Page:Jewish Encyclopedia Volume 2.pdf/117

79 Archa

THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

79 king

felt himself compelled to send a detachment the Herodian soldiery against them into the Temple courts and when this detachHis Harsh, ment proved unable to master the enTreatment raged populace, he ordered out the whole available garrison. In the masof the People, sacre that ensued, three thousand were left dead upon the Temple pavements. As soon as the tumult had been somewhat allayed, Archelaus hastened to Rome to secure the required confirmation of his succession from Augustus. He found that he had to encounter opposition from two His brother Antipas, supported by many sides. members of the Herodian house resident in Rome,

of



claimed formal acknowledgment for Herod's second will, that

nominated him king.

Besides, the

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dians from any share whatever in the government of the land, and for the incorporation of Judea in Such was the disloyalty the province of Syria. among the Herodians, that many members of the

family secretly favored this latter popular demand. But Augustus, with statesman-like insight, concluded that it was better for Roman interests to of Judea a monarchy, governed by its own kings tributary to Rome, than to leave it a Roman province administered by Romans, in which latter case there would certainly be repeated insurrections As it would against the foreign administration. be more prudent to make such a monarchy as small and powerless as possible, he decided to divide Herod's somewhat extensive empire Division into three portions. Archelaus was accordingly appointed ethnarch not of the Kingdom king of Judea, Samaria, and Idumea, by Rome, with the exception of the important cities of Gaza, Gadara, and Hippus, which latter were joined to the province of Syria. Antipas and Philip were made tetrarchs of the remaining provinces, the former receiving Galilee and Perea, and the latter the other lands east of the Jor-

make

—

legate in Syria, with his numerous legions, assisted, moreover, by Aretas, king of the Arabs, and his auxiliaries, that any measure of peace was restored to the land, and this not without the loss of several

thousand Roman troops. What the loss on the Jewish side must have been may perhaps be surmised from the rabbinical tradition that the outbreak under Varus was one of the most terrible in Jewish history.

Archelaus

returned to Jerusalem shortly after

Varus suppressed the

insurrection. Very little is of the further events of his reign, which lasted nine years; but so much is clear, that instead of seeking to heal the wounds brought upon the country by himself and his house, he did much to

known

Jews

—

of Palestine sent a deputation of fifty persons who were supported by about 8,000 Jewish residents of Rome and petitioned for the exclusion of the Hero-

—

dan.

While these negotiations were pending in Rome, The people, troubles broke out in Palestine. worked up almost iuto a state of frenzy by the massacres brought about by Herod and Archelaus, broke The into open revolt in the absence of their ruler. actual outbreak was without doubt directly caused by Sabinus— the procurator appointed by Augustus to assume charge pending the settlement of the succession owing to his merciless oppression of the On the day of Pentecost in the year 4 B.C., people.

new

—

a collision took place in the Temple precincts between the troops of Sabinus and the populace. Sabinus utilized his initial success in dispersing the people by proceeding to rob the Temple treasury. But disorders broke out all over the province, and his forces were not sufficient to repress

Insurrec- them. Judas, son of the revolutionary Hezekiah in Galilee, a certain Simon tionary Outbreaks, in Perea, Athkonges and his four brothers in other parts of the land,

headed more or less serious uprisings. It was only when charge was assumed by Varus, the Roman

Archeology

accelerate the ultimate overthrow of Judean independence. In the year 6 of the common era, a deputation of the Jewish and Samaritan aristocracy

Banish-

ment and Death.

waited upon Augustus in Rome, to prefer charges against Archelaus, with the result that he was immediately summoned to Rome, deprived of his crown, and banished to Vienne in Gaul, where according to Dion Cassius Cocceianus, "Hist. Roma," lv. 27 he lived for the remainder of his days. Archelaus was a veritable Herodian, but without the statesman -like ability of his father. He was cruel and tyrannical, sensual in the extreme, a hj'poHe observed the customary crite and a plotter. seven days of mourniDg for his father, but in the midst of them gave to his boon companions a congratulatory banquet upon his accession. He carefully avoided placing his image upon his coinage in deference to pharisaic susceptibilities; but he nevertheless allowed his passion for his widowed sister-inlaw, Glaphyra, to master him, and married her in defiance of the sentiment of the people and the Pharisees, who regarded the union as incestuous He deposed the high priest (Lev. xviii. 16, xx. 21). Joezer on his return from Rome, not in obedience to popular complaint, but for a money consideration. Joezer's brother was his successor, although the Indeed, Archelatter was of exactly the same type. laus, in his short reign, deposed three high priests Against this serious list of for purposes of profit. evils there is hardly anything good to set in contrast, beyond perhaps the fact that he inherited from his father a certain love of splendor and a taste for He restored the royal palace at Jericho building.

—

in magnificent style,

surrounding

and also founded a own honor Archelais.

palms his

—



it

with groves of he called in

city, that

Ewald, Gratz, Gesch. d. Juden, iii. passim Hitzig, Gcsch. des Oeseh. des Volkes Israel, iv. passim and passim, i. Schiirer, Gesch. passim; ii. Volkes Israel, the literature therein indicated. On coinage, see Schurer, h. 114-118. Jews, the Coins pp. Madden, of and note 4 p. 375,

BIBLIOGRAPHY









L. G.

g.

ARCHEOLOGY, BIBLICAL



The branch

of

archeology that has for its province a scientific presentation of the domestic, civil, and religious institutions of the Hebrews, in the lauds of the Bible, It deals with these for the especially in Palestine. whole stretch of Judaic history down to the fall of Jerusalem in the year 70, the end of Judaism as a

power in Palestine. The term " Archeology " was used