But some events of importance had happened in the meantime. Crassus had visited Jerusalem, and rifled the Temple of its treasures on his way to Parthia ; and Gabinius, who had been made pro consul of Syria, had established in Jerusalem one of the five Sanhediims or Senates, by which the country was to be governed. Four years later Antipater was poisoned by Manchus, a man who owed him his life. Manchus was in his turn assas sinated by order of Herod, the young son of Anti pater. This young man had been made governor of Galilee when his father was made procurator of Juthea. He had early displayed his arrogance when brought before the Sanhedrim to answer the charge of having put Jewish citizens to death without a trial, and he now bid defiance to the friends of Manchus, who sought to expel him and his brother Phasael from Jerusalem. About this time Anti gonus, the only surviving son of Aristobulus, ap peared in JudFea to assert his claim to the throne, and a Parthian army under Pacorus, son of Arsaces XIV., encouraged by the distracted state of the Roman commonwealth after the death of Cxsar, invaded Syria. Antigonus applied for help to the Parthian, and, with the aid received, penetrated into Jerusalem, took Phasael prisoner, forced Herod to fly, and being himself made king, bit off the ear of the aged Hyrcanus while he knelt before him as a suppliant—to prevent him by this mutilation from ever again acting as high-priest (n.c. 4o).
Herod fled to Rome, and through the influence of Antony and Octavius (afterwards the Emperor Augustus), obtained a decree of the senate, appoint ing him king of Judaea. He soon appeared with an army before the walls of Jerusalem, but events called him away, and it was not till B.C. 37 that he began the siege, which was conducted much as Pompey's had been twenty-six years before. The invading army approached from Jericho, but at tacked the city from the level country on tl. e north. Similar works were carried on, similar courage displayed by the besieged. Herod absented him self for a time to celebrate his marriage with Mariamne, the granddaughter both of Hyrcanus and Aristobulus, and the niece of Antigonus, but returned with renewed zeal, and an army of 5o,000 men under Sosius, the Roman governor of Syria.
The Temple and city, all except the impregnable Baris, where Antigonus lay concealed, were taken by storm. There was dreadful slaughter, and Herod had to stand with a drawn sword at the door of the sanctuary to prevent its plunder and desecration by the Roman soldiers. Antigonus obtained his life froin Sosius, but he was afterwards put to death by Antony. Herod also put to death all the chiefs of the Asmonfean party, including the whole Sanliedrim except the two great Hebrew doctors, IIillel and Shammai. He appointed to the high-priesthood a Babylonian Jew named Ana nel, but displaced afterwards, at the earliest solicitation of Marianine, in favour of her brother Aristobulus, a boy of sixteen. The people hailed the appointment of the young Asmonican with too much pleasure ; he was therefore put to death while bathing, and Ananel reinstated in his dignity.
c. 34 Jerusalem was visited by Cleopatra on her return from the Euphrates. Three years later a great part of the city was destroyed, and ten or twenty thousand persons killed, by an earth quake. In B. C. 30 Herod put Hyrcanus to death, and in the next year Marianme. Soon afterwards he built a theatre and instituted quinquennial games. This innovation nearly cost him his life by assassination. He enlarged and strengthened the Bads, and named it Antonia in honour of An tony. In B. C. 25 there was a famine in Judi-ea, and
Herod sacrificed great treasure to procure corn from Egypt, for distribution among the people, and for seed. He married a second Mariamne, the daughter of an obscure priest named Simon, whom lie raised to the high-priesthood. He built and fortified a new palace, and, after two years' preparation, laid the foundation of his magnificent Temple, the principal buildings of which were com pleted n.c. 9. He also built three towers of im mense strength and size, which he called Hippicus, Mariamne, and Phasaelus, at the north-west corner of the city, where it was most exposed to attack, and one, which he called Psephinus, as an outwork, a little to the north. B. C. 7 he fixed a large golden eagle (as an emblem of the Roman rule) over the entrance to the sanctuary. This, as a breach of the second commandment, was most offensive to the Jews, and it was torn down in open day at the instigation of two of the chief Rabbis, who were in consequence burnt to death by Herod's orders. His sons, Aristobulus and Alexander, were put to death on pretence of plotting against him, B.C. 6, and his son Antipater, who did plot against him, five clays before his own, which occurred a few months after the birth of our Lord, in B. C. 4 of our era. The succession of high-priests during Herod's reign was Ananel, Aristobulus, Ananel a second time, Jesus son of Faneus, Simon son of Boethus, Matthias son of Theophilus, Jozarus son of Simon.
Archelaus (the son of Malthace) now reigned in the room of his father Herod, though he never received or assumed the title of king. He began his rule with great moderation. But this encour aged the people to make demands for a rcmission of taxes and liberation of prisoners. The crowds who had assembled for the Passover made these demands more formidable, and they were not put down without recourse to arms, and the massacre of 3000 persons. Another disturbance, accom panied by fresh slaughter and plunder of the sacred treasures, took place soon afterwards, while Arche. laus was at Rome, whither he had gone to obtain the ratification of his father's will.* He was ap pointed ethnarcht by the senate, and on his return made Eleazar high-priest, instead of his brother Joazar ; but was himself deposed, and banished to Vienne in Gaul, on account of his tyranny, A. D. 6, mainly at the instigation of his brothers, Herod Antipas and Philip. Judzea now became a Roman province under the governor of Syria, and was ad ministered by a procurator or lieutenant-governor of its own. But the procurator resided at Cxsarea, leaving the affairs of Jerusalem to be managed by the high-priest and Sanhedrim—an arrangement which greatly tended to promote its peace and quiet for the next twenty years. Quirinus, called by St. Luke Cyrenius, was governor of Syria, and Coponius procurator of Judxa, immediately aftl the deposition of Archelaus. Coponius was fol lowed by M. Ambivius, Annius Rufus, Val. Gratus, and Pontiu Pilate, in succession. The latter de parted from the custom of his predecessors in bringing his troops to winter quarters at Jerusalem, and a riot was the immediate consequence. The eagles and images of the emperor on the Roman standards excited such commotion, that Pilate was obliged to withdraw them, and the same thing happened in the case of some shields consecrated to heathen deities, and inscribed with their names, which were hung up in the palace at Jerusalem. Another disturbance was occasioned by the appro priation of a large sum of money, dedicated to God by voluntary offering [CoRBAN ; see Mark vii.