The independence of the country was brought to a sudden end by the conquests of Pompey. The Jews were henceforward under the Roman domi- nation. The extent of the land was materially diminished by Pompey’s withdrawing the numer- ous Hellenistic cities from Jewish rule. On the other hand, he left to Hyrcanus, as high priest, a certain measure of political authority, so that the conditions were practically the same as those that
* Cf. Schiirer, GJV3 ii, 18 ff., 63ff.; Zahn, Hinieit. ins NT 1-51 ; Delitzsch, Saat auf Hoffnung, 1874, p. 185 ff.; Kautzsch, Gramm. des bibl. Aram. 4ff.; Neubauer, Studia Biblica, Ox- ford, 1885, v, 89ff.; Dalman, Gramm. des jiid.-pal. Aram. 344 ff., Die Worte Jesu, i. 1ff., 63 ff. ; Biichler, Die Priester und der Kultus, 1895, p. 61 ff.; A. Meyer, Jesu Muttersprache, 1896 : T. K. Abbott, Essays chiefly onthe Original Teats of the Old and New Testament, 1891, p. 129 ff.
t+ Bichler (Die Tobiaden und Oniaden, 1899) and H. Winckler (Orient. Ltzg. iti. 87 ff.) maintain that the pre-Maccabean high priests had no political power ; but their arguments are artificial and not convincing.
existed immediately before the war for freedom. But in the year 57 B.c. Gabinius deprived Hyrcanus of all political rule by dividing the whole country into five districts, whose principal cities stood in direct subordination to the Romans (Jos. Ant. XIV. v. 4; BJ I. viii. 5). Caesar, however, in 47 restored to Hyrcanus his former power and gave him the title of ‘ethnarch.’ But the real ruler was not the weak Hyrcanus, but the crafty Idu- mean Antipater, who was made Procurator of Judza, and who succeeded in having his sons Phasael and Herod appointed strategot of Jeru- salem and Galilee. After the death of Antipater (B.c. 43), Antony named the two brothers ‘tetrarchs,’ a step whereby Hyrcanus was once more deprived of all secular power and became merely an ecclesiastical prince. The attack made by the Hasmonzan Antigonus, with the aid of the Parthians, cost Hyrcanus and Phasael their offices, but Herod escaped to Rome, where he was nomi- nated king of the Jews. It was not until the year 37 that he succeeded in conquering his kingdom, but from that date onwards he reigned undis- turbed till his death. His position was that of a rex socius. Such a king was entrusted with rule only personally : after his death it was left open to the Emperor to decide as to the future lot of the particular country. For this reason Herod required the permission of the Emperor to put his own son to death. Nor could a rex socius wage war on his own initiative or conclude treaties, and, if the Romans were engaged in war, he had to furnish auxiliary troops. His right to coin money was restricted, and included only coins of small value. Otherwise he was an independent ruler, levied the various imposts of the country, was the supreme judge within his own land, and could execute capital sentences. Alongside of Herod there was still the Sanhedrin, but its authority was now, of course, very limited. The high priest was its president, but the setting up of an inde- pendent ine authority had practically stripped this office of all significance. The high priests were appointed and deposed by Herod in the most arbitrary fashion—a course of procedure quite con- trary to the Law, which intended this office to be held for life and to be hereditary.
After the death of Herod, his kingdom was divided into three portions. Philip received, with the rank of tetrarch, the northern trans-Jordanic territory, over which he ruled till his death, in A.D. 37. Herod Antipas, likewise as tetrarch, had Galilee and Persea assigned to him, but was deposed in 37. Archelaus had been destined to rule as tetrarch over Judzea and Samaria, but as ooy as the year 6 the Emperor deprived him of his land, which he united more closely with the Roman Empire. It was, however, subject only indirectly to the Imperial legate in Syria, having a governor of its own, a Roman Procwrator (émi- Tporos, iryeudv) chosen from the knightly body, who attended to the administration except when any very special necessity called for the action of the legate. The Procurator resided at Caesarea on the seacoast ; but on the oceasion of the great festivals, when the mood of the people was always most turbulent, he came to Jerusalem, where he took up his residence in the former palace of Herod on the west side of the city. The largest Roman garrison was stationed at Casarea; but smaller bodies of troops were quartered in various towns throughout the land—amongst others in Jerusalem, where they had their barracks in the temple citadel of Antonia. The troops consisted entirely of non-Jews, the Jewish population being, it would appear, exempt from military service. * The taxes were now assigned to the Imperial
* Cf. Schiirer, GJV3 i. 460,
NEW TESTAMENT TIMES
Jjiscus, and were levied by the Procurator, the highest financial official, who in this work availed himself of the aid of the various communes. The duties, on the other hand, were farmed out at a fixed sum to private officials ( publicani).* Both these ‘publicans’ and their subordinates were often of Jewish extraction (cf. e.g. Lk 19!*) ; on account of the inordinate greed and dishonesty that frequently characterized them, they were greatly hated and despised (é publicans and sinners,’ Mt 9 e¢ al.). The taxation was probably connected with the division of the country into eleven toparchies, each with its capital. The Roman taxation of Judea after the deposition of Archelaus led also in the year 7 to the visit of the legate Quirinius, for the purpose of having the inhabitants assessed. Finally, the Procurator was the highest judicial authority in the land, and had to attend to all important law- suits ; in particular, no capital sentence could be executed without being confirmed by him. In such cases he had sometimes associated with him a council made up of Romans (cvpBovdAov, Ac 251), In other respects the country enjoyed the right of self-government, which was exercised, as formerly, by the high priest and the Sanhedrin. Josephus (Ant. xx. 10) puts the matter very well when he says that the Jews, after they had had a monar- chical, had now again an aristocratic constitution. But one essential and characteristic change was that the high priest was now appointed by the Roman Procurator. This condition of things underwent no interruption except when Agrippa I., under the title of king, gathered the whole land for a short time (41-44) under his sway. During this period the same arrangements were followed as under Herod the Great ; the high priest, for instance, being appointed by the king. After Agrippa’s death, not only Judza, but the whole