On his death, 105 B.C., Hyrcanus was succeeded by his son Aristobulus,—­a weak and wicked prince, who assassinated his brother, and starved to death his mother in a dungeon.  The next king of the Asmonean line, Alexander Jannaeus, was brave, but unsuccessful, and died after an unquiet and turbulent reign of twenty-seven years, 77 B.C.  His widow, Alexandra, ruled as regent with great tact and energy for nine years, and was succeeded by her son Hyrcanus II.  This feeble and unfortunate prince had to contend with the intrigues and violence of his more able but unscrupulous brother, Aristobulus, who sought to steal his sceptre, and who at one time even drove him from his kingdom.  Hyrcanus put himself under the protection of the Romans.  They came as arbiters; they remained as masters.  It was when Judaea was under the nominal rule of Hyrcanus II., driven hither and thither by his enemies, and when his capital was in their hands, that Pompey, triumphant over the armies of the East, took Jerusalem after a desperate resistance, entered the Temple, and even penetrated to the Holy of Holies.  To his credit he left untouched the treasures accumulated in the Temple, but he demolished the walls of the city and imposed a tribute.  Judaea was now virtually under the dominion of the Romans, although the sovereignty of Hyrcanus was not completely taken away.  On the fall of Pompey, Crassus the triumvir plundered the Temple of ten thousand talents, as was estimated, and the fate of Judaea, during the memorable civil war of which Caesar was the hero and victor, hung in trembling suspense.  I will not enumerate the contentions, the deeds of violence, the acts of treachery, and the strife of rival parties which marked the tumultuous period in Judaea while Caesar and Pompey were contending for the sovereignty of the world.  These came to an end at last by the dethronement of the last of the Asmonean princes, and the accession of the Idumaean Herod by the aid of Antony (40 B.C.).

Herod, called the Great, was the last independent sovereign of Palestine.  He was the son of Antipater, a noble Idumaean, who had ingratiated himself in the favor of Hyrcanus II., high-priest and sovereign, and who ruled as the prime minister of this feeble and incapable prince.  By rendering some service to Caesar, Antipater was made procurator of Judaea, and appointed his son Herod to the government of Galilee, where he developed remarkable administrative talents.  Soon after, he was raised by Sextus Caesar to the military command of Coele-Syria.  After the battle of Philippi, Herod secured the favor of Antony by an enormous bribe, as he had that of Cassius on the death of Caesar, and was made one of the tetrarchs of the province.  In the meantime his father, Alexander, was poisoned at Jerusalem, and Antigonus, son of Aristobulus, who had gained ascendency, cut off the ears of Hyrcanus, and not only deprived him of the office of high-priest, but usurped his authority.  Herod himself proceeded to Rome, and was successful