps more legal) status than mere concubines (cvjVs, jroXXn/toi). In Ps 45' ^i'i' is used of the one legitimate wife. iii. The queen as the mother of the reigning king (H^-jn EX llv 2'», 2K 24"). — Strange as it is to modem ideas that the queen-mother should be the queen par excellence, it is very common in the East {e.g. China in our own time), and perhaps almost the necessary result of polygamy (see Family' in vol. i. )). S47'').t 'Queen' occurs in this sense in the Bible of a non-Israelite only in Dn 5""''', where the mother (apparently) of Belshazzar is so called (N,n;Sr) it hut it is used more often of Israelites. In fact the queen-mother appears to have had a regular official status both in the Northern and in the Southern kingdom, which in part accounts lor the frequencjj with which the name of the mother of the King is recorded (see below), and the im- • Tlie reading, however, is not certain. The Pcsliitta (which some thinit to be in Chronicles a Jewish Targuin of ord irent. A.D.) reads Maacah. t So among the negroes of West Africa the mother ho« in- corapaniblv more innuence than the wife. See Miss M. H. Kingsley, \Vett African Sludia, 1899. J Coiiiinentators have compared Amastris, the wife of Xerxel and mother of Arta.xerxes I. (Herod, vii. 61), and Parysatis, the wife of Darius and mother of Artajterxes Mnemon and Cyrul (.\en. Anab. l. i. 1). QUEEN OF HEAVEN, THE QUESTION 181 portance attached to some of her actions. The iiclual term 'queen' (m/ji) is used only of Jezebel (2 K 10" prob.), Maacah (1 K lo" = 2 Ch lo'"), and Nehushta (Jer 13'" 29-). The semi -royal state, however, of Bathsheba, Solomon's mother, is shown in 1 K 2'^ where Solomon sits on his throne and sets a liirone for ' the king's mother,' and she sits on his right hand. The importance, too, of Maacah, Asas 'mother' (i.e. probably grand- mother), who had retained her influence from the reign of Abijah, is shown by the mention of her idolatry, and of Asa's destruction of the monstrous ligure that she had made (1 K 15" = 2 Ch 15'«). Athaliah has been already mentioned. Nehushta, from Jeremiah's bitter words in Jer 22-', apjiears to have used her ollicial position to take an active part against Jeremiah and his policy of submitting to the Chaldieans. From Jer 13" the queen-mother appears to have worn a crown (.t;?^, vriipavoi) more or less like the king's, but the 'head tire'(RV) is a translation of a doubtful readin". In Jg o", Ewald, by a slight textual change, renders ' for the neck of the queen ' (see Moore, in loc. ). For the names of the mothers of the kings of Judah see Gknealogy in vol. ii. p. 126''. lu the case of the kings of Israel the only names found are Zeruah the mother of Jeroboam I. (1 K 11-"') and Jezeljel the mother of Ahaziah (presumably, cf. 1 K 22'-) and Joram (prob. 2 K 3', '^ 10"). A. LUKYN Williams.