In Rome, Herod had little difficulty, with tlie aid of Antony and the concurrence of Octavius, in con- \'incing the Senate that they would be serWng their own intere.sts by making him king of Judiea in- stead of Antigonus, who had been placed on the throne by the Pa.Tth\a.ns (Ant. XIV. xiv. 4; BJ I. xiv. 4). Appointed king by a decree of the Senate (B.C. 40), Herod now had before him the difficult task of conquering his kingdom. He re- turned to Palestine, raised an army, subdued Joppa, relieved Masada, and was eager to invest Jerusalem. The assistance of the Roman forces under Ventidius and Silo was far from effective ; Galilee had to be conquered ; it was not until the spring of 37 B.C. that the siege of Jerusalem could be seriously begun. It was during this siege that Herod, having put away his -wife Doris and her son Antipat«r, celebrated in Samaria his marriage with Mariamne,* daughter of Alexander (son of Aristobulus) and Alexandra (daughter of Hyr- canus) {Ant. XIV. XV. 14 ; BJ I. x\'ii. 8 ; cf. Ant.
XIV. xii. 1 ; BJl. xii. 3).
Three months after the siege began, Jerusalem fell {Ant. XIV. xvi. 4 ; BJ 1. xviii. 2 ; cf. Sieffert, PHE'^ vii. 762, 1. 24 fl'.). The city was saved from plunder and desecration only by a plentiful use of money on Herod's part. Antigonus surrendered himself to the Romans {Ant. XIV. xvi. 2; BJ I. x\nii. 2), and at Herod's urgent request was be- headed in Antioch {Ant. XI v. xvi. 4 ; BJ I. xviii. 3). Herod also had forty-five members of the San- hedrin slain, but passed over PoUio and Sameas because during the siege they had advised the city to yield to him {Ant. XV. i. 2).
Established in his kingdom by force of the Roman arms, and occupying the status of a rex socius, Herod fully understood that his continuance in power was dependent on the good-will of Rome ancl her rulers. Hence, throughout his reign of thirty-four years, he did not fail to cultivate in every possible way friendly relations Anth his overlords. His government, however, though not without some follo>\'ing among the people, never obtained the cordial support or willing consent of the great majority of its subjects. At the be- ginning of his reign he treated the Sadducfean aristocracy with severity, made the high priest- hood subject to his own appointment, and deprived the Sanhedrin of all political influence. The Essenes and many of the Pharisees refused to
* This Mapjfltuw^ is adopted i Niese (though Niese reads in th The spelling Metpiau^ii is giver
XV. § 207, but in BJ I. f: 433 Ma consistently M«pi«.a.i (except in .as M does in BJ,
take the oath of allegiance to him or to the Ro- man emperor. The incipient Zealots or patriotic nationalists, whether gatliered in the robber bands of Galilee or cherishing more quietly the old Has- mon.'ean ideals, were his natural and determined enemies. Herod, moreover, had no natural claims to his throne. Of Idumoean descent, he was in the eyes of his subjects but half-Jew {Ant. XIV. xv. 2), and had to endure, not only from his enemies but within the circle of his own family, taunts upon his low origin. Careful though he was not to oft'end the religious prejudices of the people in some respects, — for Herod was wiser and more cautious than Antioehus Epiphanes, — his whole reign breathed the spirit of Hellenism and pagan secularization so oti'ensive to the Jews. Even his self-denying and efficient provision for the country when \asited by famine, or his remission in part of a burdensome taxation, or his magnificent restora- tion of the Temple, called forth only momentary gratitude in the hearts of the people. SuccessfiU at Rome, unsuccessful in Jerusalem, Herod greatly increased the material interests of his country, and by the favour of Rome enlarged its borders. But while he rebuilt the Temple and dedicated it with great splendour and large sacrifices — boasting that he had done what the Hasmonaeans were not able to accomplish — he placed above the Temple gate a golden eagle in honour of the Romans, built a theatre, amphitheatre, and hippo- drome in or near Jerusalem for Greek plays and heathen games, and in other places erected temples for the cult of the emperor Augustus. He built or restored many cities and fortresses throughout his territory, and constructed a splendid harbour {Sebastus) at Strato's Tower, which he enlarged and called Csesarea. He colonized restless Trachonitis mth Jewish warriors from Babylon, and extended his munificence far beyond the bounds of his own country, to Syria, Asia Minor, Rhodes, Greece, and Macedonia. Antony, Cleopatra, Agrippa, and Augustus were entertained by him with royal honours, and in his will he made handsome "be- quests to his friends of the imperial household in Rome.
It is customary to diWde the reign of Herod into three periods. The first extends from his accession in B.C. 37 to the death of the sons of Babas in B.C. 25, when the last male representatives of the Hasmonsean family were removed from his path- way. This period was characterized by the estab- lishment and extension of Herod's power. The principal forces that he had to combat came from the royal family he had supplanted and to wliich he was allied by marriage. Alexandra, the mother of Mariamne, knew how to enlist the interest of Cleopatra, and Cleopatra had the ear of Antony. The measures adopted by Herod to meet the situa- tion were not of the gentlest kind. He recalled Hyrcanus fidm r.aliylon, and though he treated him with (M'lv • 'Oi-iiliiution, Josephus attributes to Herod tin lmlti^, , i w ishing to get Hyrcanus in his power.* In \ icw i>f the fact that Hyrcanus could not be appointed to the high priesthood, and that Aristobulus, the brother of Mariamne, was only about seventeen years of age, Herod made Ananel, a Babylonian Jew of priestly family, high priest. This did not please Alexandra, and she appealed to Cleopatra on behalf of her son. There- upon Herod deposed Ananel and appointed Aristo- bulus in his stead. But the popularity of the young Hasmonsean aroused Herod s suspicion, and Aristo- bulus was drowned soon after the feast of Taber-