Aristobulus was married to his first cousin
Salome after the death of her first husband,
Philip the Tetrarch. With her Aristobulus had three sons: Herod, Agrippa, and Aristobulus Three coins with portraits of him and Salome have been found. Aristobulus did not directly succeed his father as ruler of the Chalcis. Rather, upon his father's death in 48 AD, the emperor
Claudius gave the realm to Aristobulus' first cousin,
Herod Agrippa II, but only as a tetrarchy. In 53 AD Agrippa II was forced to renounce the rule over tetrarchy of Chalcis, but he was given the title of king and rule over the territories previously governed by
Philip the Tetrarch (also known as Herod Philip II) and
Lysanias instead. Subsequently, Aristobulus was given tetrarchy of Chalcis in 57 AD. He reigned in Chalcis until 92 AD, when, according to the coins, the territory became part of the Roman province
Syria. He has been identified with the Aristobulus appointed by
Nero as King of
Armenia Minor in 55 AD, who participated with his forces in the
Roman–Parthian War of 58–63, receiving a small portion of Greater Armenia in exchange. This Aristobulus was displaced from Armenia Minor in 72 AD, but is thought to be the "Aristobulus of Chalcidice" who supported
Lucius Caesennius Paetus, proconsul of Syria, in the war against
Antiochus of
Commagene in 73 AD, Assuming all these Aristobuli were indeed the same person, he would seem to have been ruler, at various times, of the Iturean Chalcis, Armenia Minor, and Chalcis ad Belum. ==See also==