The Hasmonean Civil War was a

civil war A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

between two claimants to the Hasmonean Jewish Crown. What began as an inter-Jewish conflict became a highly decisive conflict that included the

Nabataean Kingdom The Nabataean Kingdom ( Nabataean Aramaic: 𐢕𐢃𐢋𐢈 ''Nabāṭū''), also named Nabatea (), was a political state of the Arab Nabataeans during classical antiquity. The Nabataean Kingdom controlled many of the trade routes of the region, ...

and ended with

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

involvement. This conflict resulted in the loss of Jewish independence.

Background

The

Hasmonean Dynasty The Hasmonean dynasty (; he, ''Ḥašmōnaʾīm'') was a ruling dynasty of Judea and surrounding regions during classical antiquity, from BCE to 37 BCE. Between and BCE the dynasty ruled Judea semi-autonomously in the Seleucid Empire, and ...

had been established after the

Maccabean Revolt The Maccabean Revolt ( he, מרד החשמונאים) was a Jewish rebellion led by the Maccabees against the Seleucid Empire and against Hellenistic influence on Jewish life. The main phase of the revolt lasted from 167–160 BCE and ende ...

and had gained independence from the Seleucid Empire, after which it became a powerful regional kingdom. The kingdom reached its greatest extent during the reigns of

Alexander Jannaeus Alexander Jannaeus ( grc-gre, Ἀλέξανδρος Ἰανναῖος ; he, ''Yannaʾy''; born Jonathan ) was the second king of the Hasmonean dynasty, who ruled over an expanding kingdom of Judea from 103 to 76 BCE. A son of John Hyrcanus, ...

and

Salome Alexandra Salome Alexandra, or Shlomtzion ( grc-gre, Σαλώμη Ἀλεξάνδρα; he, , ''Šəlōmṣīyyōn''; 141–67 BCE), was one of three women to rule over Judea, the other two being Athaliah and Devora. The wife of Aristobulus I, and ...

, who had two sons, Hyrcanus and Aristobulus. Hyrcanus, the elder son, was not as popular with the people and mostly sided with the Pharisees, while his younger brother Aristobulus was very ambitious and popular and tended to side with the

Sadducees The Sadducees (; he, צְדוּקִים, Ṣədūqīm) were a socio- religious sect of Jewish people who were active in Judea during the Second Temple period, from the second century BCE through the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE. T ...

. For this reason, Aristobulus began making connections with military officials and owners of bastions even during his mother's lifetime.

Early stages

Brothers prepare for conflict

Alexandra was very sick at the end of her days and Aristobulus began using his connections to take over the walled cities and bastions of the Hasmonean realm and used the money he found there to further hire mercenaries and declared himself king when she was still alive. Alexandra, who favored her elder son Hyrcanus, ordered the jailing of Aristobulus' wife and sons in the Antonia Keep in

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

, to the north of the

Temple Mount The Temple Mount ( hbo, הַר הַבַּיִת, translit=Har haBayīt, label=Hebrew, lit=Mount of the House f the Holy}), also known as al-Ḥaram al-Sharīf (Arabic: الحرم الشريف, lit. 'The Noble Sanctuary'), al-Aqsa Mosque compou ...

. She died shortly after, following which Hyrcanus was crowned King of Judea. The two brothers' forces engaged nearby Jericho, in which many of Hyrcanus' men joined Aristobulus, after that Hyrcanus quickly escaped to the Antonia Keep where his brother's family was being held. However, eventually after negotiations the brother made peace and Hyrcanus abdicated the throne to Aristobulus, who ensured Hyrcanus' safety.

Nabataean involvement

Antipater the Idumean, a rich Idumean and an influential person in the Judean politics strongly disliked Aristobulus and preferred Hyrcanus as king. He convinced Hyrcanus to fight for the crown, and spoke to

Aretas III Aretas III (; Nabataean Aramaic: ''Ḥārīṯat''; Ancient Greek: ) was king of the Nabataean kingdom from 87 to 62 BCE. Aretas ascended to the throne upon the death of his brother, Obodas I, in 87 BCE. During his reign, he extended his ki ...

, king of the

Nabataeans The Nabataeans or Nabateans (; Nabataean Aramaic: , , vocalized as ; Arabic: , , singular , ; compare grc, Ναβαταῖος, translit=Nabataîos; la, Nabataeus) were an ancient Arab people who inhabited northern Arabia and the southern L ...

, about the great qualities of Hyrcanus and his birthright and convinced him to support him. One night, Hyrcanus escaped and traveled to Petra, capital of the Nabataeans, where he gave many gifts to please Aretas. He made a deal with Aretas, offering to return to Nabataea 12 cities that had been taken from them by his father Alexander Jannaeus. Aretas gave Hyranus 50,000 cavalrymen and infantrymen. Aretas' men began advancing towards Jerusalem, defeating Aristobulus' forces. Some switched sides and joined Hyrcanus' army. Aristobulus fell back to Jerusalem, which was laid under siege at

Passover Passover, also called Pesach (; ), is a major Jewish holiday that celebrates the Biblical story of the Israelites escape from slavery in Egypt, which occurs on the 15th day of the Hebrew month of Nisan, the first month of Aviv, or spring. ...

of that year.

Roman involvement

Negotiations with Scaurus

Pompey Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (; 29 September 106 BC – 28 September 48 BC), known in English as Pompey or Pompey the Great, was a leading Roman general and statesman. He played a significant role in the transformation of ...

sent Marcus Aemilius Scaurus to Syria while Pompey fought against

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ' ...

. The two brothers sent messengers to Scaurus trying to convince him to align with them, but the 300 talents of silver (or 400) sent to him by Aristobulus as well as the fact that Jerusalem would be too hard to breach, persuaded him to fight against Hyrcanus and Aretas. This led to Aretas departing leaving Hyrcanus without Nabatean support. Following the departure of Aretas, Aristobulus led his army against Hyracus and they engaged in a battle at Papiron and killed 6,000 of them, including Phalion, brother of Antipater. Scaurus left Judea after those events.

Negotiations with Pompey

After his war in Armenia, Pompey arrived in Syria and received a gift of 500 talents of Gold from Aristobulus. Again, both parties sent messengers to Pompey, Antipater on behalf of Hyrcanus and a man called Nikodeimos on behalf of Aristobulus. Other messengers, this time on behalf of the people, begged for Pompey to end the rule of Kings over the land. After Pompey realized Rome could better manipulate Hyrcanus, he sided with him and took the Roman forces in Syria against Aristobulus. Aristobulus was in the fortress of Alexandrion, which is on top of a mountain, and when Pompey arrived he spoke several times with him, negotiating, in which Pompey told Aristobulus to call for all his men to leave the fortress, and which they did so, however he regretted those actions and escaped to Jerusalem.

Siege of Jerusalem

When Pompey arrived in Jerusalem, he surveyed the city: Fortunately for Pompey,

Hyrcanus II John Hyrcanus II (, ''Yohanan Hurqanos'') (died 30 BCE), a member of the Hasmonean dynasty, was for a long time the Jewish High Priest in the 1st century BCE. He was also briefly King of Judea 67–66 BCE and then the ethnarch (ruler) of J ...

still had supporters in the city. They opened a gate, probably situated in the northwestern part of the city wall, and let the Romans in. This allowed Pompey to take hold of Jerusalem's upper city, including the Royal Palace, while Aristobulus' party held the eastern portions of the city—the

and the City of David. Rocca 2008, pp. 44-46 The Jews consolidated their hold by breaking down the bridge over the

Tyropoeon Valley Tyropoeon Valley (Greek: i.e., "Valley of the Cheesemakers") is the name given by Josephus the historianWars 5.140 to the valley or rugged ravine, in the Old City of Jerusalem, which in ancient times separated Mount Moriah from Mount Zion and em ...

connecting the upper city with the Temple Mount. Pompey offered them the chance to surrender, but when they refused, he began prosecuting the siege with vigour. Pompey had his forces construct a wall of

circumvallation Investment is the military process of surrounding an enemy fort (or town) with armed forces to prevent entry or escape. It serves both to cut communications with the outside world and to prevent supplies and reinforcements from being introduced ...

around the areas held by the Jews and then pitched his camp within the wall, to the north of the Temple. Here stood a

saddle The saddle is a supportive structure for a rider of an animal, fastened to an animal's back by a girth. The most common type is equestrian. However, specialized saddles have been created for oxen, camels and other animals. It is not k ...

allowing access to Temple, and it was therefore guarded by the citadel known as the Baris, augmented by a ditch. A second camp was erected south-east of the Temple. The troops then set about filling the ditch protecting the northern part of the Temple enclosure and building two ramparts, one next to the Baris and the other on the west, while the defenders, from their superior position, sought to hinder Roman efforts. When the banks were complete, Pompey erected siege towers and brought up siege engines and battering rams from Tyre. Under the protection of slingers driving the defenders from the walls, these began to batter the walls surrounding the Temple. After three months, Pompey's troops finally managed to capture one of the Baris' towers and were able to enter the Temple precinct, both from the citadel and from the west. First over the wall was Faustus Cornelius Sulla, son of the former Roman

dictator A dictator is a political leader who possesses absolute power. A dictatorship is a state ruled by one dictator or by a small clique. The word originated as the title of a Roman dictator elected by the Roman Senate to rule the republic in tim ...

and a senior officer in Pompey's army. He was followed by two centurions, Furius and Fabius, each leading a

cohort Cohort or cohortes may refer to: * Cohort (educational group), a group of students working together through the same academic curriculum * Cohort (floating point), a set of different encodings of the same numerical value * Cohort (military unit ...

, and the Romans soon overcame the defending Jews. 12,000 were slaughtered, while only a few Romans troops were killed. Pompey himself entered the Temple's Holy of Holies which only the High Priest was allowed to enter, thereby desecrating it. He did not remove anything, neither its treasures nor any funds, and the next day ordered the Temple cleansed and its rituals resumed. Barker 2003, p. 146 Losch 2008, p. 149 Pompey then headed back to

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, taking Aristobulus with him for his triumphal procession.

Aftermath

The siege and conquest of Jerusalem was a disaster for the Hasmonean kingdom. Pompey reinstated Hyrcanus II as the High Priest but stripped him of his royal title, though Rome recognized him as an

ethnarch Ethnarch (pronounced , also ethnarches, el, ) is a term that refers generally to political leadership over a common ethnic group or homogeneous kingdom. The word is derived from the Greek words ('' ethnos'', "tribe/nation") and (''archon'', " ...

in 47 BC. Rocca 2009, p. 7 Judea remained autonomous but was obliged to pay tribute and dependent on the Roman administration in Syria. The kingdom was dismembered; it was forced to relinquish the coastal plain, depriving it of access to the Mediterranean, as well as parts of

Idumea Edom (; Edomite: ; he, אֱדוֹם , lit.: "red"; Akkadian: , ; Ancient Egyptian: ) was an ancient kingdom in Transjordan, located between Moab to the northeast, the Arabah to the west, and the Arabian Desert to the south and east ...

and

Samaria Samaria (; he, שֹׁמְרוֹן, translit=Šōmrōn, ar, السامرة, translit=as-Sāmirah) is the historic and biblical name used for the central region of Palestine, bordered by Judea to the south and Galilee to the north. The first ...

. Several Hellenistic cities were granted autonomy to form the

Decapolis The Decapolis (Greek: grc, Δεκάπολις, Dekápolis, Ten Cities, label=none) was a group of ten Hellenistic cities on the eastern frontier of the Roman Empire in the Southern Levant in the first centuries BCE and CE. They formed a group ...

, leaving the state greatly diminished. Sartre 2005, pp. 40-42 Malamat and Ben-Sasson 1976, pp. 222-224

Ancient sources

Josephus Flavius Josephus (; grc-gre, Ἰώσηπος, ; 37 – 100) was a first-century Romano-Jewish historian and military leader, best known for '' The Jewish War'', who was born in Jerusalem—then part of Roman Judea—to a father of priestly ...

Wars of the Jews ''The Jewish War'' or ''Judean War'' (in full ''Flavius Josephus' Books of the History of the Jewish War against the Romans'', el, Φλαυίου Ἰωσήπου ἱστορία Ἰουδαϊκοῦ πολέμου πρὸς Ῥωμαίους ...

, Book 1, Chapters 5-7

, Antiquities of the Jews, Book 14, Chapters 1-15

References

{{Reflist 1st century BC in the Hasmonean Kingdom 1st century BC Wars of succession involving the states and peoples of Asia Wars of succession involving the states and peoples of Europe