FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS
JEWISH ANTIQUITIES
Book 14

¹In the preceding book we have told of queen Alexandra and her death. We will now tell what followed afterward; but before going on let us declare that our main concern is to omit none of the facts, through ignorance or laziness. ²While reporting and explaining things that many do not know, because of their distance from our times, it must be done in appropriate style, with apt, well chosen words and figures of speech to add to the readers' pleasure, ³so that they may enjoy learning about what we write. And yet, the main things authors must aim at is to speak accurately and truly, to satisfy those who do not know the facts and must trust what these writers tell them.

⁴Hyrcanus began his reign on the third year of the hundred and seventy-seventh Olympiad, when Quintus Hortensius and Quintus Metellus, called Metellus of Crete, were consuls in Rome. Soon Aristobulus began to make war against him, and when Hyrcanus came to battle at Jericho, many of his soldiers deserted him and went over to his brother. ⁵Then Hyrcanus fled to the citadel, where, as already said, his mother had imprisoned Aristobulus' wife and children, and attacked and overcame his enemies who had fled there and were within the walls of the temple. ⁶When he sent a message to his brother about reaching an agreement, he set aside his enmity to him on condition that Aristobulus be king, and that he himself would live without meddling in public affairs and quietly enjoy the estate he had acquired. ⁷When they agreed on these terms in the temple and confirmed the agreement with oaths and handshakes with each other and embracing in the sight of the whole crowd, they left, Aristobulus to go to the palace, and Hyrcanus to go as a private citizen to the former house of Aristobulus.

⁸But a friend of Hyrcanus, an Idumaean called Antipater, who was very rich and by nature an active and rebellious man, was hostile to Aristobulus and at odds with him due to his friendship toward Hyrcanus. ⁹While Nicolaus of Damascus says that Antipater was descended from prominent Jews who returned from Babylon into Judea, that assertion was simply to gratify Herod, who was his son and who, by certain turns of fortune, later came to be king of the Jews, whose history we shall later give in its proper place. ¹⁰This Antipater was at first called Antipas, for that was his father's name, of whom it is said that king Alexander and his wife made him general of all Idumaea and that he made a pact of friendship with the Arabs and Gazites and Ascalonites of his own party and had, by many large gifts, made them his firm friends. ¹¹This younger Antipater resented the power of Aristobulus and feared that he might do him some harm, because he hated him, so he stirred up the most powerful of the Jews and privately spoke against him, saying it was wrong to ignore the conduct of Aristobulus, who had unjustly seized the leadership and deposed his brother, who was the elder and should retain what was his by prerogative of birth. ¹²These things he said repeatedly to Hyrcanus, telling him that his life would be in danger unless he protected himself and got rid of Aristobulus; for the friends of Aristobulus missed no chance to advise him to kill him, for only then would he be sure to retain the kingship. ¹³Hyrcanus disbelieved these words, being of a gentle disposition and unwilling to accept calumnies against others. This temperament, unwilling to take part in public affairs and lacking in spirit, made observers think him degenerate and unmanly, but Aristobulus was of a different temper, with an active and generous soul.

¹⁴Though Antipater saw Hyrcanus ignoring what he said, day after day he never ceased accusing Aristobulus of crimes and telling him that he wanted to kill him, and so, by constantly urging him, persuaded him to fly to Aretas, the king of Arabia, with the promise that if he would take his advice, he would help him and go with him. ¹⁵Hearing this, he said it would be good for him to escape to Aretas, for Arabia is a country bordering on Judea. But Hyrcanus first sent Antipater to the king of Arabia, for an assurance that if he came to him seeking help, he would not hand him over to his enemies. ¹⁶When Antipater was so assured, he returned to Hyrcanus in Jerusalem. Soon afterward he stole from the city by night along with Hyrcanus and travelled a long journey and brought him to the city called Petra, where the palace of Aretas was. ¹⁷As he was a friend of the king, he urged him to restore Hyrcanus to Judea and he continued to make this request every day, also promising to give him gifts if he did so, and finally persuaded Aretas. ¹⁸Hyrcanus also promised that when he returned and received his kingdom, he would restore the area and those twelve cities that his father Alexander had taken from the Arabs, which were Medaba, Naballo, Libias, Tharabasa, Agala, Athone, Zoar, Orone, Marissa, Rudda, Lussa and Oruba.

¹⁹Impelled by these promises, Aretas marched against Aristobulus with an army of fifty thousand cavalry and infantry and defeated him in battle. After the victory, many deserted to Hyrcanus so that, left alone, Aristobulus fled to Jerusalem. ²⁰The king of the Arabians then took all his army and attacked the temple and besieged Aristobulus there, with the people in support of Hyrcanus and helping in the siege, while no one stayed with Aristobulus except the priests. ²¹Holding together the forces of the Arabs and the Jews, Aretas pressed ahead strongly with the siege. As this happened during the celebration of the feast of unleavened bread, which we call Passover, the leading Jews left the country and fled into Egypt. ²²There was a righteous and godly man named Onias who during a drought had prayed to God to put an end to the intense heat and God had heard his prayers and sent them rain. This man had gone into hiding because he foresaw that this revolt would last a long time, but they brought him to the Jewish camp and asked him, that just as he had once put an end to the drought by his prayers, so now he would put a curse on Aristobulus and his fellow-rebels. ²³Though he argued against this and begged to be excused, the crowd still forced him to speak, so he stood up among them and said, ²⁴"O God the King of all, since those standing here with me are your people and the besieged are your priests, I beg you not to hear these people's prayers against the others, nor do what the others are urging against these." But so wicked were the Jews standing around him that as he prayed this they did away with him.

²⁵God immediately punished them for their savagery avenged the murder of Onias, in this way : While the priests and Aristobulus were under siege, the feast called Pascha arrived, when it is our custom to offer many sacrifices to God. ²⁶Lacking the victims they needed, Aristobulus' group wanted their countrymen outside to provide them, at whatever price they might require, and when they demanded a thousand drachmae for each head of livestock, Aristobulus and the priests willingly agreed and those inside let down the money over the walls and gave it to them. ²⁷But when they got the money the others did not deliver the victims, but wickedly broke the assurances they had given and affronted God by not furnishing the sacrifices to those who needed them. ²⁸The priests who were cheated implored God for vengeance on their countrymen and their punishment was not delayed for he sent a strong storm of wind that destroyed the fruits of the whole country, until a modius of wheat then bought among them for eleven drachmae.

²⁹Meanwhile Pompey sent Scaurus to Syria, while he was himself in Armenia at war with Tigranes, but when Scaurus reached Damascus and found that Lollius and Metellus had newly taken the city, he proceed on into Judea. ³⁰When he arrived, envoys came to him from both Aristobulus and Hyrcanus, each asking him to be their ally. As both of them promised him money, Aristobulus four hundred talents and Hyrcanus no less, he accepted the promise of Aristobulus, ³¹who was rich and generous and looked for nothing but what was fair, whereas the other was poor and niggling and made unbelievable promises, hoping for greater things. It was not the same thing to take a city that was very strong and powerful, as to expel from the country some fugitives and a crowd of Nabateans, who were not adept at war. ³²For the reasons mentioned he made an agreement with Aristobulus and took his money and ended the siege and ordered Aretas to depart or he would declare him an enemy of Rome. ³³Then Scaurus returned to Damascus and Aristobulus with a large force made war on Aretas and Hyrcanus and fought them at a place called Papyron and defeated them in the battle and killed about six thousand of the enemy, and among the fallen was Phalion, the brother of Antipater.

³⁴Soon afterward, Pompey came to Damascu. As he came to Coele-Syria, envoys reached him from all Syria and Egypt and also from Judea, for Aristobulus had sent him a large gift of a a golden vine to the value of five hundred talents. ³⁵Strabo of Cappadocia mentions this gift in these words: "A delegation came from Egypt, with a crown to the value of four thousand pieces of gold, and from Judea came either a vine or a garden, an artifact that they called the delight. ³⁶We ourselves have examined this gift, which is kept in Rome in the temple of Zeus Capitolinus, and is inscribed: The gift of Alexander, the king of the Jews. It was valued at five hundred talents, and is said to have been sent by Aristobulus, the ruler of the Jews."

³⁷Soon more envoys came to him, Antipater on behalf of Hyrcanus and Nicodemus on behalf of Aristobulus. The latter accused first Gabinius and then Scaurus of taking bribes, the one three hundred talents and the other four hundred, which made enemies of both of them, besides those he already had. ³⁸Telling the disputants to come to him early in the spring, he [Pompey ] brought his army from winter quarters and marched into the district of Damascus, and as he went along he demolished the citadel that Antiochus Cyzicenus had built in Apameia, ³⁹and took note of the district of Ptolemy Mennaeus, just as evil a man as Dionysius of Tripoli, whom he had beheaded, though he was his relative by marriage; but Ptolemy bought off the punishment of his crimes for a thousand talents, with which money Pompey paid his soldiers' wages. ⁴⁰He also conquered the place called Lysias, of which Silas a Jew was tyrant. When he had passed by the cities of Heliopolis and Chalcis and crossed the mountain which is on the borders of Coele-syria, he came from Pella to Damascus. ⁴¹There he heard the cases of the Jews and of their leaders Hyrcanus and Aristobulus, who were at odds with each other, and the nation's rejection of them both, not wishing to be under a monarchy since their tradition was to obey the priests of the God they worshipped, and although both of these were the descendants of priests, they were trying to change the government of their nation into another form, in order to enslave them. ⁴²Hyrcanus complained that although he was the elder he was deprived of his birthright by Aristobulus and was left with just a small part of the country, Aristobulus having taken the rest from him by force. ⁴³He also accused him of raiding the neighbouring lands and of piracy promoted by him at sea, and said that the nation would not have rebelled if Aristobulus had not been so violent and disorderly,. This accusation, which was confirmed by Antipater and was supported by no fewer than a thousand of the most highly esteemed among the Jews. ⁴⁴But the other countered that his brother's inactive, unimpressive nature made him unfit for leadership and that he was compelled to take it upon himself for fear it would pass to others, and that his title was no more than his father Alexander had taken. ⁴⁵He also called in his support some free-spirited young men whose purple clothing, long hair and other ornaments gave offence as they appeared not like people pleading in a court of justice, but like marchers in a ceremonial procession.

⁴⁶When Pompey had heard the cases of these two and had condemned the violence of Aristobulus, he spoke mildly to them and sent them off, saying that he would settle all their affairs when he came again into their country, after first viewing those of the Nabateans. Meanwhile he ordered them to be at peace. But he treated Aristobulus politely in case he should make the nation revolt and hinder his return; ⁴⁷which however Aristobulus did, for without waiting for any further decision, as Pompey had promised them, he went to the city of Delius and from there marched into Judea.

⁴⁸Pompey was angry with this behaviour, and taking with him from Damascus the army he was leading against the Nabateans and the allies from the rest of Syria, with the other Roman legions he had with him, he marched against Aristobulus. ⁴⁹As he passed Pella and Scythopolis, he came to Coreae, where Judea begins if one travels through the interior, and arrived at a most beautiful fortress, built on the top of a mountain called Alexandreion, where Aristobulus had fled and he sent him orders to come out to him. ⁵⁰Under persuasion by many not to make war with the Romans, he came down, and after disputing with his brother about the rights to the leadership, he went up again to the citadel, with Pompey's permission. ⁵¹He did this a second and a third time, flattering himself with hopes of having the kingdom granted to him, and pretending that he would obey whatever Pompey might order, while at the same time retiring to his fortress, so as not to humble himself too much and be ready for war if, as he feared, the royal power were granted to Hyrcanus. ⁵²When Pompey ordered him to hand over his fortresses and with his own hand to write to their officers to that effect, for they would not be surrendered in any other way, he submitted but retired to Jerusalem disgruntled, and made preparation for war. ⁵³Soon afterward as Pompey was leading his army against him, some people from Pontus told him that Mithridates was dead, killed by his son Pharmaces.

⁵⁴He then encamped near Jericho, where the palm trees grow and that most precious ointment of all, balsam, which oozes out like a juice when an incision is made in the wood with a sharp stone, and in the morning he marched to Jerusalem. ⁵⁵Aristobulus now repented and came to Pompey, promising him money and that he would welcome him into Jerusalem, and imploring him to abandon the war and then do in peace whatever he pleased. So Pompey forgave him and sent Gabinius with some soldiers, to take possession of the money and the city. ⁵⁶But this pact was not kept, and Gabinius returned after being barred from the city and receiving none of the promised money, since Aristobulus' soldiers would not let the agreements be carried out. ⁵⁷Pompey was infuriated by this and put Aristobulus in prison and came personally to the city, which was strong on every side, except the north, where it was not so well fortified. A wide and deep ditch surrounded the city, including within it the temple, which was itself surrounded by a very strong stone wall.

⁵⁸There was dissension among those inside the city, on what to do in the circumstances. Some thought it best to hand the city over to Pompey, but Aristobulus' party wanted the gates kept shut, since he was in prison. These made the first move and seized the temple and cut off the bridge leading from it to the city and prepared for a siege. ⁵⁹The others let in Pompey's army and surrendered to him both the city and the king's palace. So Pompey sent his lieutenant Piso with an army and placed garrisons in the city and the palace, to secure them, and fortified the houses near the temple as well as others that were some distance away. ⁶⁰At first he offered a truce to those inside, but when they would not listen to him, he surrounded all that area with a wall, in which Hyrcanus gladly helped him, and Pompey camped inside it, to the north of the temple, where it was most practicable. ⁶¹Even on that side there were big towers and a ditch had been dug and there was a deep ravine around it, very steep on the side toward the city after the bridge by which Pompey had entered had been broken down. But day by day, with much effort, a rampart was raised, while the Romans cut down materials for it from the places around. ⁶²When the ditch was filled up enough, and with difficulty, due to its depth, he brought his machines and battering-rams from Tyre and setting them up, battered the temple with his catapults. ⁶³If not for the ancestral practice of resting on the seventh day, the opposition would not have let this bank be built, for though our law allows self defence on that day if others start a battle, nothing is allowed if the enemy is otherwise engaged.

⁶⁴As the Romans knew this, on those days we call the Sabbath they threw nothing at the Jews, and did not attack them, but raised their walls and towers and brought forward their machines, ready to use them the following day. ⁶⁵One can see from this how greatly we reverence God by observing his laws, since during this siege fear did not make the priests neglect their liturgies, but twice a day, at dawn and about the ninth hour, they offered the sacred rites on the altar, never omitting the sacrifices even in the difficulty caused by the attacks. ⁶⁶The city was taken on the third month, on the day of the fast, in the hundred and seventy-ninth Olympiad, in the consulate of Gaius Antonius and Marcus Tullius Cicero. Even when the enemy attacked them and cut the throats of those who were in the temple, ⁶⁷those offering the sacrifices still could not be forced to flee, either for fear of their lives, or because of the numbers already killed. Whatever happened, they thought it better to suffer at their altars than to neglect what the laws required of them. ⁶⁸That this is no mere boast, or a false claim just to prove the level of our piety, but is the real truth, I appeal to those who have written of the acts of Pompey, among them, Strabo and Nicolaus and also Titus Livius, who wrote the History of Rome, who will attest this.

⁶⁹When the battering-ram was brought up, the biggest of the towers was shaken and fell down and opened a gap in the fortifications, so the enemy quickly poured in. Cornelius Faustus, son of Sylla, with his soldiers, was the first to climb the wall and after him, on the other side, centurion Furius with his followers, while in the middle, Fabius, also a centurion, climbed it with a compact group of men. ⁷⁰Now came wholesale slaughter. Some of the Jews were killed by the Romans and some by each other, and some even threw themselves down the precipices, or put fire to their houses and burned them, unable to face their fate. ⁷¹About twelve thousand of the Jews died, but very few of the Romans. Absalom, who was both uncle and father-in-law to Aristobulus, was taken prisoner, and significant sins were committed near the temple itself, which, in former times had been inaccessible and seen by none. ⁷²Pompey entered it with quite a few of his companions and saw what it was unlawful for anyone to see except the high priests. There were the golden table, the holy candlestick and the pouring vessels and a large extent of spices, and in the treasury there were two thousand talents of sacred money. But he touched none of this, out of respect for religion, and on this point he acted in a way worthy of his virtue. ⁷³The next day he ordered those in charge of the temple to cleanse it and to make to God the offerings required by the law, and he restored the high priesthood to Hyrcanus, for he had been useful to him by persuading the Jews in the country not to help Aristobulus in his war against him, and in other ways. He executed those who had started the war, and duly rewarded Faustus and the others who had bravely scaled the wall. ⁷⁴He made Jerusalem pay tax to the Romans and took away those cities of Coele-Syria which the people of Judea had subdued and put them under the command of the Roman governor and confined within its own borders the whole nation, which before had been so puffed up. ⁷⁵To gratify his freedman, Demetrius of Gadara, he rebuilt Gadara, which a little earlier had been demolished, and restored the rest of the inland cities, Hippos and Scythopolis and Pella and Dios and Samaria, and Marissa and Azotus and Jamneia and Arethusa, to their own inhabitants. ⁷⁶Besides those that had been demolished and the maritime cities of Gaza and Joppa and Dora and Strato's Tower—which Herod gloriously rebuilt and adorned with harbours and temples and changed its name to Caesarea—all these Pompey annexed and joined to the province of Syria.

⁷⁷This grief that befell Jerusalem was caused by Hyrcanus and Aristobulus, in their quarrel against each other, for then we lost our freedom and became subject to the Romans and lost the territory we had gained from the Syrians by war, and were compelled to restore it to the Syrians. ⁷⁸Soon the Romans exacted from us more than ten thousand talents, and the leadership, a dignity formerly given to those who were high priests by family inheritance, went to private citizens. But of these matters we shall treat in their proper places. ⁷⁹Pompey entrusted Coele-Syria as far as the river Euphrates and Egypt, to Scaurus, with two Roman legions, and then left for Cilicia and hurried to Rome. He brought with him as prisoners Aristobulus and his children, for he had two daughters and as many sons, one of whom escaped, but the younger, Antigonus, was brought to Rome, along with his sisters.

⁸⁰Scaurus now set out against Petra in Arabia and because access to it was difficult, burned all the places around it. Then when his army was short of food, Antipater, at the direction of Hyrcanus, furnished him with corn from Judea and anything else he needed. ⁸¹Then, sent by Scaurus as envoy to Aretas, with whom he had formerly been a visitor, he persuaded him to pay money to prevent the burning of his country and undertook to be his guarantor for three hundred talents. On these terms Scaurus ended the war, as much by his own wishes as those of Aretas.

⁸²Some time later, when Alexander, the son of Aristobulus, invaded Judea, Gabinius came from Rome as commander to Syria, and did many things worthy of note, including making war on Alexander, whose power Hyrcanus was not yet able to match, although already, against the opposition of the Romans there, he was trying to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, which Pompey had knocked down. ⁸³Alexander went around the region arming many of the Jews and quickly gathered ten thousand armed infantry and fifteen hundred cavalry and fortified the stronghold of Alexandreion near to Coreae, and Machaerus near the mountains of Arabia. ⁸⁴Gabinius went to oppose him, sending Mark Antony and some other officers ahead of him. These armed their Roman followers and also the Jews subject to them, whose officers were Pitholaus and Malichus, and joined by the friends of Antipater they faced up to Alexander, while Gabinius and his forces followed up. ⁸⁵At this Alexander retreated to the neighbourhood of Jerusalem, where they met each other in a pitched battle, and the Romans killed about three thousand of the enemy and took no less a number alive.

⁸⁶Meanwhile Gabinius came to Alexandreion and invited those inside to surrender it on terms, promising pardon for their former offences. But as the Romans attacked many of the enemy who had encamped outside the fortress, Mark Antony was notable in the conflict and killed many and was seen to have done admirably. ⁸⁷Gabinius left part of his army there to take the place while he himself went to other parts of Judea giving directions to rebuild all the cities that he saw had been demolished. ⁸⁸Among the places rebuilt at which time were Samaria, Azotus, Scythopolis, Anthedon, Rapheia and Adora, Marissa and Gaza and not a few others. Acting on Gabinius' command, these cities which had been a long time desolate were then securely inhabited.

⁸⁹When he had done this in the country, he returned to Alexandreion, and tightened the siege of the place. Alexander then sent him a delegation asking pardon for his former offences and surrendering the fortresses of Hyrcania and Machaerus, and finally Alexandreion, which Gabinius demolished. ⁹⁰When Alexander's mother, who sided with the Romans as her husband and other children were in Rome, came to him, he granted her whatever she asked. After settling matters with her, he brought Hyrcanus to Jerusalem and entrusted to him the care of the temple. ⁹¹Distributing the nation into five parts, he set up five councils to ruled them; one in Jerusalem, another in Gadara, one in Amathus, a fourth in Jericho and the fifth in Sepphoris in Galilee. So the Jews were now freed from monarchic authority and were ruled by an aristocracy.

⁹²Aristobulus fled from Rome to Judea and set about the rebuilding of Alexandreion, which had been newly demolished. Then Gabinius sent soldiers against him, under the command of Sisenna and Antonius and Servilius, to stop him from taking over the country and to take him prisoner. ⁹³Many of the Jews ran to Aristobulus because of his former glory and because they would welcome a change of regime. A man called Pitholaus, a lieutenant in Jerusalem, deserted to him with a thousand men. ⁹⁴However many of those who came to him were unarmed, and when Aristobulus decided to go to Machaerus he dismissed those people, because they were unarmed and could not be useful to him in any actions he undertook, but took with him eight thousand who were armed and marched on. ⁹⁵When the Romans made a strong attack on them the valiant Jews were defeated in the battle, and despite their courageous struggle were routed by the enemy and put to flight, and about five thousand were killed and the rest scattered and tried to save themselves any way they could. ⁹⁶Aristobulus still had more than a thousand with him and with these he fled to Machaerus and fortified the place, and despite his failure still had some hope of success. But after he had struggled against the siege for two days and been wounded many times, he was brought as a prisoner to Gabinius, with his son Antigonus, who had also fled with him from Rome. ⁹⁷Such was the fate of Aristobulus, who was sent back again to Rome and there was kept in chains, after being king and high priest for three years and six months, and an eminent man of great spirit. But the senate let his children go, when Gabinius wrote to them that he had promised this to their mother when she surrendered the fortresses to him, and so they returned to Judea.

⁹⁸When Gabinius was on campaign against the Parthians and had crossed the Euphrates, he changed his mind and decided to return into Egypt, to restore Ptolemy to his kingdom, as has been reported elsewhere. ⁹⁹During this campaign, on orders from Hyrcanus, he was supplied with corn and weapons and money by Antipater, who also won the support of the Jews who were above Pelusium and guarded the passes leading into Egypt. ¹⁰⁰When he returned from Egypt, he found Syria suffering from revolt and upheaval, for Alexander, the son of Aristobulus, having seized the leadership a second time by force, got many of the Jews to rebel with him, and so marched over the country with a large army, killing all the Romans he could find, and proceeded to besiege the mountain called Garizim, to which they had retreated.

¹⁰¹Finding Syria in such a state, Gabinius sent Antipater, who was a prudent man, to the rebels to see if he could cure them of their madness and persuade them to come to a better mind. ¹⁰²On his arrival he brought many of them to a sound mind and got them to do their duty but he could not restrain Alexander, for he with his army of thirty thousand Jews met Gabinius in battle and was defeated and ten thousand of his men fell near Mount Itaburion.

¹⁰³So Gabinius settled matters relating to the city of Jerusalem according to the mind of Antipater and then tackled the Nabateans and overcame them in battle, and courteously dismissed the Parthian fugitives Mithridates and Orsanes, though it is reported that they ran away from him. ¹⁰⁴After performing great and distinguished exploits in his campaigns, Gabinius returned to Rome, handing over to Crassus. Nicolaus of Damascus and Strabo of Cappadocia describe the wars of Pompey and Gabinius with the Jews, neither of them adding anything new which is not in the other.

¹⁰⁵As Crassus was going on campaign against the Parthians, he came to Judea and carried off the two thousand talents of money in the temple, which Pompey had left, and wanted to rob the sanctuary of all its gold, valued at eight thousand talents. ¹⁰⁶He also took a bar of solid beaten gold, weighing three hundred minae, and our mina weighed two pounds and a half. It was the priest named Eleazar, the guardian of the sacred treasury, who gave him this bar, though not wickedly, ¹⁰⁷for he was a good and a righteous man, but being entrusted with the custody of the veils belonging to the temple, which were admirable in beauty and of very costly workmanship and hung down from this beam, when he saw that Crassus was busily gathering money and was afraid for the entire ornaments of the temple, he gave him this bar of gold as a ransom for the rest, ¹⁰⁸having received his oath not to remove anything else from the temple, but be satisfied with what he was about to give him, which was worth many thousands. This beam was hidden in a hollow wooden beam and was hidden from others and entrusted to Eleazar alone. ¹⁰⁹Crassus took this bar, promising to touch nothing else in the temple but then broke his oath and took away all the gold from the sanctuary.

¹¹⁰And let no one be surprised that there was so much wealth in our temple, since from very ancient times all Jews throughout the world and worshippers of God, even those of Asia and Europe, sent their contributions to it. ¹¹¹The amount of this money is not unattested nor is its greatness due to our vanity, as if we boasted of it groundlessly, for many writers can witness for us and particularly Strabo of Cappadocia, who says, ¹¹²"Mithridates sent to Cos and took the money which queen Cleopatra had deposited there, and eight hundred talents belonging to the Jews." ¹¹³Now we have no public treasury except that dedicated to God, and clearly the Asian Jews had transferred this money for fear of Mithridates, for it is not likely that those of Judea, who had a strong city and temple, would send their money to Cos; nor is it likely that the Jews in Alexandria would do so either, since they had no fear of Mithridates. ¹¹⁴Strabo himself bears witness to the same thing in another place, that when Sylla crossed into Greece for his war against Mithridates, he sent Lucullus to put an end to a revolt in Cyrene raised by our nation, of whom the world is full. He speaks as follows : ¹¹⁵"There were four classes in the city of Cyrene; one of citizens, another of farmers, the third of aliens and the fourth of Jews. This group has already reached every city and it is hard to find a place in the world that has not admitted this tribe and is not dominated by them. ¹¹⁶In fact Egypt and Cyrene who are ruled by the same leaders and many other nations, imitate their lifestyle and maintain great bodies of these Jews in a special way and through them grow to greater prosperity and even follow the traditional Jewish laws. ¹¹⁷There are places assigned for the Jews in Egypt to live, besides the large part of the city of Alexandria that is set apart for this nation. They are also allowed an ethnarch, who governs the nation and administers justice to them and takes care of their contracts and their laws, as if he were the ruler of a free state. ¹¹⁸In Egypt, this nation is powerful, therefore, because the Jews were originally Egyptians and because the land where they live after they went out from there, is near to Egypt. They also moved into Cyrene, a land bordering on the realm of Egypt, as does Judea, and was formerly under the same government." This is what Strabo says.

¹¹⁹When Crassus had settled everything to his satisfaction he marched into Parthia, where both he himself and all his army died, as we have said elsewhere. Later, Cassius, as he fled from Rome to Syria, occupied it and put a stop to the Parthians who had made incursions upon it since their victory over Crassus. ¹²⁰As he was returning to Tyre, he also went up into Judea. There Tarichea soon fell to him and he took about thirty thousand people as prisoners. As Pitholaus was continuing the rebellious behaviour of Aristobulus, he killed him at the persuasion of Antipater. ¹²¹The latter showed a great interest in him and was at that time also highly reputed among the Idumaeans. He married a wife of that nation named Cypros, the daughter of an eminent family and by her he had four sons, Phasael and Herod who later became king, and Joseph and Pheroras, and a daughter, named Salome. ¹²²This Antipater also cultivated friendship and mutual favour with other powerful people, but especially with the king of Arabia, to whom he entrusted his children during his struggle with Aristobulus. So Cassius moved his camp and marched to the Euphrates to confront his attackers there as has been reported by others.

¹²³Some time later, Caesar, after taking Rome and when Pompey and the senate had fled beyond the Ionian Sea, freed Aristobulus from his chains and decided to send him into Syria giving him two legions to bring order to the country in which he was so powerful. ¹²⁴But Aristobulus did not get to enjoy what he hoped for from the power granted to him by Caesar, for Pompey's party forestalled him and killed him by poison, and Caesar's party buried him. His corpse lay for a good while embalmed in honey, until Antony later sent it to Judea and had him buried in the royal tombs. ¹²⁵Then Scipio, sent by Pompey to kill Alexander, the son of Aristobulus, making the young man answer for the offences he had earlier committed against the Romans, cut off his head, and so he died in Antioch. ¹²⁶But the ruler of Chalcis below Mount Libanus, Ptolemy, the son of Mennaeus, took care of his brothers and sent his son Philippion into Askalon to Aristobulus' wife asking her to send back with him her son Antigonus and her daughters. One of them, Alexandra, was loved and wedded by Philippion, though later his father Ptolemy killed him and married Alexandra but continued to take care of her brothers.

¹²⁷After Pompey's death and Caesar's victory over him, Antipater, who governed the Jews, at the orders of Hyrcanus became very useful to Caesar when he made war on Egypt. ¹²⁸For when Mithridates of Pergamon was bringing allies to him and could not continue his march through Pelusium, but was obliged to stay at Askalon, Antipater came to him with three thousand Jewish warriors and arranged for the leading Arab to become his allies. ¹²⁹On his account too, all the Syrians came to his aid, not wanting to seem to be lax in their support for Caesar, including the ruler, Jamblicus, and Ptolemy the son of Soemus, who lived in Mount Libanus and almost all the cities. ¹³⁰So Mithridates marched from Syria and came to Pelusium, and besieged the city when the people would not admit him. Antipater distinguished himself there and was the first to tear down part of the wall and open a breach for the others to enter the city and so Pelusium was taken. ¹³¹The Jews living in the district named after Onias wanted to block the forces of Antipater and Mithridates on their way to Caesar, but Antipater persuaded them to come over to their side, as he was of their race, especially by showing them the letters of the high priest Hyrcanus, urging them to cultivate friendship with Caesar and to supply his army with money and all the provisions they needed. ¹³²When they saw Antipater and the high priest of the same mind, they did as they were asked; and when those near Memphis heard it, they too invited Mithridates, so he came and received them into his army also.

¹³³When he had gone around the area called the Delta, they fought a battle with the enemy near the place called the Jewish Camp, with Mithridates on the right wing and Antipater on the left. ¹³⁴In the fight, the wing of Mithridates yielded and was in extreme danger, until Antipater came running to him along the river-bank with his own men, after already defeating the enemy facing him; so he saved Mithridates and put the victorious Egyptians to flight. ¹³⁵He also took their camp and continued the pursuit and recalled Mithridates, who had been worsted and had retreated a long way off, and eight hundred of his soldiers fell, but only fifty of Antipater's. ¹³⁶Mithridates sent an account of this battle to Caesar and publicly declared that Antipater was the victor and had saved his life, so that Caesar commended Antipater at the time and throughout the rest of the war used him for the most dangerous undertakings; and in one of those engagements he happened to be wounded.

¹³⁷After some time, Caesar finished that war and sailed away for Syria, he honoured Hyrcanus greatly and confirmed him in the high priesthood, and gave Roman citizenship to Antipater and exemption from taxes everywhere. ¹³⁸Many say that Hyrcanus went with Antipater on this campaign and went in person to Egypt. Strabo of Cappadocia bears witness to this, when he says so, in the name of Asinius: "After Mithridates had invaded Egypt and with him Hyrcanus the high priest of the Jews." ¹³⁹The same Strabo says again, in another place, in the name of Hypsicrates, "Mithridates at first went out alone, but Antipater, who was in charge of Judea, was called by him to Askalon and prepared three thousand soldiers to accompany him and encouraged other officers of the land to do so, and that Hyrcanus the high priest was also present in this campaign." This is what Strabo says.

¹⁴⁰But Antigonus the son of Aristobulus went to Caesar at this time to lament his father's fate, and complained that it was by Antipater that Aristobulus was killed by poison and his brother beheaded by Scipio and asked him to take pity on him who had been expelled from the realm which was his due. He also accused Hyrcanus and Antipater of ruling the nation by violence and being unjust to himself. ¹⁴¹Antipater was present and made his defence to the accusations against him. He proved that Antigonus and his party were given to revolt and sedition and reminded Caesar of the hardships he had endured alongside him in his wars and spoke of what he had witnessed himself. ¹⁴²He added that Aristobulus had been justly brought to Rome, as an enemy of the Romans and could never be made a friend to them and that his brother got from Scipio no more than he deserved, being convicted of robberies, and that this was not inflicted on him by way of violence or injustice.

¹⁴³When Antipater had made this speech, Caesar appointed Hyrcauus as high priest and offered Antipater any realm he might choose, leaving the decision to himself, and then made him procurator of Judea. ¹⁴⁴He gave Hyrcanus leave to raise up the walls of his native city, when he asked him for that favour, because they had been demolished by Pompey. This grant he sent to the consuls to Rome, to be engraved in the capitol. The decree of the senate was as follows: ¹⁴⁵"Lucius Valerius, son of general Lucius, referred this to the senate, on the Ides of December, in the temple of Concord. Present at the writing of this decree were Lucius Coponius, son of Lucius Collina, and Papirius Quirina. ¹⁴⁶Alexander, son of Jason and Numenius, son of Antiochus, and Alexander, son of Dositheus, envoys of the Jews, worthy men and allies, have spoken of renewing their previously existing pact of goodwill and friendship with the Romans ¹⁴⁷and as a mark of the alliance have brought a shield of gold, valued at fifty thousand gold pieces and asked to be given letters to the free cities and kings, that their land and harbours be left in peace and that no wrong may be done to them. ¹⁴⁸It was decided to decree our friendship and goodwill with them and to grant them whatever they needed and to accept the shield brought by them. This was done in the ninth year of Hyrcanus the high priest and ethnarch, in the month Panemus." ¹⁴⁹Hyrcanus also received honours from the people of Athens for having been useful to them on many occasions for they sent him a decree, as follows "Under the guidance and priesthood of Dionysius Asclepiados, on the five days before the end of the month Panemus, the Athenians voted this decree proposed by their leaders. ¹⁵⁰Under the rule of Agathocles, with Eucles of Alimusia, the son of Menander, as scribe, in the month Munychion, on the eleventh day of their term, at a meeting in the theatre Dorotheus Erchieus and his fellow officers put it to the people after Dionysius, son of Dionysius, had spoken. ¹⁵¹Since Hyrcanus, son of Alexander, the high priest and ethnarch of the Jews, continues his goodwill toward our people in general and each of our citizens and shows them every favour, and when any of the Athenians come to him, whether as envoys or privately, he receives them cordially and ensures their safe-conduct, ¹⁵²as has been testified to us already, it is now also decreed, at the report of Theodosius of Sounion, the son of Diodorus, reminding the people of the virtue of this man and his intention to do us all the good he can, ¹⁵³to honour him with a crown of gold, the reward proposed by law, and to erect a brass statue of him in the temple of Demus and of the Graces, and that this gift of a crown be publicly proclaimed in the theatre during the new tragedies at the Dionysian festival and in the Panathenean and Eleusinian festivals and the gymnastic games; ¹⁵⁴and that while he maintains his friendship and goodwill toward us, the officers shall ensure that all possible honour and favour be shown to him for his affection and generosity, to display our people's appreciation for good men and so that he continue in his concern for us, in light of the honours we have paid to him. ¹⁵⁵Envoys shall also be chosen among all the Athenians, to bring this decree to him and ask him to accept the honours offered to him and to always seek ways of doing good to our city." So we have shown the honours paid to the high priest Hyrcanus by the Romans and the people of Athens.

¹⁵⁶Caesar sailed away after settling affairs in Syria, and when he had conducted him out of Syria, Antipater returned to Judea, and at once raised again the wall which Pompey had demolished and by his arrival pacified the disturbance in the country, both by threats and advising them to calm down. ¹⁵⁷Those who sided with Hyrcanus would prosper, he said, and lead their lives in undisturbed enjoyment of their possessions, but if they pinned their hopes on rebellion and aimed to become rich thereby, they would find him a despot instead of a guide and Hyrcanus a tyrant instead of a king and the Romans and Caesar bitter enemies instead of rulers, for that they would never let the man they had appointed to govern be set aside. Having said this to them, he brought the country to calm.

¹⁵⁸Then seeing the slowness and sloth of Hyrcanus, he made his eldest son Phasael ruler of Jerusalem and the surrounding places and entrusted Galilee to his next son Herod, who was then very young, just fifteen years old. ¹⁵⁹His youth was no obstacle but as he was a young man of noble mind he soon found an opportunity to display his courage, for finding out about Ezekias, a leader of brigands who with a large gang overran the neighbouring parts of Syria, he captured him and killed him, as well as many of other brigands along with him. ¹⁶⁰The Syrians loved him dearly for this exploit, for they had longed to see their country freed from this nest of brigands and he cleaned it up for them. So they sang his praises in their villages and cities for ensuring them the safe enjoyment of their possessions, and for this he became known to Sextus Caesar, the governor of Syria and a relative of the great Caesar. ¹⁶¹Phasael was prompted to emulate the actions of his brother Herod, ambitious to earn no less a fame than his and won a fine reputation among the people of Jerusalem by ruling the city with no mismanagement nor abuse of his authority. ¹⁶²This won for Antipater a royal regard from the nation and the sort of honour suited to an absolute lord of the land. Yet this glory did not in the least, as often happens, weaken his proper goodwill and fidelity toward Hyrcanus.

¹⁶³But seeing Antipater and his sons gaining so much goodwill from the nation and prospering with the revenues they received from Judea and from Hyrcanus' own wealth, the leading Jews came to resent him. ¹⁶⁴Antipater had cultivated friendship with the rulers of Rome, and when he persuaded Hyrcanus to send them money he acted as if the gift were his own and took and sent it as if he and not Hyrcanus were the giver. ¹⁶⁵Hyrcanus heard of it but did not worry about it, but the Jewish leaders were fearful, since they saw Herod as a violent, audacious man with a tendency to tyranny, so they went to Hyrcanus and publicly accused Antipater and said, "How long will you be quiet while things such as this are done? Don't you see how Antipater and his sons have already seized power and that you are king in name alone? ¹⁶⁶Do not ignore these matters, or think to escape danger by being so careless of yourself and of your kingdom. Antipater and his sons are not acting as stewards on your behalf. Make no mistake about it : clearly they are like absolute lords. ¹⁶⁷By killing Ezekias and his companions, Antipater's son Herod has broken our law which forbids us to kill anyone, even a criminal, unless he is first condemned to death by the Sanhedrin, yet he has insolently done so without any authority from you."