ates and make a money payment; but wher Gasincs was sent for the money, the gates were
MACCABEES, THE
closed against him, and Pompey advanced against Jerusalem. The party of Hyrcanus, to which fear of the Romans brought many accessions, opened the city gates, but the supporters of Aristobulus entrenched themselves in the temple mount. After a three months’ siege, however, the walls were sealed, and 12,000 Jews were slain. Apparently from curiosity, and to the lasting horror of the Jews, Pompey entered the Holy of Holies, but subsequently ordered the sanctuary to be purified, and the usual sacrifices to be continued. The mupleaders in the war were executed ; Aristobulus and his family he took with him as prisoners ; Hyrcanus was designated high priest and ethnarch, but not king. The boundaries of Judea were also
eatly contracted, and Jerus. was garrisoned by
e Romans. Not even yet had the Jews learned to avoid calling in the interference of foreigners, but Rome knew how to profit by their internal strifes and factions.
As the star of the Hasmonzan dynasty set, that of the Herodian rose. Hyrcanus was only a puppet in the hands of Antipater and the Romans. The division of Palestine by Gabinius into five districts (συνέδρια) did not, as was hoped, weaken the feeling of national unity. The Hasmonzans made severa. abortive efforts to regain power. Revolts were led in the year 57 by Alexander, the son of Aristobulus, in 56 by Aristobulus himself and his son Antigonus, and again in 55 by Alexander. Once more, in B.C. 54, after the defeat of the Romans at Carrhie, the Jews rose in rebellion, but were routed by Cassius. These attempts would have succeeded as against Antipater, but they could not do so as against Antipater and the Romans, who always came to hisaid. In B.c. 49 Cesar set Aristobulus at liberty in order to send him with an army against Anti- pater ; but while he was yet in Rome Aristobulus was poisoned by the adherents of Pompey, who also contrived to have Alexander put to death at Antioch.
While Antipater continued to curry favour with the Romans, the Jews became jealous of his grow- ing power. This feeling was intensified through the appointment of his eldest son Phasael as governor of Jerus., and of his second son Herod as governor of Galilee. The latter soon felt himself strong enough to defy the Sanhedrin, and even to menace Jerusalem. In spite of the accusa- tions of the Sadduczean dignitaries, the two brothers secured the friendship of Antony. Antigonus, the son of Aristobulus I., made yet another desperate effort to obtain the Mingdom: Although defeated by Herod, he was actually set up as king by the Parthians, and Herod’s fortunes sank to the lowest ebb. Phasael made away with himself in prison, and Herod escaped to Rome, where he was re- cognized as king of Judea (B.c. 40). A year later Herod landed at Ptolemais, and, after a war ex- tending over two years, he at length, with the help of the legions of Sosius, captured Jerus. and mercilessly slaughtered his opponents. Antigonus was carried a prisoner to Antioch and there put to death. Herod now assumed the kingdom, and the Hasmonwan dynasty was atanend. Shortly before Jerus. fell into his hands he had married Mariamne, who, as granddaughter to both Hyrcanus and Aristobulus, represented the two opposing sections of the Hasmonwan house. But within the first decade of his reign this brilliant and resourceful but cruelly jealous man murdered all its still surviving members, to make sure that none of them should ever supplant him in the govern-
ment. So perished in succession the youthful high priest Aristobulus, the aged Hyrcanus 11., Herod’s own wife Mariamne, and last of all Alex-
andra, the daughter of Hyreanus 1m. For these crimes Herod was to sutler a poetic retribution.
MACCABEES, BOOKS OF 187
In his closing years the murderer of the Has- monzans became the murderer of his own sons, having about the year B.c. 7 ordered Alexander and Aristobulus to be done to death at Sebaste, where their mother Mariamne had become his bride. ὙΠῸ them the history of the Maccabees comes to a close.
LiTERATURE.—The chief sources for the Maccabean history are 1 and 2 Mac (see next article), and Jos. Ant, xu. vy. 1 onwards. Several Psalms, notably 44. 74. 79. and 83 are prob- ably Maccabwan ; some scholars, e.g. Reuss and Cheyne, ascribe many more to this period, but their conclusions are to be accepted with caution. For passing references in Greek and Roman authors, see Schiirer, HJP 1. i. p. 110 ff. Of modern works, besides shorter articles in the best Bible Dictionaries, the student may consult Derenbourg, Histoire de la Palestine, 1867; Ewald, Hist. of lsrael, vol. v. (Eng. tr.) 1874; Stanley, Jewish Church, vol. iii. 1876; Madden, Coins of the Jews, 1881 : Stade, Geschichte des Volkes Israel, 1888 ; Schiirer, AJP (Index); Wellhausen, Jsraelitische und Jiidische Geschichte, 1894 (31898) ; Fairweather, From the Exile to the Advent, 1895; H. Weiss, Judas Makkabaeus, 1897 ; Streane, The Age of the Maccabees, 1398. W. FAIRWEATHER.
MACCABEES, BOOKS OF (Maxxafalwy, a’, 8’, etc.) —Some important MSS of the LXX contain four books so entitled.* Of these the first two were incorporated in the Vulgate from the Old Latin translation, and accepted as canonical by the Council of Trent (1546). The Churches of the Reformation, on the other hand, adhering more strictly to the Heb. Canon, placed them among the OT A ocrypha, which were originally in- cluded in the Geneva Bible (1560) and in all the English Versions. The remaining books, which are only very remotely connected with the story of the Maccabees, have found, as they deserve, much less recognition in the Church. “The order in which these books exist in the MSS, while not chronological as regards their subject-matter, accurately reflects the date of their composition as well as their comparative worth.