Phasael tower was named after Herod's brother Phasael, Hippicus was named after Herod's friend who fell in battle, while Miriamne tower was named after Herod's wife Mariamne.
The plot was borrowed from Josephus and the romance of ‘Cleopatra.’ In 1678 appeared ‘The Siege of Babylon, by Samuel Pordage of Lincoln's Inn, Esq., author of the tragedy of “Herod and Mariamne.”’ This play had been licensed by Roger L'Estrange on 2 November 1677, and acted at the Duke's Theatre not long after the production at the Theatre Royal of Nathaniel Lee's ‘Rival Queens;’ and Statira and Roxana, the ‘rival queens,’ were principal characters in Pordage's rhymed tragedy.
The story begins in the voice of the Jewess Mariamne as a child living a privileged life in her widowed father Josephus’ home in Jerusalem.