Ii from Alexander the Great to Ad 70

Philip retained his kingdom till his death in A.D. 34. Antipas, under the influence of his wife Herodias, grew too ambitious and was banished in A.D. 39, but Archelaus ruled so badly that an appeal was made to the emperor against him and he was removed in less than ten years (A.D. 6). His place was filled by a succession of procurators : a poor set of men, of low rank, puffed up with their own importance. They made Caesarea on the sea-coast their headquarters and, with the aid of a few auxiliary troops, kept such order as they could. Pontius Pilate (A.D. 26-36) was the fifth of them.

For a short time the whole of Palestine was reunited under King Herod Agrippa I. (A.D. 37-44) grandson of Herod the Great, boon companion of Caligula and friend of Claudius ; and, except that he was unusually good-natured, a typical Herod. When he died his kingdom was not given to his son, but it was placed under a new succession of procurators who were made responsible to the governor of Syria.

But the country was now getting out of hand, and the Roman authorities were as ill at ease as the British were in Ireland in the first quarter of the present century. In fact the two situations are closely parallel: the differences in temperament and religion, the assassins (sicarii) , the stern reprisals.

Rebellion.

At length under Gessius Florus rebellion broke out openly (A.D. 66). An initial success against Cestius Gallus, the governor of Syria, who had tried to intervene with forces too weak to cope with the overwhelming (though ill-armed and undisciplined) numbers of the rebels, gave them undue and mis leading encouragement. But when the Romans took the matter seriously and sent Vespasian and Titus with three legions and auxiliary troops numbering altogether some men, the result was a foregone conclusion.

Indeed, the Jews themselves for the most part recognized it as such, and the only determined resistance the Romans met with occurred at a few strongholds like Iotapata in Galilee and above all at the capital itself. Jerusalem was captured in Sept. A.D. 7o. In spite of Titus's express orders to the contrary, the Temple was at the same time (47 B.c.) received the title of Ethnarch.

4 I. p. 611.

destroyed; and, finally, only a portion of the city wall was left standing. Its ruins became the headquarters of the Tenth Legion which for some years was kept in Palestine on garrison duty.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.-The best introduction to this period of Palestinian history for the general reader is E. R. Bevan, Jerusalem under the High Priests (2nd Impression, 1912) ; E. Meyer, Ursprung und An fange des Christentums (1921) contains a valuable survey of the period in vol. ii. with many references to recent literature. E. Schurer, Ge schichte des jiidischen V olkes im Zeitalter Jesu Christi (4th ed. i901 09) begins with the Maccabaean revolt, and is indispensable (with useful bibliographies). Among recent monographs of a more special ized character may be mentioned: U. Kahrstedt, Syrische Territorien in hellenistischen Zeit (1926) already referred to, and W. Kolbe, Beitrage zur syrischen und jiidischen Geschichte (1926). For the general condi tions of the period see W. W. Tarn, Hellenistic Civilization (1927; with a valuable bibliography). (J. W. Hu.)