IV.  Quarrels between Hyrcanus and Aristobulus.  Unfortunately Alexandra’s older son, Hyrcanus, was indolent and inefficient.  He had been appointed high priest and, when Aristobulus assumed the title of king, he compelled Hyrcanus ii to be content with this humbler title.  Aristobulus’s reign might have been comparatively peaceful had not at this time a new and sinister influence appeared in the troubled politics of Palestine.  It was one of the results of John Hyrcanus’s forcible judaizing of the Idumeans.  Antipater, the son of the Idumean whom Alexander Janneus had made governor of Idumea, recognized in the rivalry between Hyrcanus and Aristobulus an opportunity to mount to power.  He first persuaded Hyrcanus to flee to Petra.  Then, with the aid of the Arabian king, Aretas, he finally compelled Aristobulus and his followers to seek refuge on the temple hill in Jerusalem.  The picture of the Jews divided into two hostile camps and engaged in bitter civil war in the very precincts of the temple under the leadership of the great-grandsons of the patriotic Simon presents a sad contrast to the noble spirit and valiant achievements of the founders of the Maccabean kingdom who had first taken up the sword in defence of the temple and its service.

V. Rome’s Intervention.  This situation gave Rome its desired opportunity for intervention.  Pompey in 70 B.C. made a successful campaign against Mithridates, king of Pontus, and against Tigranes, king of Armenia.  Rome’s policy was to conquer all of southwestern Asia as far as the Euphrates.  Ignoring the peril of the situation, both Aristobulus and Hyrcanus appealed to Pompey’s lieutenant, Scaurus.  As a result the Arabians were ordered to withdraw, and Aristobulus for a brief time was left master of the situation.  In the spring of 63 B.C., however, when Pompey came to Damascus, there appeared before him three embassies, one representing the cause of Aristobulus, another that of Hyrcanus, and still a third presented the request of the Pharisees that Rome assume political control of Palestine and leave them free to devote themselves to the study and application of the their law.  The fall of Aristobulus hastened what was now inevitable.  Although he was held a prisoner by Pompey, his followers remained intrenched on the temple hill and were conquered only after a protracted siege and the loss of many lives.  Aristobulus and his family were carried off captives to Rome to grace Pompey’s triumph, and the request of the Pharisees was granted:  Rome henceforth held Palestine under its direct control.  Thus after a little more than a century (165-63 B.C.) the Jews again lost their independence, and the Maccabean kingdom became only a memory, never to be revived save for a brief moment.