• Mathews (Hist, of XT Tiims, 118, n. 1) rejects Josephus' account of Herod's motive (cf. also SchiirerS, i. 378 ; Wellhausen'', 3'24 ; and Woodhouse, Encj/c. Bibl. ii. 2206, n. i). On the other hand, cf. Sieffert, PRE^ \-ii. 762, 1. 48ff., and the indications given above that Hj'rcanus was implicated in the death of Antipater.
HEKOD
HEROD
719
naeles in the jear B.C. 35. At the instance of Cleopatra, who learned of the event from Alex- andra, Herod was summoned before Antony to give an account of the death of Aristobulus. Before answering the summons, Herod gave instructions to his uncle Joseph, in whose hands he left the government, that Mariamne should be put to death in the event of an unfavourable issue of his mission. Herod regained the favour of Antony, but had e\fiitu:ilIy"to surrender to Cleopatra one of tin- iiiosi Iruil'fnl |iarts of his territory, the faniims \ki\iu- :uiiI lialsiun-growing country about .Jericho, toi^othm- with the coast cities from the river Eleutherus to Egypt, with the exception of Tyre and Sidon. On his return from the confer- ence ^vith Antony at Laodicsea (Syrian), Herod learned through his sister Salome, the evil genius of his family troubles, that Joseph had revealed his command to Mariamne. Joseph was put to death, but a fruitful soil for siispicion against Mariamne remained. When Cleopatra, who had
and, although he successfully withstood her charms, he was compelled to rent from her the territory about Jericho, and to guarantee similar payments due to her from the king of Arabia. The debt thus contracted proved to be a bad one, for the king of Arabia was slow in meeting his financial obliga- tions. Hence, when war broke out between Antony and Ootavius, and Herod was desirous of giving aid to Antony, Cleopatra, never doubting that Antony would be victor, thwarted Herod's purpose and sent him instead against the Arabians, in the hope that the two kings would destroy one another. Herod at first defeated the Arabians, but finally suffered a severe reverse, through the treacherous intervention of Cleopatra's general Athenio. About this time an earthquake brought great suffering on the people, and Herod's soldiers were discouraged. The Je\vish ambassadors sent to the Arabians had been slain, and Herod's con- dition seemed desperate. His own courage, how- ever, inspired his troops, and a decisive victory was gained over the enemy.
But Herod had scarcely re-established his power when news of the battle of Actium (2nd Sept. B.C. 31) brought him face to face with the crisis of his reign. Before going to Octavius to learn his fate, Herod had the aged Hyrcanus put to death for plotting with the Arabian governor Malchus to escape from Jerusalem.* Placing the government in charge of his brother Pheroras, and leaving his mother and sister at Masada, but Mariamne and Alexandra at Alexandrinum in care of Sohemus, with instructions tliat Maiiaiimo and her mother should be killed if .li^;i-(rr ..\. rdiok him,t Herod went to meet Oct.niu- m I;Im.,|cs. He appeared before the emperor ill i..\:i,l npiMivl, laying asideonly his diadem. His apjit-al iui iavuur was based on a frank avowal of his friendship for Antony, and of his desire to aid him at Actium. But Antony had refused to take his advice about Cleopatra, and had fallen. He now offered Octavius the same loyalty and support that he had given Antony. Mioreover, Herod had already had opportunity of proving his loyalty to his new master by preventing
that Herod sought (i. 384) questions Josephus' account of the'treasonable letter, on the ground that such an action would be unlikely in a man of Hyrcanus' age. He accepts the account of Herod's nioti\e in this instance, however, regarding it as a more probable and a safflcient explanation of Hyrcanus' death (ct. also Mathews, 120, II. 3. On the participation of the Sanhedrin, cf. Ant. xv. xvi. 2, and Wellhausen, 327, n. 1).
t On the historicity of the two incidents related in Ant. xv. iii. 5-6. 9 ; B-f i. xxii. 4, 6 ; Ant. xv. vi. 6, vii. 1-6, i. 385, n. 61 ; Mathews, 130, n. 4.
Antony's gladiators from passing through his terri- tory to join Antony in Egypt. At the close of the interview Octavius restored Herod's diadem, and confirmed him in his kingdom. In a short time Octavius even enlarged Herod's kingdom, restoring the territory taken from it by Antony for Cleo- patra, and a number of cities, such as Gadara, Hippos, Samaria, Gaza, Anthedon, Joppa, and Strato's Tower. This was done in recognition of Herod's aid to the imperial army as it passed into Egypt.
When Herod returned from Rhodes, his old suspicions against Mariamne were aroused by dis- covering that Sohemus had repeated the folly of Joseph. Sohemus was executed, and soon after- wards Mariamne was tried on the charge of attempting to poison Herod, and put to death about the year B.C. 29. But Herod had loved her with a wild passion. After her death his remorse and an uncontrollable yearning for her (which Byron has finely expressed in one of his Hebrew Melodies) quickly brought him to the verge of insanity (cf. also Stephen Phillips, Herod). At length, when he fell sick in Samaria, Alexandra sought to gain possession of the fortresses in Jeru- salem. But Herod, rousing himself from his stupor, had her put to death (B.C. 28). Costobar also and the sons of Babas were put to death on the evidence of Salome, who revealed the hiding- place of these men of Hasmonoean descent* and partizanship, and the part played by her husband in their protection (B.C. 25). Herod was now well established on his throne, in favour with Augustus, and triumphant over his enemies.