Herod divided his kingdom by will into tetrarchies, to which he appointed his sons, Archelaus, the elder son of his Samaritan wife Malthace, being named king and Anti pas, her second son, tetrarch of Galilee and Peraea. Philip, a son by another wife, was given the north-east. Archelaus was about to set off to Rome, that he might be confirmed in his title by Augustus. But a revolt broke out in consequence of the execution, by Herod, shortly before his death, of Judah and Mattathias, two rabbis who endeavoured to remove the Roman eagles which they regarded as emblems of idolatry. Archelaus was asked to punish their murderers. On his refusal riots broke out. Fighting between the Jews and the Romans and massacre took place. Deputations reached Augustus putting forward rival claims and also the desire of the nation to get rid of the Herodians. In the end Augustus reaffirmed Herod's will, counselling Archelaus to deal gently with his people. He did not, however, follow this advice. He removed the High Priest and he violated the law of the levirate marriage. (See Deut. xxv., 5-10 but his brother had left issue and so [verse 5] the marriage should not have taken place.) His treatment of his subjects was so tyrannical that a joint deputation of Jews and Samaritans accused him to Augustus, who summoned him to Rome and then banished him to Gaul.
With this removal of their king at their own request the Jews obtained their desire but forfeited their political independence. Now the last trace of national liberty was gone : the power passed to the Roman procurators. The error of the Maccabees in invoking Roman aid had reached its logical con sequence. No longer—save for a brief interval—was Judaea gov erned by a Jew. If the procurators had been capable and honest, no great harm would have intervened. Roman provincial govern ment was uneven. Very seldom were the two requisites com bined in one administrator and the harm done by the bad holders of the office was far greater than good predecessors or followers could counteract. At the outset trouble arose when the first pro curator, Coponius, who was accompanied by P. Sulpicius Quir inius, the legate of Syria, endeavoured to take a census (A.D. 6-7) according to Roman methods, which conflicted with those of the Jews. If this is the census to which Luke (ii., 1) refers, the birth of Jesus would have to be dated in that year, but this is too late. (The difficulty is discussed by Montefiore, op. cit. II., 376.) The people submitted to the census but this and similar incidents led to the formation of the Zealots. This party, which was formed by Judas of Galilee and a Pharisee called Saduq, ultimately brought about the disaster of A.D. 7o. As a whole the Pharisees were ready to wait and bear with patience attacks on their re ligion which were not too outrageous, but the Zealots were ever eager for warfare. The Zealots made headway in Galilee, then ruled by Herod Antipas. His policy was to conciliate the Jews, by observing Judaism and to stand well with Tiberius, in whose honour he founded the city of Tiberias. Herod, who had married the daughter of Aretas (Harith), the Arabian king, divorced her in order to ma rry Herodias, the wife of his half-brother. The first consequence was trouble with the Arabs. In A.D. 36 disaster over
took his forces and Tiberius, his patron, died before help could be sent. The second consequence was his denunciation by John the Baptist (Mark vi., 14-29), whom he executed at the request of Herodias. But Antipas himself suffered through following the counsel of Herodias. He petitioned Caligula for the title of king but his presumption was resented. He was banished and (appar ently) slain in A.D. 39.
Pontius Pilate, under whom Jesus was crucified, was procurator from A.D. 26 to 36. He outraged Jewish feelings in all ways and the picture of him in the Gospels hardly bears out his character, in view of his acts. Not only Josephus but also Philo record the way in which he goaded the people to revolt. As soon as he arrived he broke the existing compromise under which only standards which did not bear the imperial image were brought to Jerusalem, since the images were held to be idols, as the emperors were deified. The Jews petitioned Pilate to remove the standards. He refused and when they importuned him for six days he threat ened them with death, yielding only when they were ready to accept martyrdom. He next used Temple money for an aqueduct and proceeded to other forms of annoyance.
Caligula's succession in A.D. 37 was welcomed by the Jews. One of his friends was Agrippa, the grandson of Herod I. and the Jews hoped to win Caligula's favour through Agrippa's presence at court. But trouble arose when Caligula laid claim to divinity and the Jews, alone of his subjects, were unwilling, out of re ligious motives, to acknowledge his godhead. Thereupon the Alexandrians attacked the Jews, set up the images of the emperor in the synagogues, sacked the Jewish quarter, insulted Jewish ladies and scourged the Jewish elders. Through Agrippa's influ ence, the governor was degraded, but ill-feeling between the Jews and their fellow-citizens continued. In A.D. 4o each side sent em bassies to plead their cause, Philo acting as the Jewish spokes man. Philo's account of the embassy (Against Apion) sheds an interesting light on the restless, irresponsible character of the emperor. By chance an imperial rescript, containing the decision of Claudius, Caligula's successor, has been discovered. This in teresting document, with others of equal importance, has been edited and translated by H. J. Bell (Jews and Christians in Egypt, Lond., Brit. Mus., 1924). It is interesting to observe that no definite charge is urged against the Jews. The emperor repri mands the Alexandrians for their intolerance. He blames the Jews for sending a separate embassy "as though they lived in two cities, a thing unheard of" (p,oU 6o-IrEp iv 6voi 7r6Xiat aTOLKOUPTCLS 6l.)o
EK7rE/17rELP TO1) Xotra, 6 js rporep6v Imre i7r pax0n) , warns them not to strive in gymnasiarchic or cos metic games (i.cnU irtaralpicv
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a•yWOtv) and not to introduce or invite Jews who sail down to Alex andria from Syria or Egypt. These are not very heinous crimes and the accusers of the Jews must have been hard pressed if they could discover no graver accusations. While the embassy was still awaiting Caligula's decision, the emperor commanded his statue to be erected in the Temple but at Agrippa's intercession, he cancelled the order. In A.D. 41 Caligula was assassinated.