Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 March 2008
PALESTINE UNDER POMPEY AND CAESAR; JOHN HYRCANUS II, HIGH PRIEST
The end of the Seleucid dynasty and the reduction of Syria to a Roman province were among the consequences of Pompey's victory over Tigranes of Armenia (66 bce). The political and territorial reorganization of the whole region (all the more necessary as the Roman power was now coming into direct contact with the Parthian empire) was bound to involve the Hasmonaean kingdom too. Here, after the death of Queen Alexandra Salome (67 bce), a dynastic struggle had broken out openly between her two sons, Hyrcanus (II) and Aristobulus (II), and this also drew in, in various ways, the different Jewish politico-religious groups and regional interests. The intervention on Hyrcanus' side of the Nabataean King Aretas, procured by Antipater governor of Idumaea with the promise of territorial compensation, had brought about the expulsion of Aristobulus in 65 bce. Roman interference in the affairs of the kingdom, undertaken at first by Pompey's Quaestor M. Aemilius Scaurus (65–64 bce) and the legate A. Gabinius, then by Pompey himself in 63 bce, was accepted more or less willingly by the two contenders, who vied for the favour and support of their new masters, with alternating results, by means which included valuable gifts. Before Pompey at Damascus the two rivals argued their cases: Hyrcanus, supported by Antipater and numerous prominent personages, relied on the rights of dynastic legality and accused Aristobulus of fomenting piracy and attacks on neighbouring peoples. Aristobulus maintained that his brother was incapable of governing.
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