74. B.C. 78 to 54

B.C. 78 to 54

Chapter IV

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1. Alexandra had two sons. The elder, Hyrcanus, who was a man of quiet habits and indolent temper, was raised to the high priesthood. The other son, Aristobulus, was of a more ardent and impetuous temperament, and took no pains to conceal his dislike of his mother’s proceedings, and of the conduct of the Pharisees. He, with the principal men of the party, which had been paramount in the time of his father, appeared before the throne, and asked permission to quit the country, or to reside in the frontier towns, out of the way of the Pharisees. The request was granted, excepting that they were not permitted to withdraw to those towns in which the queen kept her treasures. Aristobulus was afterwards entrusted with some forces to relieve Damascus; but he only used the occasion as an opportunity of making himself agreeable to the soldiers, and returned without having done any thing of importance. After a peaceful reign of nine years, Queen Alexandra fell sick, and died, after having, in her last days, as one who had nothing more to do with government, refused to nominate her successor.

2. The Pharisees, however, placed Hyrcanus II on the throne. But he reigned only three months; for his brother Aristobulus, having got possession of most of the fortresses of the kingdom, during the illness of his mother, advanced his own claims to the sovereignty. The people, who had gown weary of the Pharisees, and knew that the imbecile Hyrcanus was entirely in their hands, supported this movement; the soldiers also deserted to the popular Aristobulus. Hyrcanus, with little reluctance, then resigned the mitre and the crown, and withdrew into private life, which better suited his character and habits.

Modern Asiatic Crowns

3. In his retirement, Hyrcanus fell under the designing counsels of Antipater (originally Antipas), an Idumean, who had been much in the confidence of Alexander Jannaeus and his wife Alexandra: by them he had been appointed governor of Idumea, in which office he had amassed considerable wealth. By repeated solicitations, and by persuading him that his brother sought his life, this person at length induced Hyrcanus to escape by night to Petra, the seat of the Arabian king Aretas, and claim his protection and assistance. Aretas espoused his cause, and brought him back to Judaea with an army of 50,000 men; and being joined by many Jews of the same party, he gave battle to Aristobulus, who was defeated, and obliged to retreat to the temple-mount, which had by this time become a strong fortress. The siege of this fortress was carried on with the animosity which has always been usual in civil wars. Heathen kings had almost invariably, during a siege, allowed the lambs for sacrifice at the great festivals to be introduced into the temple; but this was refused by the party of Hyrcanus, at the Passover, although Aristobulus gave, over the walls, money to pay for them.

Roman Coin

4. At this time, the Romans, in accordance with the national policy for establishing a universal empire, had a large army in Asia, under the command of the great Pompey, who was warring in Armenia against Tigranes and Mithridates, while some of his officers were employed in Syria. In this emergency, Aristobulus sent to Severus the Roman general, who had taken possession of Damascus, imploring his assist once against his brother, not forgetting to send a present of 400 talents with the application. Although Hyrcanus offered to buy his rid at the same price, the Roman preferred the cause of Aristobulus, as one whom it. might be the most easy to assist, and the most difficult to subdue; and, therefore, he commanded Aretas instantly to withdraw his forces from Judea, under pain of a war with the Romans. The Arabian king obeyed at once; but, on his retreat, he was overtaken by Aristobulus, and was defeated in a bloody conflict, in which many of the friends of Hyrcanus perished. Being thus master of the country, Aristobulus anxiously endeavoured to procure from the Romans a recognition of his title. Accordingly, when Pompey soon after came to Damascus, and twelve kings and many ambassadors appeared before him, the ambassadors of Aristobulus were among the number, bearing, as a present, an exquisitely wrought vine of pure gold, valued at 500 talents. His suit was waived for the time, and although his present was accepted, not his own name but that of his father was inscribed upon it, as the donor.

5. The next year, when both Hyrcanus and Aristobulus sent ambassadors to Pompey, inviting him to consider and decide their differences, he put them off to the year ensuing, when they again appeared before him, each furnished with s multitude of witnesses to prove his claim; while another body of Jews came and accused both of them of having changed the government, which had formerly been administered by high-priests, and not by kings. Hyrcanus urged his right as the elder born; which right, Aristobulus contended, was neutralized by his incompetency. Pompey, however, still left the matter undecided, until he should be at leisure to cone himself and settle it at Jerusalem. But the impetuous Aristobulus, perceiving that imbecility in a dependent prince was far from being objectionable to the Romans, and that the ultimate decision was likely to be against him, abruptly withdrew to make preparations for war. Enraged at this, Pompey, on his return from an expedition against the Nabathaean Arabs, marched into Judaea, and summoned Aristobulus, who was in the strong fortress of Alexandrium, to appear before him. He obeyed; and Pompey no sooner had him in his power, than he compelled him to sign an order for all the fortresses to be given up to the Romans. He was then liberated; when, resenting this treatment, he fled to Jerusalem, determined to stand a siege. But when Pompey advanced, the gates were opened to his troops by the party of Hyrcanus; and Aristobulus and his party withdrew once more into the Temple, determined to hold out to the last. Here they were closely besieged by Pompey, who found his proceedings greatly facilitated by the strictness with which the Jewish people observed their Sabbath. It was true, that since the Maccabaean wars, they would on that clay stand on their own defence; yet they still considered it unlawful to take any steps to hinder the works or operations of the enemy. The Romans were, therefore, allowed, without the slightest molestation, to carry on during the Sabbath-days their preparations for the assaults of the ensuing weeks; by which means they at length carried the Temple by assault, after a siege of three months, on the very day which the Jews observed as a fast for the taking of the city and Temple by Nebuchadnezzar. A dreadful carnage now ensued, during which the officiating priests continued, with the utmost composure, their solemn services at the altar, until they were themselves smitten down before it without resistance.

6. Pompey had the temerity to enter the Temple itself, even to the most holy place, with some of his officers; no one venturing to oppose the act. But curious observers have remarked, that he was ever after an unprosperous man; and this is no doubt time in itself, whether it was a consequence which resulted from this sacrilege or not. In the sanctuary, the Roman noted with a curious eye the objects presented to his view; but he left untouched all the sacred utensils, and even the treasures of the Temple, which amounted to ten thousand talents of gold. The walls and fortifications of Jerusalem were then demolished by order of Pompey; who also made no ceremony in reducing the recent “allies” of Rome to the condition of a tributary people. He indeed appointed Hyrcanus to be high-priest and prince of the country; but he required him to pay tribute to the Romans, and forbade him to assume the crown, or extend his territories beyond their ancient limits. The external conquests of the principality were added to Syria, which was erected into a Roman province, and left under the dominion of Scaurus as prefect, with two legions to preserve order. To this date all agree in referring the subjection of Judaea to the Romans. When Pompey left Palestine, he took with him Aristobulus, with his two sons, Alexander and Antigonus, and two of his daughters, to grace his triumph at Rome.

7. Alexander, the eldest son of Aristobulus, escaped from Pompey during the journey to Rome, and got back to his own country. He must, however, have kept quiet for a time, as we do not hear of him till the year b.c. 57, when he had found means to collect a considerable force, with which he seized and garrisoned several strong fortresses, and from them ravaged the whole country. Hyrcanus had no means to oppose him, and as Jerusalem would probably be the next point of attack, he wished to rebuild the walls of the city, but was forbidden by the jealousy of the Romans. On his calling upon them for succour, however, the pro-consul, Gabinius, marched an army into Judaea, and was accompanied by the celebrated Mark Antony, the commander of his cavalry. The Roman troops were joined by those of Hyrcanus, under Antipater; and in the battle which followed, Alexander was completely routed. He sought refuge in the strong fortress of Alexandrium, whence, through the mediation of his mother, he concluded a peace with Gabinius, on condition of surrendering the fortresses held by him, which were then demolished.

8. The general then employed himself in settling the country, after the manner of the Romans. He was probably, in many respects, guided by the advice of Antipater, who made it his policy to ingratiate himself with the Romans. The most important measure was the change of the government to an aristocracy. Before this, the administration of affairs had been conducted by two sanhedrim, or councils, or courts of justice—the lesser consisting of twenty-three members, existed in every city, and all these local sanhedrims were subject to the jurisdiction of the Grand Sanhedrim of seventy-two members, which sat at Jerusalem. These were put down by Gabinius, who, in their place, established five separate and independent tribunals—at Jerusalem, Jericho, Gadara, Amathus, and Sepphoris—giving to each the power of administering summary justice upon the inhabitants of the several districts. This threw the whole power into the hands of the nobles, who presided in these courts; whereas by the former practice the power had ultimately centered in the prince. This, or anything that tended to lower the regal principle of government, was no doubt acceptable to the Jews in general; for they were unwilling to have any king not of the house of David to reign over them, especially as they were at this time anxiously expecting the appearance of the promised Messiah.

9. The next event of importance is the re-appearance of Aristobulus, who, with his younger son Antigonus, escaped from Rome, and returned to his own land, where he soon got together a considerable number of adherents, and excited a revolt, which might have been dangerous, but for the interference of the Romans, who soon defeated his forces, and again made him and his son prisoners. But in sending them back to Rome, Gabinius made such a representation of the services of the mother in suppressing Alexander’s insurrection, that the senate liberated the family, and only detained Aristobulus.

10. Not long after this, Gabinius was succeeded in the government of Syria by the celebrated triumvir Crassus, whose insatiable avarice is well known to the students of Roman history. He soon visited Jerusalem with a body of soldiers, and plundered the temple of all the treasures which Pompey had spared, to the valve of two millions sterling. His terrible overthrow and death, in the ensuing year, was deemed by the Jews a judgment upon him for this sacrilege.