4. Ethnarchy of Archelaus. — On the death of his father, Archelaus succeeded to the lordship of Judsea, with Samaria and Idunuca. His accession was opposed by some of his own faniilj', and by the popular party at Jerusalem, who aimed at the restoration of the theocracy, but pleaded mean- while for the investment of the high priest with supreme civil power, in subordination to the Em- peror alone. Archelaus went in person to Rome (cf. Christ's allusion in Lk 19'-), whither also journeyed an eml)assy from the people. Augustus substantially confirmed Herod's apjiointment ; and Archelaus returned as ethnarch of the three dis- tricts. He was disappointed with the inferior title (which denotes literally the ruler of a nation living, with separate customs, in tlie midst of another race, and was possibly chosen, in contemi^t, to identify Archelaus with his unwilling subjects), and pro- ceeded to make his administration (B.C. 3-A.D. 6) one of revenge. Twice, if not thrice, a change was made in the high priesthood by a ruler who was considered as of mixed blood — unclean in his birth and unclean in his practice. The tyrannical disregard of powerful sentiments Avas carried to such an extent that at length the Jews forgot their hatred of the Samaritans, and the Samaritans their kinship with the ethnarch, and a joint deputation proceeded to lay their complaints before Augustus. Archelaus was fined and exiled to Vienne, and his domains were made directly subject toRome.
5. The Roman procurators.— The situation fo Judaea, on the confines of Egypt and Arabia, was
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of such military importance that Rome lould not wisely concede the repeated request of tlie people for the Investiture of their liigh priest with all the functions of civil government. Instead, the countrj- was made a kind of annex to the province of Syria, with a governor {procurator) of its own, of equestrian rank, who was charged i>articularly with the control of the army and the tinaiu«>. and with the task of turning the district into a bulw ark of the Empire. The legate of Syria was inve>ted with onlj- a general su^jervision ; he was exj^iected to interfere at his discretion in cases of neeil, but generall}' to remain in the background, as an unseen supi>ort of the Roman rule. The first pro- curator was Coponius (a.d. 6-9), a knight whose name is otherwise unknown. Accompanieil b\' the legate Quirinius, lie api>eared at Jerusalem, took possession of the property of Archelans, and turnetl his palace into the ofticial abode of the pr<xui"ator during the festivals, Ca»area becoming ilie seat of government. Theii" next administrative act was to arrange for the taking of a census, with a view to control the incidence of taxation, and to estab- lish Roman methotls of government. The process was to compUe schedules, enumerating the local connnunities, according either to bouses or to families, for the purix»ses of a poll-tax. and pro- \iding information for tlie le^■ying of taxe> uiK>n capital (originally, in Syria, one per cent., but afterwards jjrobably increased) and uiM«n trade. At the same time the produce of the field was value<l, and made chargeable to the extent of one- tenth in the cAse of corn and two-tenths in that of fruit and vine. This was the enrolment referred to by Gamaliel (Ac 5"") ; and on religious as well as patriotic grounds, as seeming to involve even a competition with .Tehovah for the tithes, tlie result was dismay on the part of the leader.- of the people, and an actual revolt, headed by .lud;i.s of Gamala. who therebj- fotmded the fanatical jiarty of the Zealots or Canana?ans (Mt IC**). On the pre- sent occasion the revolt was suppressed after some furious tigiiting : but the agitation smouldered, and eventually broke out in the insurrection in the course of which Jenisalem was burnt. The cen>us schedules, when completed, would l)e sent to Rome for approval ; but in lev\-ing the taxes there would be no delay. Such as were destined for the Im- perial treasury were collected under the sujiervision of the procurator, who made use of the Sanhedrin and various local courts. The customs were leased to collectors, indi^^duals or syndicates, who j>aid a fixed annual sum, retaining any excess in the actual yield and making gocnl any deficiency. The contracts were then divided, and sublet to sub- ordinate officials in the different loc-alities, and thus an entire class of publicans of various grade-s (Lk 19^) was constituted, whose average morality was probably low, but is not to be taken at the valuation of the popular hatred. Nothing more is known of the procuratorship of Coponius beyond a breach in the temjxjrary alliance Ijetween the .lews and the .Samaritans. The quarrel was brouglit to an issue by a successful attempt of the latter to defile the cloisters of the Temple on the eve of the Passover. Through Coi>onius no redress eould be obtained, and the .Tews had to content themselves with more stringent regulations for the exclusion of the Samaritans, and with a large exten.«ion of the police system of the Temple, the night-watch- men being increased in number to twenty-four, and an official made resjwnsible for a periodic visitation of their rounds.
The successors of Coixmius were Marcus Ambi- vius (? A.D. 9-12), Annins Rufus (? l-2-l.'i<, Valerius Gratus (15-26), and Pontius Pilate (26-36). Oi the first two the dates cannot at present be fixe<l with precision, and no known change of administration