Difference between revisions of "Aristobulus II" - New World Encyclopedia

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'''Aristobulus II''' (100 - 49 B.C.E.) was the [[Jewish]] king [[Kohen Gadol|high priest]] of  [[Judea]], from 66 to 63 B.C.E. A member of the the [[Hasmonean]] dynasty...
 
'''Aristobulus II''' (100 - 49 B.C.E.) was the [[Jewish]] king [[Kohen Gadol|high priest]] of  [[Judea]], from 66 to 63 B.C.E. A member of the the [[Hasmonean]] dynasty...
 
==Background==
 
==Background==
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The early Hasmoneans were seen heroes for successfully resisting the oppression of the Seleucids. However, religious Jews tended to believe that their reign lacked legitimacy since the Hosmonean kings lack descent from the [[Davidic line]]. Some also viewed the Hasmoneans as worldly, overly concerned with money and military power. The hope of a Messiah, the "son of David," grew ever stronger in tension with the reality of Hasmonean rule.
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Meanwhile, the [[Sadducee]]s emerged as the party of the priests and allied Hasmonean elites, taking their name, Sadducee, from King [[Solomon]]'s loyal priest, Zadok. Their rivals, the [[Pharisees]], emerged out of the group of scribes and sages who objected to the Hasmonean monopoly on power, hoped for a Messiah, and criticized the growing corruption of the Hasmonean court.
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During the Hasmonean period, the Sadducees and Pharisees functioned primarily as political parties. According to [[Josephus]], the Pharisees opposed the Hasmonean war against the [[Samaritans]] and the forced conversion of the [[Edom|Idumeans]]. The political rift between the two parties grew wider under the Hasmonean king Alexander Jannaeus, who adopted Sadduceean rites in the Temple.
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==Family==
 
==Family==
 
Aristobulus was the younger son of [[Alexander Jannaeus]], who also acted as both king and high priest. His mother was [[Alexandra Salome]]. After the death of Alexander in 79 B.C.E., his widow succeeded to the rule of [[Judea]] as its queen. She installed her elder son [[Hyrcanus II|Hyrcanus]] as high priest. When Salome died in 67 B.C.E., Hyrcanus rose to the kingship as well.
 
Aristobulus was the younger son of [[Alexander Jannaeus]], who also acted as both king and high priest. His mother was [[Alexandra Salome]]. After the death of Alexander in 79 B.C.E., his widow succeeded to the rule of [[Judea]] as its queen. She installed her elder son [[Hyrcanus II|Hyrcanus]] as high priest. When Salome died in 67 B.C.E., Hyrcanus rose to the kingship as well.

Revision as of 13:18, 14 May 2008

Aristobulus II (100 - 49 B.C.E.) was the Jewish king high priest of Judea, from 66 to 63 B.C.E. A member of the the Hasmonean dynasty...

Background

The early Hasmoneans were seen heroes for successfully resisting the oppression of the Seleucids. However, religious Jews tended to believe that their reign lacked legitimacy since the Hosmonean kings lack descent from the Davidic line. Some also viewed the Hasmoneans as worldly, overly concerned with money and military power. The hope of a Messiah, the "son of David," grew ever stronger in tension with the reality of Hasmonean rule.

Meanwhile, the Sadducees emerged as the party of the priests and allied Hasmonean elites, taking their name, Sadducee, from King Solomon's loyal priest, Zadok. Their rivals, the Pharisees, emerged out of the group of scribes and sages who objected to the Hasmonean monopoly on power, hoped for a Messiah, and criticized the growing corruption of the Hasmonean court.

During the Hasmonean period, the Sadducees and Pharisees functioned primarily as political parties. According to Josephus, the Pharisees opposed the Hasmonean war against the Samaritans and the forced conversion of the Idumeans. The political rift between the two parties grew wider under the Hasmonean king Alexander Jannaeus, who adopted Sadduceean rites in the Temple.

Family

Aristobulus was the younger son of Alexander Jannaeus, who also acted as both king and high priest. His mother was Alexandra Salome. After the death of Alexander in 79 B.C.E., his widow succeeded to the rule of Judea as its queen. She installed her elder son Hyrcanus as high priest. When Salome died in 67 B.C.E., Hyrcanus rose to the kingship as well.

As the younger son, Aristobulus could not rightfully claim the throne. However, he apparently desired the kingship, even during the life of his mother. He courted the nobles and the military party by acting as the patron of the Sadducees and bringing their cause before the queen. She is reported to have placed many fortresses at the disposal of the Sadducees, for their defense against the Pharisees or the emerging Zealot party. His encouragement of her in this may in fact have been one the preparatory moves of Aristobulus for the usurpation of the government.

Rebellion

Hyrcanus shared his mothers religious views, sympathetic to the Pharisees. In contrast to this, Alexander Jannaeus had supported the Saducees.

Aristobulus agreed with his father's Saducean stance and rebelled against his elder brother. Hyrcanus advanced against him at the head of his mercenaries and his followers. The brothers met in battle near Jericho and many of Hyrcanus' soldiers went over to Aristobulus, and thereby gave the latter the victory.

Hyrcanus took refuge in the citadel of Jerusalem; but the capture of the Temple by Aristobulus compelled Hyrcanus to surrender. A peace was then concluded, according to the terms of which Hyrcanus was to renounce the throne and the office of high priest, but was to enjoy the revenues of the latter office.[1]

This agreement however did not last, as Hyrcanus feared that Aristobulus was planning his death and took refuge with Aretas III, King of the Nabataeans. The Nabataeans advanced toward Jerusalem with an army of 50,000 and besieged the city for several months.

Roman intervention

During this civil war, the Roman general Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus defeated the Kingdoms of Pontus and the Seleucids. He sent his deputy Marcus Aemilius Scaurus to take possession of Seleucid Syria.

As the Hasmoneans were allies of the Romans, both brothers appealed to Scaurus, each endeavoring by gifts and promises to win him over to his side. Scaurus, moved by a gift of 400 talents, decided in favor of Aristobulus and ordered Aretas to withdraw his army. During his retreat, the Nabateans suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of Aristobulus.

When Pompey arrived in Syria in 63 B.C.E., both brothers and a third party that desired the removal of the entire dynasty, sent their delegates to Pompey, who however delayed the decision. He favoured Hyrcanus over Aristobulos, deeming the elder, weaker brother a more reliable ally of the Roman Empire.

Aristobulos, suspicious of Pompey, entrenched himself in the fortress of Alexandrium, but when the Romans summoned their army, he surrendered and undertook to deliver Jerusalem over to them. However, since many of his followers however were unwilling to open the gates, the Romans besieged and captured the city by force, badly damaging city and temple. Hyrcanus was restored as High Priest, but deprived of political authority.

Aristobulus was carried captive to Rome, where he was assassinated in 50 B.C.E.

His son Antigonus led a rebellion against Rome 40 B.C.E. but was defeated and killed in 37 B.C.E.

==JE material

The queen sought to direct his military zeal outside Judea, and sent him (70-69) against Ptolemy Mennæi; but when the undertaking failed, Aristobulus resumed his political intrigues. He left Jerusalem secretly and betook himself to his friends, who controlled the largest number of fortified places, with the intention of making war against his aged mother. But the queen died at the critical moment, and he immediately turned his weapons against his brother Hyrcanus, the legitimate heir to the throne. The war resulted in victory for Aristobulus. After a reign of three months, Hyrcanus abandoned the royal title in favor of his brother, in return for which Aristobulus allowed him the unlimited use of his sources of revenue.

Appeal to Rome.

This easily acquired peace did not long endure. Hyrcanus was prevailed upon by Antipater to induce Aretas, king of Arabia, to make war against Aristobulus. In consequence of the victory of Aretas, added to the abandonment of Aristobulus by the Pharisees—the most powerful party in Jerusalem—who had gone over to Hyrcanus, Aristobulus was compelled to withdraw to the Temple Mount. The distressing siege which followed, about which most wonderful stories are told (see Ḥoni ha-Me'aggel and Hyrcanus II.), led to no decisive result. A third party—Rome—was therefore called in to unravel the complicated situation, and the effects of this intercession proved not only injurious to the brothers, but in the end brought about the destruction of the Jewish state. At that time (65) Pompey had already brought under subjugation nearly the whole of Asia, and had sent his legate, Scaurus, to Syria, to take possession of the heritage of the Seleucids. Ambassadors from both the Judean parties waited upon Scaurus, requesting his assistance. A gift of four hundred talents (three hundred, according to some) from Aristobulus turned the scale in his favor. Aretas was notified to abandon the siege of the Temple Mount. Aristobulus was victorious, and Hyrcanus retained but an insignificant portion of his power. The victorious brother had even the satisfaction of avenging himself upon Aretas; as the latter was withdrawing with his forces from Jerusalem, Aristobulus followed and inflicted severe losses upon him. But the spirit which he had conjured could not easily be laid, and the favor of the Romans, to which he had looked with so much confidence, soon became a factor in Jewish politics which worked most detrimentally against himself. When Pompey appeared in Syria (64), affairs took a turn quite different from the anticipations of Aristobulus.

Aristobulus and Pompey.

The golden vine, valued at five hundred talents, which Aristobulus presented to Pompey, and which excited the admiration of the Romans even in later generations, had no effect upon him; and when, in the year 63, the still hostile brothers, as well as delegates of the people's party, who desired the complete abolition of the Hasmonean dynasty, appeared before him, he refused to give any immediate decision. He had at that time contemplated the utter destruction of Jewish independence. Aristobulus saw through the aims of the Roman general, but although powerless to offer effective resistance, his pride did not permit him to yield without a show of opposition. He left Pompey in a burst of indignation, and betook himself to the citadel of Alexandrion. Pompey followed him and demanded the surrender of all the forts. Aristobulus capitulated, but straightway proceeded to Jerusalem to prepare himself for resistance there. When he saw, however, that Pompey pressed on against him, his courage failed him, and he came to the general's camp, and promised him gold and the surrender of Jerusalem if hostilities were suspended. But promises alone were of no avail with Pompey. He detained Aristobulus in the camp, and sent his captain Gabinius to take possession of the city. The war party in Jerusalem refused to surrender, and Aristobulus was made prisoner by Pompey, who proceeded to besiege the city. The capture of Jerusalem and of the Temple Mount, which followed, ended the independence of Judea as well as the reign of Aristobulus. In the triumph celebrated by Pompey in Rome (61), the Jewish prince and high priest was compelled to march in front of the chariot of the conqueror. The Pharisees saw in this circumstance a just punishment for the Sadducean proclivities of Aristobulus (see the apocryphal Psalms of Solomon i. and ii.). But a severer fate even than captivity was in store for this descendant of the Hasmoneans. In the year 56, he succeeded in escaping from prison in Rome, and, proceeding to Judea, stirred up a revolt. He was recaptured by the Romans and again taken to Rome. In 49 he was liberated by Cæsar, and sent at the head of two legions against Pompey in Syria, but on his way thither was poisoned by friends of the latter.


House of Hasmoneus
Died: 37 B.C.E.
Preceded by:
Hyrcanus II
King of Judaea
66 B.C.E. – 63 B.C.E.
Succeeded by: Hyrcanus II
High Priest of Judaea
66 B.C.E. – 63 B.C.E.

Notes

  1. Schürer, "Gesch." i. 291, note 2

References
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