ARISTOBULUS
396
ARISTOBULUS
lulo Judceo, Lugd. Bat. 180G) ; and Valckenaer's ar- guments are now generally considered conclusive (Gfrorer, Philo, ii, 71 sq. ; Diihne, Jud. Alex. Relig.- Philos. ii, 73 sq. ; Ewald, Gesch. des Volkes Jsr. iv, 294 n.) The object of Aristobulus was to prove that the peripatetic doctrines were based (i}pTij<r9ai) on the Law and the Prophets ; and his work has an addition- al interest as showing that the Jewish doctrines were first brought into contact with the Aristotelian and not with the Platonic philosophy (com p. Matter, Hist, de I'ecole d'Alex. iii, 153 sq.). The fragments which remain are discussed at length in the works quoted above, which contain also a satisfactory explanation of the chronological difficulties of the different ac- counts of Aristobulus. (See Eichhorn, Biblioth. d. MM. Lit. v, 253 sq.)— Smith, s. v.
2. The eldest son of John Hyrcanus, prince of Ju- daea. In B.C. 110, he, together with his brother An- tigonus, successfully prosecuted for his father the siege of Samaria, which was destroyed the following year (Josephus, Ant. xiii, 10, 2 and 3 ; War, i, 2, 7). Hyrcanus dying in B.C. 107, Aristobulus took the title of king, this being the first instance of the as- sumption of that name since the Babylonian captivity (but see Strabo, xvi, 762), and secured his power by the imprisonment of all his brothers except his favor- ite one Antigonus, and by the murder of his mother, to whom Hyrcanus had left the government by will. The life of Antigonus was soon sacrificed to his broth- er's suspicions through the intrigues of the queen and her party, and the remorse felt by Aristobulus for his execution increased the illness under which he was at the time suffering, and thus hastened his own death, B.C. 106. During his rei'411 the Ituraeans were sub- dued and compelled to adopt the Jewish law. He also received the name of <\>i\i\\i]v from the favor which he showed the Greeks (Joseph. Ant. xiii, 1; War, i, 3). — Smith, Diet, of Class. Biog. s. v.
3. The younger son of Alexander Jannaeus by Alexandra (Josephus, Ant. xiii, 16, 1 ; War, i, 5, 1). During the nine years of his mother's reign he set himself against the party of the Pharisees, whose in- fluence she had sought ; and after her death, B.C. 70, he made war against his eldest brother Hyrcanus, and obtained from him the resignation of the crown and the high-priesthood, chiefly through the aid of his fa- ther's friends whom Alexandra had placed in the sev- eral fortresses of the country to save them from the vengeance of the Pharisees (Joseph. Ant. xiii, 16; xiv, 1, 2; War, i, 5; 6, 1). In B.C. 65 Judsea was invaded by Aretas, king of Arabia Petraea, with whom, at the instigation of Antipaterthe Iduuu-ean, Hyrcanus had taken refuge. By him Aristobulus was defeated in a battle and besieged in Jerusalem ; but Aretas was obliged to raise the siege by Scaurus and Gabinius, Pompey's lieutenants, whose intervention Aristobulus had purchased (Joseph. Ant. xii, 2; 3, 2; War, i, 6, 2 and 3). In B.C. 63 he pleaded his cause before Pompey at Damascus, but finding him disposed to favor Hyrcanus, he returned to Judaea and prepared for war. On Pompey's approach, Aristobulus, who had Bed to the fortress of Alexandrium, was persuaded to obey his summons and appear before him; and, being compelled to sign an order for the surrender of the garrison, he withdrew in impotent discontent to Jerusalem. Pompey still advanced, and Aristobulus again met him and made submission; but, his friends in the city rcfus-iug to perform the terms, Pompev be- sieged and took Jerusalem, and carried away Aristo- bulus and his children as prisoners (Joseph. Ant. xiv, 3, 4 ; War, i, 6, 7 ; Plut. Pomp. 39, 45 ; Strabo, xvi' 762 ; Dion Cass, xxxvii, 15, 16). Appian (Bell. Mith. 1117) erroneously represents him as having been put to death immediately after Pompey's triumph. In B.C. 57 he escaped from confinement at Rome with his son Antigonus, and, returning to Judaaa, was join- ed by large numbers of his countrymen, and renewed
the war; but he was besieged and taken at Machairus. the fortifications of which he was attempting to re- store, and was sent back to Rome by Gabinius (Jo- seph. Ant. xiv, 6, 1 ; War, i, 8, 6 ; Plut. Ant. 3 ; Dion Cass, xxxix, 56). In B.C. 49 he was again released by Julius Cffisar, who sent him into Judasa to forward his interests there, but he was poisoned on the way by some of Pompey's party (Joseph. Ant. xiv, 7, 4 ; War, i, 9, 1 ; Dion Cass, xli, 18).— lb.
4. The grandson of No. 3, and the son of Alexan- der, and brother of Herod's wife Mariamne. His mother Alexandra, indignant at Herod's having be- stowed the high-priesthood on the obscure Ananelus, endeavored to obtain that office for her son from An- tony through the influence of Cleopatra. Herod, fearing the consequences of this application, and urged by Mariamne's entreaties, deposed Ananelus, and made Aristobulus high-priest, the latter being only 17 years old at the time. The king, however, still suspecting Alexandra, and keeping a strict and annoj'ing watch upon her movements, she renewed her complaints and designs against him with Cleopatra, and at length made an attempt to escape into Egypt with her son. Herod discovered this, and affected to pardon it; but soon after he caused Aristobulus to be treacherously drowned at Jericho, B.C. 35 (Joseph. Ant. xv, 2, 3; liar, i, 22, 2).— lb.