Palestine

The Hasmonean priest-princes

In the following years, dynastic disputes within the Seleucid empire prevented a succession of rulers from settling the Palestinian question. These circumstances allowed first Jonathan (161/160–143/142 bc), the brother and successor of Judas, and then his brother Simon (143/142–134) to attain power. In 153 one of the Seleucid pretenders, Alexander Balas, in order to outplay the legitimate king, Demetrius, granted Jonathan the office of high priest and gave him the Seleucid rank of a courtier, thereby legitimizing his position. When Simon succeeded Jonathan, he acquired the status of a recognized secular ruler; the year he assumed rule was regarded as the first of a new era, and official documents were dated in his name and by his regnal year. He secured from the new Seleucid monarch, Demetrius II (Nicator; 145–139 and 129–125), exemption from taxation for the Jews.

In 142–141 bc Simon forced the Syrian garrison on the Akra to surrender, and the Jews passed a decree in his honour, granting the right of permanent incumbency to Simon and to his successors, until “an accredited prophet” should arise. It was thus in Simon’s reign that the rule of the priest-prince was transformed into a secular hereditary rule. The Seleucid king recognized this, granting Simon the right to issue his own coins.

Simon’s son, John Hyrcanus I (134–104 bc), suffered an initial setback at the hands of the last great Seleucid king, Antiochus VII (Sidetes), who set out to reconquer Palestine, but at the latter’s death John renewed his father’s expansionist program, in which Samaria was conquered and destroyed. In internal policy, however, he committed the grave error of quarreling with one of the two main Jewish ecclesiastical parties, the Pharisees—who followed the Law with great strictness and with whom the Maccabean movement had in origin close affinity—and siding with their opponents, the more liberal Sadducees. This is an early instance of that denial of the revolutionary origin of the movement that became entirely obvious in the reign of Alexander Jannaeus. Hyrcanus I was succeeded by Aristobulus I (104–103), who extended Hasmonean territory northward and is said to have assumed the title of king (basileus), though on his coins he appears, like Hyrcanus I, as high priest.

The reign of his brother and successor, Alexander Jannaeus, was long (103–76 bc) and largely filled with wars. Alexander imposed his rule rigorously over an increasingly large area, including both the cities of the coast and the area east of the Jordan River. Still more clearly than Hyrcanus I, he attests the change in direction and aim of the Hasmonean house. He was the bitter enemy of the Pharisees, his coins bear Greek as well as Hebrew legends, and his title on them is simply “King Alexander.” He was succeeded by his widow, Salome Alexandra, who reversed his policy and was guided by powerful religious advisers, members of the Pharisaic movement. After her death in 67 bc her two sons Aristobulus II and Hyrcanus II fought for the succession. Hyrcanus was defeated but was encouraged to reassert his rights by Antipater, an Edomite, son of the governor of Idumaea and father of the future Herod the Great.

At that stage the Romans appeared on the scene. Pompey the Great, during his reorganization of the lands of the newly conquered Seleucid kingdom, also arranged the affairs of Palestine (63 bc). He attempted to arbitrate between the brothers and eventually, after he had laid siege to and captured Jerusalem, appointed Hyrcanus II as high priest without the title of king adopted by his predecessors. He also imposed taxes on the Jews and curtailed Jewish dominions, granting virtual autonomy to a group of 10 or 11 Hellenized cities in Syria and Palestine, thenceforth to be known as the Decapolis, and placing them under the jurisdiction of the newly appointed governor of Syria. Pliny the Elder lists these cities as Damascus, Philadelphia (modern Amman, Jordan), Raphana, Scythopolis, Gadara, Hippos, Dion, Pella, Gerasa, and Canatha. On the basis of evidence in inscriptions, Abila can be added to the list. Thus, despite the name Decapolis, the actual number appears to have been 11. All these cities, except Scythopolis, are located east of the Jordan River, extending from Damascus in the north to Philadelphia in the south. Except for Damascus, all the other cities lie immediately to the east of Galilee, Samaria, or Judaea. Whether the Decapolis geographically belonged to Syria, to Coele Syria (“Hollow Syria”; i.e., the southernmost region of Syria, which may include Palestine and is sometimes mistakenly limited to the modern Al-Biqāʿ valley), or to Arabia (often identified as the land east of the Jordan River) is not clear, especially in the ancient geographers. In any event, the Decapolis ended as a political entity when Rome annexed Arabia in ad 106; the cities were distributed among the three provinces of Arabia, Judaea, and Syria. It appears that Philadelphia, Gerasa, and probably Dion went to Arabia, Damascus certainly to Syria, and the rest to Judaea or Syria.

After the death of Pompey, however, the power of Antipater and his family greatly increased. Hyrcanus II became a figurehead of no importance, and Antipater himself, in return for services to Julius Caesar, received Roman citizenship and was awarded the title of “procurator of Judaea,” while his sons Phasael and Herod became governors (strategoi) of Jerusalem and Galilee, respectively. The unexpected occupation of Palestine by Parthian troops in 40 bc altered the situation. Antigonus, the son of Aristobulus and therefore a legitimate Hasmonean, won the favour of the Parthians and was established by them as king and high priest of Jerusalem. Phasael was reported to have committed suicide, while his brother Herod escaped to Rome.