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A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES IN PALESTINE, 175 BC-70 AD
CHAPTER IVTHE RISE OF THE HOUSE OF ANTIPATER
During the ten years of political decadence that followed the Roman
conquest of Judea, the weak Hyrcanus came increasingly under the control of his
self-appointed patron, Antipater. The aid he was able to render to Scaurus in
bringing Aretas to terms gave Antipater new importance; but even more was
obtained from his services during the attempt of Aristobulus II to reinstate
himself on the throne, after his escape from Rome in 56 BC, and, later, when
Gabinius, at the command of Pompey, gave up his expedition against the
Parthians in order to reinstate Ptolemy Auletes in Egypt, he not only furnished
the Roman forces with supplies, weapons, and money, but won over the Jews who
controlled the passes leading to Egypt. Afterward, when Alexander, the son of
Aristobulus II, had again undertaken to head a revolt against Rome, Antipater
was sent by Gabinius to the Jews who favored the movement, if possible, to
prevent the revolt becoming universal. In this Antipater was successful,
although he could not win over Alexander himself. In return, he seems to
have been put in charge of the finances of Judea, and Gabinius seems to have
followed his advice implicitly in dealing with the affairs of Jerusalem.
Antipater, in the meantime, also made friends among influential men generally,
and especially with the king of Arabia, one of whose relations, Cyprus, he
married. Yet, throughout these years he never attempted to remove Hyrcanus from
the high-priesthood, and, although dictating his policy, seems to have shown
him the utmost respect.
This growing importance of Antipater saved the Jews from the miseries
that might have befallen them under the first triumvirate and during the Civil
Wars, although Antipater was unable to prevent the avaricious Crassus from
plundering the temple in direct violation of his oath not to take more than
what was offered him. From this time Syria was in miniature the Roman republic.
Most of the great leaders of the struggles begun by Caesar and Pompey at some
time were within its limits. And what was true of Syria was almost equally true
of Palestine. At first Antipater favored Pompey, while Aristobulus and his sons
were supported by Caesar. But the friends of Pompey succeeded in poisoning
Aristobulus II just as he was departing for Palestine at the head of two
legions given him by Caesar, and shortly after the father-in-law of Pompey,
getting possession of Alexander, beheaded him at Antioch. After the defeat and
death of Pompey, however, Hyrcanus and Antipater immediately changed sides and
supported Caesar. Fortunately, they were able to render him decisive aid. At
the moment when Caesar's affairs were desperate at Alexandria, Antipater heard
that Caesar’s ally, Mithridates, was unable to move beyond Askelon because of
the enmity of the border tribes, and especially of the city of Pelusium. He
immediately took a force of three thousand men and marched to his relief. In a surprising
way he became for a moment one of the determining factors in universal history.
He won over the Arabs and Syrians from Lebanon to the desert; led the storming
party that broke down the wall of Pelusium; by means of letters from the high
priest, won over the Jews of Egypt who had been at first hostile to Caesar, so
that they not only allowed the passage of the troops, but supplied them with
provisions; and, finally, in the decisive battle that gave Caesar control of
Egypt, snatched victory out of defeat by coming to the aid of Mithridates just
as his forces were being put to flight. When the news of these services reached
Caesar, he readily overlooked the past and won Antipater over more completely
by the promise of further service and reward. But more important, in gratitude
for the services of Antipater, Caesar restored to the Jews many of their
privileges which Pompey had destroyed. Instead of favoring Antigonus, the
younger son of Aristobulus II, who urged that he be given the kingdom of which
he complained Antipater and Hyrcanus had deprived him, Caesar confirmed Hyrcanus
as hereditary high priest (possibly he had already appointed him hereditary
ethnarch), and made Antipater a Roman citizen and procurator of Judea. It also
appears that some of its old judicial rights were returned to the Gerousia. He
further granted Hyrcanus the right to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, abolished
the divisions of Gabinius, gave the Jews freedom from supporting Roman soldiers
or furnishing auxiliaries, a reduction of their tribute during the sabbatical
year and the possession of Joppa. Subsequently several other places were
restored; the Jews were termed the confederates of the Romans; their religious
customs were more fully guaranteed them, not alone in Judea, but in Alexandria
and elsewhere, and their feasts were excepted from legislation against “Bacchanal
rioting”, both in Rome itself and in the provinces. The Jews of Alexandria were
further recognised as citizens of that place. In the light of these privileges
it is little wonder that the Jews should have been among the most sincere
mourners of Caesar’s death.
New offices for the sons of Antipater
Thus established as representative of Rome in Judea, at least coordinate
with the high priest, Antipater at once proceeded to build up the fortunes of
his family, as well as to restore tranquility to Judea. His son, Phasaelus, he
made governor of Jerusalem and its surrounding country; while Herod, his
younger son, he put in charge of Galilee. An opportunity for displaying his
energy met Herod at the outset of his administration in
Galilee. Ezekias, a captain of a large band of robbers,—or quite
as likely, rebels,—had made himself the scourge of the neighboring regions of
Syria. Herod came upon him, captured him, and executed him together with a
number of his followers, to the great delight of the Syrians. Phasaelus, not to
be outdone by his brother, devoted himself to the administration of Jerusalem,
and in his turn won new honor and popularity for his family, and especially for
his father. Herod’s prompt punishment of Ezekias, however, met with the
disapproval of the Council or Sanhedrin of Jerusalem, which seems to have possessed
the exclusive power of life and death in Galilee, as well as in Judea proper,
and aided by the demands of the mothers of the men who had been killed, the
Sanhedrin persuaded Hyrcanus to order Herod to come to Jerusalem for trial. At
the advice of Antipater, the young man came attended by a bodyguard of
considerable size. Just how the case might have turned is not certain, for
Sextus Caesar, the governor of Syria, wrote Hyrcanus threatening trouble unless
Herod was acquitted; and as the sentence of death was about to be pronounced by
the court, Hyrcanus adjourned the session until the next day. During the night
Herod took the advice of Hyrcanus and fled to Damascus, where he bought from
Sextus Caesar the position of general of the army of Coele-Syria, and prepared
to make war on Hyrcanus. From this purpose, however, he was deterred by
Antipater and Phasaelus, and for several months was apparently engaged in
aiding Sextus Caesar in quieting Syria, where the party of Caesar was not yet
supreme.
In 46 BC, however, the friends of Pompey, in that province, gathered
about Caecilius Bassus, killed Sextus Caesar and began a civil war, whose
outcome finally came to depend upon the siege of Apamaea, where the Pompeians
had concentrated (45 BC). In this struggle Antipater sent troops to aid the
party of Caesar, but no decided advantage had been won by the new governor of
the province, L. Statius Murcus, when Caesar himself was assassinated March 15,
44 BC. In the civil war that followed, Lucius Cassius went to Syria to raise
troops and funds in behalf of the conspirators. No sooner had he arrived than
both Murcus and Bassus at Apamaea went over to him. Possessed thus of Syria,
Cassius proceeded at once to levy exorbitant taxes upon the unfortunate
provincials, Judea’s quota being set at 700 talents. Antipater attempted no
resistance to the new ruler, but seized the opportunity of proving the
serviceableness of his family. He at once set about the collection of this sum,
dividing the task among Phasaelus, Herod, and his enemy Malichus. Herod showed
so much zeal in collecting the portion that fell to Galilee that Cassius
reappointed him general of Coele-Syria, giving him both land forces and a
fleet.
The withdrawal of Cassius from Judea was followed by the murder of
Antipater. Malichus, apparently one of the numerous Jews who wished a
reinstatement of the old theocratic government under Hyrcanus, some time
previously had attempted to put Antipater out of the way, but had been detected
and forgiven. But when the future of Roman control seemed threatened, Malichus
renewed his conspiracy and succeeded in poisoning Antipater as he was dining
with Hyrcanus (43 BC), and immediately attempted to head a revolt. Thereupon, with
the connivance and even encouragement of Cassius, Herod had him assassinated at
Tyre, to the speechless astonishment of Hyrcanus, who now came under the
control of Phasaelus and Herod.
The final withdrawal of Cassius from Syria was followed by general
disorder. The Roman commandant, Felix, attempted to put Phasaelus under arrest,
but was defeated even before Herod could send his brother aid; the party of
Malichus, more or less with the support of Hyrcanus, broke into revolt and occupied
several castles, chief among which was Masada; Antigonus, son of Aristobulus II,
endeavored to regain Judea for his family, with the aid of Ptolemy, the son of
Mennaeus of Chalcis, while Marion, the tyrant of Tyre, not only aided
Antigonus, but himself captured three fortresses in Galilee.
But after the defeat of Brutus and Cassius at Philippi (42 BC), Antony
came to the east to reestablish Roman control. He was met in Bithynia by an embassy
from Judea, praying him to remove Phasaelus and Herod and to reinstate Hyrcanus
in something more than a semblance of power. Apparently, the case was hopeless
for the former allies of Cassius, but Herod purchased the good will of Antony,
and the embassy was not even given a hearing. A second deputation asking for
the undoing of the acts of Cassius was, however, more successful, and Antony
restored to liberty all those whom Cassius had sold for non-payment of taxes.
On the arrival of Antony in Antioch, a deputation of one hundred
prominent Jews met him with new accusations against the sons of Antipater,
especially Herod, whose insult to the Sanhedrim was doubtless still a source of
hatred. But the remembrance of his former friendship with Antipater, together
with the testimony of Hyrcanus himself to the good administration of Herod, led
Antony to decide in favor of the accused, and to imprison and later to execute
fifteen members of the deputation. He indeed did more, for he appointed
Phasaelus and Herod tetrarchs, with full political power, Hyrcanus retaining,
therefore, as he had under Pompey, simply the power of the high-priesthood,
stripped of all political power. A subsequent embassy of a thousand Jews, which
endeavored to persuade Antony to reverse his decision, was driven back by
soldiers, and the state was apparently fixed in the hands of the Idumean family
the subjects and appointees of Rome.
HEROD I AND THE CHANGE OF DYNASTY
(40—1 BC)
The good fortune of Herod was, however, about to suffer an eclipse. The favors
which he and Phasaelus received from the Romans had been from the start
distasteful to the leading men of the Pharisees, and the treatment accorded
their deputations by Antony, as well as the new taxes laid by the luxurious
conqueror, had naturally increased their discontent. When, therefore, during
Antony’s stay with Cleopatra in Egypt (40 BC), Antigonus once more attempted to
get possession of the throne by the aid of the Parthians, whom he won over by
the promise of 1000 talents and 500 women, he found many sympathizers in Judea.
The Parthian invasion consisted of two detachments. One under Pacorus, son of
the Parthian king, marched along the maritime plain, and the other under the
satrap Barzatharnes, through the interior. The first attack of Antigonus was
with a small force of Parthian horsemen and Jews from the neighborhood of
Carmel upon the king’s palace in Jerusalem, but was unsuccessful. Thereupon he
waited in the vicinity of the city, keeping up desultory fighting until
Pentecost, hoping that he might then gather recruits from those who came up to
attend the feast. In this he was successful, and soon had a large force behind
him. Yet he seems to have preferred treachery to fighting. Through his request
the commander of the Parthian troops (whose relations with Antigonus were not
known to Herod and his brother) was allowed to enter the city and hold a
conference with Phasaelus and Hyrcanus. Despite the warning of Herod, he
persuaded them to go to the commander of the main body of invaders in Galilee.
By him they were treacherously thrown into chains. Shortly after Phasaelus beat
his brains out, and Hyrcanus was carried as a captive to Babylon, after his
ears had been cut off, that he might never again be high priest. The Parthians
then plundered Jerusalem and neighboring portions of Judea, finally leaving
Antigonus to reign as king and high priest (40-37). In the meantime Herod,
having been warned by Phasaelus, fled by night with a considerable force,
expecting to find asylum at Petra with the Arabian king Malchus, whom he had
previously aided. When, however, he started for Petra, he was met by messengers
telling him not to proceed farther, as Malchus would not receive him. Thereupon
he determined to go to Egypt, and thence to Rome.
Nothing could be more dramatic than the events of the next few weeks.
Herod arrived at Pelusium and persuaded the naval officers to take him to
Alexandria. Cleopatra heard of his arrival and endeavored to persuade him to spend
the winter with her as commander of an expedition she was fitting out. But not
even she and the danger of winter travel could stop him. After a terrible
passage he arrived at Rhodes, only to find the city in ruins and no vessel to
carry him to Rome. He built (or at least equipped) a three-decked ship, besides
restoring the city during his delay. At last he arrived at Brundusium, and travelled
post-haste to Rome and Antony. His purpose in thus seeking aid at Rome was to
get the young Aristobulus, grandson of Hyrcanus II and brother of Mariamme,
appointed king, doubtless that he might repeat the career of Antipater. But
when he had made his complaint and given the necessary bribes, Antony and
Octavius preferred to appoint Herod himself king, because of his evident
capacity to protect the frontier against the Parthians and persuaded the Senate
to act accordingly. The next day, the first of his reign, Herod was feasted by
Antony, and within a week after his arrival in Italy was sailing back to
Palestine, a king in search of his kingdom (40 BC).
Conquest of Galilee
In the meantime Antigonus had assumed the high-priesthood with the royal
title, and the Parthians had been driven from Syria by Ventidius, the legate of
Antony, southward into Judea, whither he followed them ostensibly to relieve
Joseph (whom his brother Herod had left in charge of his family at Masada) from
danger from Antigonus. In reality, Ventidius did little except mulct Antigonus
of large sums. Accordingly, when Herod arrived at Ptolemais, he found that the
entire work of putting down his rival was to be his, and even in this he was
handicapped by the fact that Silo, the lieutenant of the legate, was soon afterward
bribed into inactivity by Antigonus. Yet he began the work of conquering his
country. The Galileans joined him in considerable numbers, and what with them
and other Jewish forces, as well as Roman and mercenary troops, he was soon in
a position to march south. Joppa was seized and garrisoned, his friends in
Masada were at last relieved from the peril of their position, the fortress of
Thresa was captured, and then Herod moved upon Jerusalem. Here Silo made it impossible
for him to enter vigorously upon a siege, and, despite his utmost efforts,
Herod was unable to prevent the Roman forces from going into winter quarters.
Thereupon, in an exceptionally severe winter, he sent his brother Joseph to
conquer Idumea, while he himself recovered Galilee. Samaria seems to have
offered no resistance to his claims, for he left his family within it. In
Galilee he found his chief opponents in the robbers who inhabited the caves at
Arbela, near the Sea of Galilee. At first Herod was unable to subdue them, but
later let his soldiers down in great boxes and baskets from the top of the
cliffs, and so destroyed them in their very caves. As a punishment for their
defection he also laid upon the cities a fine of 100 talents. A little later,
after the defeat of the Parthians by Ventidius, Antony ordered Machaeras with a
considerable force to go to the aid of Herod. Again, however, Antigonus succeeded
in bribing the Roman commander, but prevented his entering Jerusalem. Herod
none the less visited Antony, who received him with great honor, and after the
surrender of Samosta, gave him two legions.
This visit of Herod to Antony, however, nearly cost
him his kingdom. For during his absence Joseph allowed himself to be surprised
during harvest at Jericho, and together with a large portion of his troops was
killed. This defeat was the signal for widespread revolt against Herod. Galilee
rose and drowned his officers in the lake, and a large part of Judea also
became seditious. Herod received news of these misfortunes while in Daphne,
near Antioch, and marched at once against Antigonus at the head of a legion and
eight hundred auxiliaries. His first attack upon Galilee was not successful;
but upon the arrival of a second legion from Antony he was able to march upon
Jericho. There he hospitably received the principal men of the country and beat
back an attack of the enemy, and shortly afterward defeated Pappus, a general
of Antigonus. After this success, all Judea, with the exception of Jerusalem,
fell into his hands, and as soon as spring came he began the siege of the
capital, three years after he had been appointed king. So assured did his
success now seem, that in the midst of the siege he was married to Mariamme,
the daughter of Alexander, the son of Aristobulus II, and on her mother’s side
the granddaughter of Hyrcanus II—one of the most beautiful women of her day,
and to whom Herod had been for several years betrothed.
Capture of Jerusalem
Shortly after his marriage, Herod was reinforced before Jerusalem by
Sossius and the main army of Antony. With eleven legions of infantry, six thousand
horse, and a considerable force of auxiliaries, it was only a question of time
before Jerusalem should fall into his hands. Yet the forces of Antigonus fought
desperately, and it was not until five months after the beginning of
preparations that Antigonus yielded, threw himself on his face at the feet of
Sossius and begged for mercy. The Roman insulted him, called him ‘Antigone’,
and threw him into chains. In the meantime the Roman soldiers pillaged the
city, slaughtering all whom they met, until Herod succeeded in saving the
inhabitants from utter destruction by promising his allies enormous rewards.
When Sossius left, he carried with him Antigonus as a prisoner, intending to
take him to Antony, who in turn proposed to take him to Rome to grace his
triumph. But Herod feared the result of allowing him to go to Rome, and by a
large gift persuaded Antony to have him beheaded, according to Strabo it being
the first instance in which the Romans had executed such a sentence upon a
king. Although the Asmonean family still existed in the persons of Hyrcanus II,
his daughter, and grandchildren, Herod had now no rival claimant for the
throne. The Asmonean dynasty was at an end, and their “Mayors of the Palace” were
installed as their political successors.
It was no ordinary man that thus came to the Judean throne, at last
forever separated from the high-priesthood. For if Herod is at times the “splendid
Arab” of Renan, the slave of conspirators in his women’s quarters, he is at
others the astute ruler able to keep in check a headstrong people and maintain
the friendship of Augustus, a builder of cities, a Roman man of the world, and
the indispensable guardian of the Arabian frontier. As king, he was one of a
large number of semi-dependent “allied kings” (reges socii), who might not even use the royal title without the
consent of Rome. Their powers varied considerably, but in general were only
sufficient to enable them to be inexpensively serviceable to the Empire. Their
rights were not always, if commonly, based upon treaties, and thus both within
and without the Empire their position was in some respects not unlike that of
the mediaeval vassal. They were not always obliged to pay tribute, but were
expected to furnish military aid whenever it was needed. Gifts were also
expected. Allied kings had the right of coining money—in Herod’s case
restricted to copper. Military power was likewise given them, but a too
elaborate military establishment was liable to cause suspicion. In fact, the
entire relation of these kings to the Empire was not unlike that of the German
princes to Napoleon I. If the ‘allied king’ kept order within his territory and
on the frontier, he was shown plenty of respect; but if he proved inefficient,
he was pretty sure to be deposed, even if his territory was not made a part of
a province.
King Herod
The reign of Herod is of less historical than biographical interest.
After he had once gained undisputed possession of Judea, there could be little
constitutional change, and even the disproportionate importance sometimes given
a country by a desperate war was denied Judea. Yet so astute a ruler as he
proved to be, could not fail to leave some impression upon the state. In the
management of the foreign relations of Judea he barely missed
greatness. Thrust in between uneasy border chiefs and the Roman Empire, a
king over a people that, except for brief intervals, always hated him, he was
yet so consummate an opportunist as to win and hold the favor of successive
rivals. In fact, the only enemy whom he failed either to placate or to worst
was Cleopatra of Egypt, especially dangerous because of her influence over
Antony and her determination to get possession of the palm groves of Jericho as
well as the surrounding region of the Jordan valley. His reign was of national
significance also, not only because of the increased size of his kingdom, but
also because of the rapid increase of Hellenism in the country. Unlike that of
the days of Antiochus IV, however, this later Hellenism seems to have affected
Jewish religious life but little within Palestine itself. Heathen cities grew
more prosperous and the heathen population of the land increased. Jerusalem
itself had its theatre, amphitheatre, and games. The more
pious Jews held themselves aloof from these surroundings, but none the less the
new factors were to prove of considerable importance in political affairs, and
if we may judge by the events of 66 AD, the increased hatred of the Gentile was
accompanied by an equally strong hatred of the Jew.
Shammai and Hillel.
But doubtless most important of all the national results of Herod’s
reign was the consolidation of Pharisaism. At the outset, the Pharisees seeing
in him the enemy of Antigonus and Sadduceeism had favored Herod, and their two
leaders, Pollio—possibly the celebrated Abtalion—and his pupil, Shemaia, had
advised Jerusalem to open its gates to him. Herod’s wholesale massacre of the
Sadducean aristocracy and his reorganization of the Sanhedrin under Pharisaic
influence, confirm this opinion. It was under Herod, also, that the two
best-known Jewish rabbis taught. Of these two really great men, Shammai is
represented as the sterner and more uncompromising; Hillel the gentler and more
liberal. Yet this difference was rather with the refinements of the Law. As
regards its ethical content they were at one. Shammai bade his disciples “make
the study of the Law a decided occupation, promise little and do much, and
receive every one with kindness”; while no Jewish teacher has left so many
profound ethical sayings as Hillel. “Do not to others what thou wouldst not
have done to thyself. This is the principal commandment; all others are the
development of that one”. “He who wishes to raise his name, lowers it; he who
does not seek the Law, does not deserve to live. He who does not progress in
learning retrogrades; he who uses the crown of the Law for his own ends,
perishes” —these are but two of his sayings. Under Hillel, also, the confused
exegetical method of the earlier scribes was systematized and reduced to seven
rules; while his practical sagacity appeared when, as president of the
Sanhedrin, he procured the passage of a law regulating the cancellation of debts
in the sabbatical year, which was proving injurious to business enterprise.
The reign of Herod not only saw both Pharisees and Sadducees withdraw from
political life; it saw the latter
utterly stripped of political significance. Obscure
men from Babylon and Alexandria were elevated to the high-priesthood, and the
office itself came wholly within the control of the new king. At the very
beginning of his reign, Herod broke the power of the old Sadducean aristocracy
by executing forty-five of its most wealthy members and confiscating
their property, and as a result throughout his life he was free from any danger
from that quarter.
But beyond these limits the reign of Herod has small historical
significance, and its interest lies in those personal affairs so minutely
copied by Josephus from the king’s historiographer, Nicholas of Damascus.
Safe from any serious opposition from the nation, Herod was rich in rivals
in the members of the Asmonean house, Hyrcanus II, his daughter Alexandra, and
her children Aristobulus and Mariamme, his own wife. The first attitude of
Herod toward these members of his family was altogether friendly. He had
always been on good terms with the old Hyrcanus, and at the beginning of his
reign induced him to return from Babylon. On his arrival in Jerusalem, Herod received
him with distinction, gave him the most honorable seat at banquets, called him
father, and in every way possible endeavored to replace him in his old position. High
priest, Hyrcanus could not be because of the loss of his ears, and Herod accordingly appointed his friend Ananel, an obscure Jew from Babylon, to the office. Herod’s mother-in-law, Alexandra,
however, a scheming, selfish woman, took it ill that her son Aristobulus should
not have been chosen to succeed his grandfather and uncle, and immediately
began to intrigue with Cleopatra in hopes of Antony’s support. The means she
chose to bring her ends to pass were worthy of the age, the woman, and the man,
but proved ineffectual. Herod, nevertheless, judged it politic to reinstate the
Asmonean family in the high-priesthood, and after deposing Ananel, appointed
Aristobulus.
But although apparently reconciled, Herod and Alexandra were really
struggling for the control of the state. Herod’s suspicions, aroused by a knowledge
of this fact, were deepened by Alexandra’s attempt to escape with Aristobulus
to Cleopatra, his implacable enemy, and after he saw the enthusiasm aroused by
the bearing and beauty of Aristobulus as he officiated at the Feast of
Tabernacles, he judged it no longer safe to allow the boy to live. Shortly
after the feast, Aristobulus was drowned, apparently accidentally, while he was
bathing in one of the fish ponds of his mother’s palace at Jericho, and Ananel
once more became high priest. Alexandra never doubted Herod’s complicity in her
son’s death, and succeeded in having the king brought to trial before Antony,
who just then came to Laodicea on the Syrian coast. Herod went with
trepidation, leaving his uncle, Joseph, in charge of the state and the royal
household, with orders to kill Mariamme in case he should not return. This
genuinely barbarian foresight was to bring Herod even more deeply into trouble
with his wife and mother-in-law. On his return, his sister Salome, who was
madly jealous of the Asmonean women, accused Mariamme of unfaithfulness. His
suspicion was strengthened by Mariamme’s reference to his secret orders to
Joseph, and in a rage of jealousy he executed Joseph, put Alexandra under guard,
and all but killed Mariamme.
Herods’ war with Arabia
During the latter part of the supremacy of Antony and Cleopatra, Herod
was forced to pay rental, not only for Jericho, but also for Arabia, a fact
that plunged him at one time into the greatest danger. The Arabian king refused
to pay the proper tribute, and Herod undertook to enforce his demands, but
Herod’s was utterly defeated, and for some time was unable to gather any
considerable army or carry on anything beyond guerilla war. It was not for
several months, indeed until after the battle of Actium, that he was able to
bring the Arabians again into subjection.
The victory of Octavius at Actium might easily have ended Herod’s
career. He had been the friend of Antony, and indeed had been prevented from
sending him troops only because Cleopatra had judged it more prudent to send
him against the king of Arabia, that the two kings might mutually weaken one
another. But with a daring amounting to genius, Herod rushed to the help of
Didius, the governor of Syria, in his attack upon a band of Antony’s gladiators;
had the aged Hyrcanus II executed on an highly improbable charge of conspiracy;
committed Mariamme to the care of one Sohemus, with the same command as that he
had previously given Joseph; and went to meet the new master of the republic.
When brought into the presence of Octavius, Herod laid aside nothing of royal
state except his diadem, told of his services to Antony, boasted that he had
not deserted him, and finally left it to Octavius to say whether or not he should
be allowed to continue as a servant of Rome. Octavius saw the value of the man,
reestablished him as king, and after the two had visited Egypt together, gave
him back Jericho, and also added to his territories the cities of Gadara,
Hippos, Samaria, Gaza, Anthedon, Joppa, and Strata’s Tower.
But again Herod was to be tormented by quarrels among the women of his
family. Salome and Cypros, stung by the contempt of Mariamme, waited only an
opportunity to cause her downfall. The moment came when, after a year of stormy
life, Herod was finally driven furious by his wife’s contempt and reproaches.
Then again did Salome accuse her of infidelity, and in a paroxysm of rage and
jealousy Herod ordered (28 BC) Mariamme to execution. Alexandra, in an Mariamme
attempt to preserve herself, flooded her daughter with taunts and insults, but
the proud and beautiful woman met her death without even a change of color—a worthy
descendant of her house.
No sooner was his wife dead than Herod became insane with grief. He gave
up the administration of the state, commanded his servants to act as if
Mariamme were still alive, plunged into all sorts of excesses, and, if the
rabbinical legend is to be believed, kept Mariamme’s body by him, preserved in
honey. So critical did his condition become that, in anticipation of his death,
Alexandra undertook to seize the kingdom for herself and her grandsons; but her
efforts were reported to Herod, and he promptly had her executed (28 BC). Thereupon
he seems to have partially recovered; but throughout his life he was subject to
attacks of melancholy during which he was bloodthirsty and tyrannical. Three
years later, again at the instigation of Salome, who had married Costobar, he
sought out and executed the sons of Babas, the last representatives of the
Asmonean house, together with Costobar himself, who had offered them an asylum
for twelve years. After this he was without rivals, except those of his own
family.
The succeeding period of twenty years furnishes little to relate except
a record of lavish building, the story of new domestic tragedies and growing
Pharisaism. Its earlier and happier portion was taken up with Herod’s efforts
to imitate Augustus as a builder. He had early rebuilt the citadel of the
temple, renaming it, in honor of his friend Antony, Antonia, and later he added
a theatre and an amphitheatre as well as impregnable towers at Jerusalem. He
celebrated games every fourth year in honor of Augustus, and hung up various inscriptions
and trophies in his honor. This Roman zeal of their king, together with his
constant innovations, aroused the more fanatical Jews to desperation, and a
conspiracy was formed to kill Herod. It was betrayed, and its members were
executed. It showed Herod, however, the danger that lay in his position and he
immediately began to fortify and garrison various parts of the country in
readiness for a revolt. Sebaste, Caesarea, Gaba in Galilee, and Heshbon in Perea
were among the military posts he thus established, while he also built castles
in other parts of the country, like Herodium southeast of Bethlehem, (Frank
Mountain), and Herodium in Arabia, or rebuilt Asmonean strongholds
that had been dismantled, like Alexandrium, Machaerus, Masada, and Hyrcania. In
the case of Sebaste and Caesarea, he built really magnificent cities, the ruins
of the former even today being considerable. Caesarea, in building which twelve
years were spent, became the most important seaport south of Ptolemais, and
boasted huge moles, quays, towers, sewers, temples, colonnades, palaces, as
well as an amphitheatre, a theatre, and a hippodrome. Like Sebaste it was named
in honor of Augustus, whose temple high above the city commanded the entire
region. Nor did his passion for building stop with military necessities. In the
Jordan valley he built the cities of Antipatris and Phasaelis, named in honor
of his father and unfortunate brother, and a citadel at Jericho, which was
named for his mother, Cypros. In the maritime plain he rebuilt Anthedon and
named it Agrippaeum, in honor of his friend Agrippa, while he also erected
temples, colonnades, or other public buildings in most cities he visited, but
especially in Antioch, Rhodes, Nicopolis, Chios, Ascalon, Tyre, Sidon, Banias,
Byblus, Berytus, Tripolis, Ptolemais, Damascus, Athens, and Sparta.
Herod’s Hellenism
Herod’s regard for heathen customs, displayed in much of this building,
is also evidenced by the games he established at Caesarea and Jerusalem, by his
gifts toward maintaining the Olympic games, and by his choice of Greeks to
administer his affairs and to act as tutors for his sons. He is even said to
have studied Greek philosophy under Nicholas of Damascus, his littérateur and orator. At the same
time he followed the customs of Rome by building himself a strongly fortified
palace in the Upper City at Jerusalem, in laying out parks, and breeding
pigeons.
At the same time that he was thus winning popularity in the Greek world,
Herod did not cease to be a king of the Jews. His internal improvements were
worthy of the man he copied. The water supply of Jerusalem was improved, the
robber bands of Trachonitis were controlled by three thousand Idumean
colonists, the miseries of famine were alleviated by public works employing
fifty thousand men, and aid was given to other sufferers until even the royal
plate was sold. Twice did he reduce the taxes, once in 20 BC by a third, and
once in 14 BC by a fourth. In addition, the country was kept in peace, robbers
were everywhere attacked, the frontier was rigorously guarded. So successful
was he in his administration that Augustus gave him successively Trachonitis,
Auranitis, Batanea, and the tetrarchy of Zenodoms, which included Banias, while
his brother Pheroras was appointed tetrarch of Perea, and the procurator of
Syria was ordered to consult with the king in all important matters.
Such good administration won him also the favor of the people. If they
murmured somewhat at his lavish devotion to heathen life, they appreciated the
regard for their prejudices concerning graven images shown in his coins and
buildings, as well as the political necessity under which he was placed. Even
more did they appreciate the substantial aid that such friendship enabled Herod
to gain for the Jews, not only in Judea but in the Dispersion. The Pharisees
themselves might praise a ruler who respected their opinions, paused to prove
the absence of impiety in trophies, demanded circumcision of a suitor for his
sister’s hand, scrupulously observed the sanctity of the temple and its courts,
and whose accusers before Agrippa and Augustus were the Arabians and the
heathen citizens of Gadara. Even his enemies could plead little against him
beyond severity in the interests of order, and the most fanatical must have
honored a ruler who excused many of their scribes from taking an oath of
allegiance, and who especially honored the Essenes. It is true, on the other
hand, that he had greatly weakened the Sanhedrin by the massacre of its
Sadducean members with which he began his reign, but there is no good reason
for doubting that it continued both as a sort of Pharisaic academy whose
decisions were final in matters of religion, and as a court before whom Herod
himself could cite the unfortunate Hyrcanus II. Even if he removed and
appointed the high priests arbitrarily, his action was offset by the magnificent
temple which in 20 BC he began to erect in place of the one ascribed to
Zerubbabel, as well as by the regard for the priests as a class he exhibited
during the eighteen months of its building, and his own observance of the
building’s sanctity.
The last years of Herod
But whatever popularity such facts as these imply, was lost during the
last years of Herod’s life. Again family troubles aroused the worst side of his
nature, and his family and the Pharisees alike suffered. As he grew older, he
grew less tolerant of his people’s prejudices. Understand them he most
certainly did; but either confidence in his own power, or some insanity
resulting from his domestic tragedy, led him repeatedly to irritate and enrage
them in a way altogether impossible for him during his better years. It is in
these later years that one must seek the obscure beginnings of that Zealot
party which was later to prove so terrible an agent of revolt. Unlike the
Essenes, the Zealots seem to have sprung directly from the Pharisees, from whom
they came to differ largely in this one respect: despairing of any Messiah, and
impatient for the coming of the kingdom of God, they tired of faith and
patience and looked to revolution. Patriotism with them was synonymous with
action. They would “see the judgments and all the curses of their enemies”. It
is their spirit that appeared in the group of three thousand Pharisees who
refused to take the oath of allegiance to Herod and the emperor, and it is easy
to see members of the party also in the mob of fanatics under the two rabbis,
Judas and Mattathias, who tore down the eagle Herod had carved over the
entrance to the temple.
But apart from his growing severity toward his people, Herod’s last
years were full of misery. The absence of any clear law governing succession to
the throne, and the consequent opportunity for plots and counter-plots in favor
of some one of the king’s numerous sons, doubtless explain much of the tragedy
that marked these years, but along with them must be placed the character of
Herod himself. The mad determination not to surrender his throne before his
death; the fierce suspicion that, first aroused by treachery among them he loved
best, embraced an ever-increasing number of those nearest him; the tyrannical control
of his people; all sprang from a character as unrestrained in its passions as
in its energies.
The storm broke first in BC 12, and Herod then took Aristobulus and Alexander to Rome, to accuse them
before the emperor, but Augustus had brought about a reconciliation. Two years
later, certain eunuchs, under torture, confessed that Alexander had made
contemptuous remarks about Herod, and even was plotting with his brother
Aristobulus against him. Herod at once arrested Alexander, tortured and killed
his friends, and, as Alexander, doubtless in hopes of Roman interference, endeavored
to incite him to greater madness, became almost insane with fear and suspicion.
Yet just when affairs were most desperate, the father-in-law of Alexander,
Archelaus of Cappadocia, could bring about a reconciliation between the father
and son by feigning to malign Alexander. Herod’s fatherly instincts were yet
too strong to endure such an attack upon the child of Mariamme, and he restored
Alexander to favor, showering Archelaus with all sorts of presents! For a few
months the family lived in peace. Herod was engaged in punishing a wily Arab
who had defaulted payment on some bond, and, thanks to this rascal’s monetary
influence at the imperial court, found himself in disfavor with Augustus. So
far did the misunderstanding go that the emperor wrote Herod that “whereas of
old he had treated Herod as his friend, he should now treat him as his subject”.
But even while affairs were in this condition the brothers were again accused
of treason, and when, through the efforts of Nicholas of Damascus, Herod was
restored to favor, Augustus gave him full power to deal with his sons as he saw
fit. A few weeks later they were tried and condemned before a court at Berytus
(Beirut) and (BC 7) strangled at Sebaste. Thereupon Antipater, in complete
control of his father, went to Rome to await the old king’s death.
But the fearful drama was not yet complete. Herod turned fiercely upon
the Pharisees, and was engaging in something like persecution, when, thanks to
the revelations of Salome, he suddenly discovered the true character of
Antipater. He ordered him back to Judea, had him tried, condemned, and
imprisoned. Later, again with the consent of Augustus, he had the wretch
executed. Ten days later he himself died, dividing his kingdom among three
of his sons: Archelaus, to whom he gave Judea, with the title of king; Herod
Antipas, to whom he gave Galilee and Perea, with the title of tetrarch; and
Philip, to whom he gave the northeastern districts, also with the title of
tetrarch. He had reigned thirty-seven years.
ARCHELAUS (4 BC-6 AD)
Before Herod’s will could serve as a basis for the new administrations
of his sons it had to be reviewed and confirmed by Augustus. As a result,
Judea was left for months without any settled government, exposed to every form
of disorder. At once there appeared the Pharisees’ hatred of a royal house, and
their determination to reestablish their doctrinaire Utopia of a theocracy of
scribes. Disturbances broke out almost immediately after the gorgeous funeral
Archelaus gave his father at Herodium. Archelaus had been saluted as king; but
although he had taken his seat upon a golden throne, he had been careful not to
accept the title. None the less, the bodies of the people came to him demanding
reforms in taxation, the release of those imprisoned by Herod, and the
abolition of taxes on sales. Archelaus agreed to these demands, but the more
extreme members of the Pharisees were unwilling to let the opportunity pass
without obtaining revenge. Shortly before the death of Herod, two prominent
rabbis, Judas and Mattathias, had incited their students to tear down the
golden eagle over the great gate of the temple. Herod had thereupon caused the
ringleaders to be burnt. The Pharisees now demanded the punishment of those
persons who had been instrumental in the executions. Lacking any authority for
reversing the action of his father, Archelaus very properly endeavored to delay
action until after his position had been made certain by Caesar. But all his
efforts proved unavailing. The popular leaders continued to excite the people,
and at the Passover following the death of Herod the Jews assembled in crowds
at the temple, threatening revolution. Archelaus, fearing that they might do
some irreparable damage to the state, had his troops attack them, and when the
crowds dispersed to their homes they had lost three thousand of their number.
Thinking that order had been restored, Archelaus, accompanied by his
friends, his aunt Salome, and many of his other relatives, went off to Rome,
leaving his brother Philip as his representative in Judea. Shortly afterward
Antipas also went up to Rome, with the purpose of persuading Augustus to ratify
that will of Herod by which he had been made king. During the absence of
Archelaus the country was cursed with a succession of Jewish fanatics, Galilean
robbers, who declared themselves kings, and Roman peculators. Judea became full
of anarchy. The propraetor of Syria, Varus, after having subdued one uprising
at Jerusalem, returned to Antioch, leaving one legion under Sabinus, his
procurator, to maintain order. But Sabinus not only had little but police
powers, but far worse, soon proved to be more eager to get possession of the
treasures left by Herod than to check the rapidly increasing revolt. At the
feast of Pentecost the Jews renewed hostilities and seized the temple area.
There from the roofs of the cloisters they maintained a desperate and
successful fight against the Romans, until the latter set the cloisters on
fire. All of the Jews then perished, and the Romans got possession of most
of the treasures of the temple, Sabinus openly taking four hundred talents. The
revolt was finally put down by Varus with great slaughter, two thousand Jews
being crucified.
While thus Judea was in the greatest disorder, a most extraordinary
gathering of Jews and their rulers was being held in Rome. The Pharisees now
attempted lawfully what their lunatic followers had sought by rebellion. With
the permission of Varus an embassy of
fifty prominent Jews proceeded to Rome to endeavor to prevent
the appointment of Archelaus as king. There they were joined by eight thousand
members of the Jewish colony in Rome, and sought to get Judea incorporated in
the province of Syria in hopes that they might have more liberty to live by
their own laws.
At the suggestion of Varus, Philip also went to Rome to aid Archelaus,
or to have some share in the distribution of Herod’s estate.
The decision of Augustus
Augustus gave the petitioners several audiences, and at last
confirmed the last will of Herod. Archelaus was to have Judea, Samaria, and
Idumea, with a tribute of six hundred talents. He was to have at first the
title of ethnarch, and later, in case he governed well, the title of king.
Herod Antipas was given Galilee and Perea, with the annual tribute of two
hundred talents and the title of tetrarch. Philip was given the same title, the
regions of Gaulanitis, Auranitis, Trachonitis, Batanea, Banias, and Iturea,
with an income of one hundred talents. The cities of Gaza, Gadara, and Hippos
were, however, excluded from this division and made subject directly to
Syria. Herod’s provisions for Salome were confirmed, and in addition she
was given a palace at Ascalon. The other relatives of Herod received the
bequests contained in his will. Augustus further made handsome presents of
money to Herod’s two daughters, and divided the sum left himself among the dead
king’s sons.
The character of the ethnarch, Archelaus, was, in most respects, like
that of Herod, without its better qualities. Like his father, he was a builder.
He restored the royal palace at Jericho, which had been burned during the
disturbances that had occurred while he had been in Rome, and planted and
irrigated new palm groves in its vicinity. He also built a town in the Jordan
valley, near Phasaelis, which he called after himself, Archelais. Like his
father also, he dealt wantonly with the high priests, removing one and
appointing another, twice during his reign of ten years. He still further
shocked the sensibilities of the people by marrying the widow of his
half-brother, Alexander, by whom she had had children. Glaphyra, however, died
soon after her marriage, after having had a dream sufficiently striking to be
recorded by Josephus.
The reign of Archelaus is described by Josephus, briefly, as being
barbarous and tyrannical, although he gives us no basis for the
characterization except the facts just stated. But that he is correct seems
clear, from the fact that the principal men of Judea and Samaria, together with
the sons of Herod, accused him, before Augustus, of mismanaging his territory.
Augustus was very angry, and immediately dispatched the representative of
Archelaus in Rome to summon him to trial. The messenger hurried Archelaus from
a banquet to the imperial court, where he was condemned, AD 6, and sentenced to the confiscation of his property, and to
banishment at Vienne, in Gaul, where he probably died. Quirinius was sent to
make a census of the taxable property of Judea, as a first step in its
organization as a province. Such organization was completed when Idumea,
Samaria, and Judea were put under Coponius as procurator.
The Census
But this reorganization was not accomplished without bloodshed. The
census, hateful alike on religious and political grounds, met with fanatical
opposition. It is true that the Jews, as a whole, did not revolt, and
singularly enough the disturbance broke out in Galilee, which was not subject
to the census. But the Zealots— whom now for the first time Josephus describes—were
not oversensitive to consistency, and under one Judas a Galilean and one Sadduc
a Pharisee rose against their new masters in full belief that God would aid
them in achieving liberty. Josephus himself sees in them the originators of the
war of 66-70. Be that as it may, this religious and political outbreak was the
expression of the new party spirit among the Jews. The Zealots, like the
Pharisees, awaited a kingdom of God, a Messiah, and a new Israel, but their
kingdom was to be won by the sword—not, it should be noticed, however, from
persecutors like Antiochus Epiphanes, but from purely political masters who
allowed the Jews every conceivable religious liberty
CHAPTER V.PALESTINE UNDER THE ROMANS AND THE TETRARCHS
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HISTORY OF THE JEWS
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