Herod he ultimately succeeded in establishing himself as king.  Antipater and Herod’s brother Phasaelus became the victims of the Parthian treachery, and Herod after many adventures succeeded in escaping with his family to the strong fortress of Masada at the southwestern end of the Dead Sea.  Leaving them under the care of his brother Joseph, Herod after many discouragements and vicissitudes finally found his way to Rome.  Unfortunately for the cause of Jewish independence, Antigonus lacked the essential qualities of leadership.  Instead of arousing the loyalty of his subjects his chief concern was to take vengeance upon Herod’s followers and upon all who had supported the house of Antipater.

V. Herod Made King of the Jews.  Herod went to Rome to urge the appointment of Aristobulus iii, the grandson of Hyrcanus and the brother of Herod’s betrothed wife Mariamne, as king of Judea.  Antony and Octavian, to whom he appealed, were rightly suspicious of the survivors of the Maccabean house and appreciative of the services of Herod and his father Antipater.  Therefore, to his complete surprise, they offered him the kingship, and their nomination was speedily confirmed by the senate.  History presents no stranger nor more dramatic sight than Herod, the Idumean, accompanied by Antony and Octavian, going to the temple of Jupiter on the Capitoline Hill to offer sacrifices in connection with his assumption of the historic title, King of the Jews.  At first it was an empty title, but the energy of Herod and the resources of Rome sufficed in time to make it real.  In the spring of 39 B.C.  Herod landed at Ptolemais and with the apathetic aid of the Roman generals in Palestine began to organize the Jews who rallied about him.  Marching down the Mediterranean coast, he succeeded at last in relieving his family, who were besieged at Masada.  Idumea and Galilee were then brought into subjection, and after two years of fighting he won an important battle at Isana, a little north of Bethel, which gave him possession of all of Judea except Jerusalem.  The final contest for the capital city continued through several months, for Antigonus and his followers realized that they could expect little mercy from Herod and the Romans.  Thousands of Jews were slaughtered, but at last the temple itself was captured, and Herod was in fact as well as in name King of the Jews.  Antigonus pled in vain for mercy.  Departing from their usual policy of clemency toward native rulers, the Romans caused him first to be scourged as a common criminal and then ignominiously beheaded.  Thus the Maccabean dynasty, which had risen in glory, went down in shame, a signal illustration of the eternal principle that selfish ambitions and unrestrained passions in an individual or family sooner or later bring disgrace and destruction.  While the siege of Jerusalem was still in progress, Herod went north to Samaria and there consummated his long-delayed marriage with Mariamne, the daughter of Hyrcanus, thus in part attracting to himself the loyalty which the Jews had bestowed so lavishly and disastrously upon the unworthy sons of Alexander Janneus.