de la Pal. 164 ; and Schiirer, GJV
t On the title i uiyus cf. Ewald, HI • Coins, 105, n. 1.
canus, Antipater secured the aid of the Arabian king Aretas to establish his candidate in the government. Thereupon appeals were made by Hyrcanus and Aristobulus to the Roman general Scaurus, wlio had been sent by Pompey to Damas- cus. The Roman power, thus appealed to, at first favoured .\ristobulus, but eventually, after Pompey liad taken Jerusalem in B.C. 63, made Hyrcanus high priest {Ant. XIV. iv. 4 ; BJ I. vii. 6), and com- mitted the administration to Scaurus, who in turn was succeeded by Gabinius. Antipater, however, proved himself useful to the Romans, both in the government and in their military operations against the Arabs, and also against the Hasraonaians, Aristobulus and his sons Alexander and Antigonus. He thus acquired considerable political influence {Ant. XIV. vi. 4, viii. 1 ; BJl. viii. 7 ; cf. Schiirer, GJV^ i. 343, n. 14). After the battle of Pharsalus (B.C. 48) and the death of Pompey, Coesar confirmed Hyrcanus in the high priesthood, and made him ethnarch. Upon Antipater he conferred Roman citizenship and constituted him procurator of Judisa {Ant. XIV. viii. 3, .5, (-n-iTpoiro! in the sense of im- MeXijTiis; cf. Wellhausen, /,/(?•' 316, n. 2). Soon afterwards (B.C. 47) Antipater appointed his eldest son Phasael governor of Jerusalem, and committed the administration of Galilee to his second son Herod, a young man about twenty-five years of age {Ant. XIV. ix. 2 ; the transmitted text reads rivre Kal 84Ka, but is coniecturally emended by Dindorf and Bekker to read tt^j/te Kal elVoo-i ; cf. Schiirer, i. 348, n. 30 ; Gratz, ffist. 77, reads ' twenty '). The present article is concerned only with the Herods of the Giispels.
1. Herod the Great. — Among the first acts of Herod's-admiuistiatioii of Galilee was the suppres- sion of a band of robbers * that harassed his country and parts of Syria {Ant. XIV. ix. 2 ; BJ l. x. 5). These he captured, and their captain, a certain Hezekias, he slew, along with many of the robbers, — revealing in the energy with which he suppressed disorders a trait of character that even at this time attracted the attention of the Roman governor of Syria, Sextus Caisar, and that subsequently made him an acceptable ally of the Romans. This act, however, brought Herod under the suspicion of the leaders at Jerusalem, who persuaded Hyrcanus that Herod should be summoned before the Sanhedrin for trial for violation of the national law in putting Hezekias to death without trial. Herod obeyed the summons, but took care to have a sufficient bodyguard to accompany him. At first the mem- bers of the Sanhedrin were overawed by such a show of force. They were recalled to a proper sense of their duty by the courageous words of scornful rebuke s]ioken by Sameas the Pharisee {A)it. XIV. ix. 4 : ISJi. X. 5).t When the Sanhedrin wasaliiiut In niiicliiiLn Herod, Hyrcanus, who had received iii^trm tii.iis from Sextus Ciesar to have him a((|uitted, adjourned the sitting and advised Herod to witlulraw from Jerusalem. This he did, returning to Damascus. When he had been ap- pointed governor of Ccele-Syria by Sextus Caesar, he threatened Jerusalem with an army ; but, having so far satisfied his anger, he withdrew, on the advice of his father Antipater and his brother Phasael. After the murder of Ca'sar (15 Mar. B.C. 44), and * Gratz (Bist. 7S, less distinctl.v, ' All true patriots mourned ') and Derenbourg (IROff.) ref^ard these robbers as patriots, the predecessors of the Zealots, Judas the Galihean \mu'^ the son of Hezekias (Ant. xvii. x. r, ; BJ ii. iv. 1 ; Ac R-i'). I, Brojde (Jemsh Encjic vi. 356) calls them 'a band of fanatics, who iiad attacked heathen cities and robbed cara\-ans ' (rf. also Well-
t Cf. 'Ant. xv. i. 1, where Pollio is said to have made this speech, and Sameas is called hia disciple. In Talmudic tradi- tion (cf. Derenhmii^'. N7fF.) Sameas is called Simeon ben Shetah, identilii.l K, I 'r i . ni.Mnr.' with Shemaia, who, with Abtalion (Pollio), .> . i , , i I hat time at the head of the
Sjinhedriu (siiinl, i // ' .!i. and I. Rrovd6, Jewish
i'ncj/c. vi. 356 ; . 1 ..; i .: ; ,i. lifiSf.).
the poisoning of Antipater (43), — apparently with the knowledge, if not tlie consent and participation, of Hyrcanus {Ant. XTV. xi. 3, 6 ; cf. Wellhausen-', 319, n. 1, 327, n. 3),— Herod's fortunes reached their lowest ebb. Antony, indeed, while he was in the East, made Herod and Phasael tetrarchs (Aiif. XIV. xiii. 1 ; BJ I. xii. 5) ; but not long afterwards, Antigonus, >\'ith the help of the Parthians, gained possession of Jerusalem, capturing Phasael and Hyrcanus. Phasael killed himself ; and Hyrcanus, after his ears had been cut off, was taken by the Parthians to Babylon. Herod, who with his family was in Jerusalem, escaped by night, and, after manj' difficulties, in the midst of which he was on the point of taking his life, came to the fortress Masada. Here he left his family in charge of his brother Joseph and hastened to Rome. Antigonus, in the meantime, had established himself in Jerusalem, where he reigned for three years (B.C. 40-37) as Matthias, the coins of Antigonus bearing the in- scription BACIAEflC ANTirONOU \^= n-nno .T nan Hj (cf. Madden, Coins, 99 fi'.).