Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 11.djvu/237

* JEWS. 211 JEWS. was appointed ethnarch and high priest. Aristob- ulus, his two sons, Alexander and Antigonus, and two daughters, were carried captive to Kome. In B.C. 54 Crassus plundered the temple, which Pompey had piously spared. He fell shortly afterwards in the war against the Par- thians, and his companion, Cassius Longinus, succeeded in completely routing the army of Aris- tobuhis, who had been released by Caesar. Jleanwhile. the war between Ciesar and Pompey broke out. In Syria, the partisans of the latter were numerous, and contrived to poison Aristob- ulus, and execute his son Alexander, who were Cesareans (B.C. 49). After the death of Pompey, however, Hyrcanus. or rather Antipater the Idumean ( who was both his minister and mas- ter), saw the necessity of securing the favor of Ca-sar. With Hyrcanus II. ended the line of Asmonean princes; they exercised (nominally) supreme authority both in the civil and religious aflairs of Palestine; but. as already indicated, the real religious authority had passed into the hands of the priesthood, and es]}ecially of tho Sanhedrin (q.v. ). The Idumean (Herodian) dy- nasty, which succeeded the Asmonean. virtually commenced with Antipater, who prevailed on Ciesar to restrict Hyrcanus to the high priest- hood, and obtained for himself the office of Pro- curator of .Judea. while his eldest son, Phazael, was appointed Governor of .Jerusalem, and his youngest son Herod (iovernor of Galilee. The Jewish or National Party took alarm at this sudden increase of Idumean power; strife ensued; and ultimately Antipater perished by poison : but Herod, by the assistance of the Romans, finally entered .Jerusalem in triumph (e.c. .37). and caused Antigonus. the last male representative of the Asmonean line, and his most dangerous enemy, to be put to death. After Herod's death ( B.C. 4 ) . Archejaus, one of his sons, ruled .Judea. Samaria, and Idumea as Ethnarch ; Antipas, another son. became Tetrarch of Galilee and Perea ; and a third son, Philip, became Tetrarch of Trachonitis. But the prbitrariness and cruelty of Archelaus made him hateful to the people: and Augustus, listening to their just complaints, banished him to Vienne ill Gaul (a.d. I)). .Judea was now. together with Syria, niled by Roman procurators. During the government of the first of these. Coponius, the party of the Zealots arose among the .Jews, founded by Zadok, and .Judas of Galilee, who protested against the taxes imposed by the Roman Government as a sinful senitude. The national movement ran parallel, however, with another presented by .John the Baptist and Jesus, who. indifferent to the political conditions, preached the new doctrine that God's Kingdom was not of this world. In the year .38 the Kmperor Caligula issued an edict ordering divine honors to be paid to him- self as Ciesar. Everv'where throughout the Ro- man dominions the .Jews refused to obey. The order was given to Petronius. the Roman Gov- ernor of Syria, to use violence if necessary in setting up the statue of the Emperor in the Temple at .Jerusalem. At Alexandria a mas- sacre took place, and for a moment it seemed as if all the inhabitants of .Judea. too. were doomed to perish : but Herod Agrippa I.. Tetrarch of Northern Palestine, and a friend of Caligula, dis- suaded the Emperor from carrying out his design. Petronius did not enforce the Emperor's order, and escaped punishment through the murder of Caligula in 41. The acx-ession of Claudius, on the assassination of Caligula, seemed the dawn of a brighter day. Herod Agrippa, a loyal friend and favorite of the new Emperor, obtained anew the dominion over all the parts once ruled by his grandfather Herod, and many privileges were through his influence granted to his Jewish subjects, and even to foreign .Jews. They received the rights of Roman citizenship (..D. 41). and Herod even tried to conciliate their religious prejudices by the strictness with which he ob- sened their law ; yet the national party re- mained in an almost permanent state of mutiny, while the followers of .Jesus sulfered persecution at the hands of Herod. After the death of Herod Agrippa I., his son being but a youth of seven- teen, the country was again subjected to Roman governors. The land was overrun by robbers and assassins, some of whom professed to be animated by religious motives, while others were mere ruffianly freebooters and cut-throats; the antipathy between Jews and Samaritans waxed fiercer and fiercer, and the latter waylaid and murdered the orthodox Galileans as they went up to worship at .Jerusalem; all sorts of im- postors, fanatics, and pretenders to magic made their appearance ; the priesthood was riven by dissensions ; and the hatred between the populace and the Roman soldiery (mostly of Grieco- Svrian origin) increased. In 66, in spite of all the precautionary efforts taken by Agrippa. the party of Zealots burst into open rebellion, which was terminated (70) by the conquest of .Jeru- salem by Titus, the destruction of the temple, and the massacre and banishment of thousands of .Tews, who were scattered among their brethren in all parts of the world. The defense of .Jeru- salem, as narrated by .Josephus. is a magnificent example of heroism. Still, very considerable numbers were allowed to remain in their nativo country", and for the next thirty years, although both hated and treated with rigor, they appear, on the whole, to have flourished. The Emperor Nerva was lenient to them as to the rest of his subjects; but as soon as they had attained some measure of political vitality, their turbulent and fanatical spirit broke out anew. Their last attempts to throw off the Roman yoke, at Cyrene 1115). (Cyprus (1161. Mesopotamia (118)! and Palestine under Bar Cochba (132-135), were de- feated after enormous butchery. The suppression of Bar Cochba's insurrection by the capture of Bethar, the great stronghold of the .Jews (135). marks the final desolation of Judea and tho dispersion of its inhabitants. The whole of Judea was laid waste, and it is said that about !i85 towns and villages lay in ashes, and fifty fortresses were razed to the ground ; the new city founded by Hadrian on the site of .Jerusalem was named Capitolina. and on the site of the temple a sanctuary in honor of Jupiter Capitolinus was erected, containing an equestrian statue of the Emperor Hadrian. The hardships to which Jews were subjected were again alleviated in the reign of Antoninus Pius, whom the .Jewish writers rep- resent as secretly attached to their religion. Alex- ander Severus also placed .braham on the same level as he did Christ, and obtained from the grateful people the title of 'father of the syna- gogue.' Heliogabalus. among his many senseless whims, patronized .Jewish practices, such as cir- cumcision and abstinence fmm swine's flesh.