Even the shadow of political power passed from the feeble hands of Hyrcanus when,

shortly afterwards, Gabinius (one of the Roman governors) divided the land into five

districts, independent of each other.

But already a person had appeared on the stage of Jewish affairs, who was to give them

their last decisive turn. About fifty years before this, the district of Idumæa had been

conquered by the Maccabean King Hyrcanus I., and its inhabitants forced to adopt

Judaism. By this Idumæa we are not, however, to understand the ancient or Eastern

Edom, which was now in the hands of the Nabataeans, but parts of Southern Palestine

which the Edomites had occupied since the Babylonian Exile, and especially a small

district on the northern and eastern boundary of Judæa, and below Samaria.4 After it

became Judæan, its administration was entrusted to a governor. In the reign of the last of

the Maccabees this office devolved on one Antipater, a man of equal cunning and

determination. He successfully interfered in the unhappy dispute for the crown, which

was at last decided by the sword of Pompey. Antipater took the part of the utterly weak

Hyrcanus in that contest with his energetic brother Aristobulus. He soon became the

virtual ruler, and Hyrcanus II. only a puppet in his hands. From the accession of Judas

Maccabæus, in 166 b.c., to the year 63 b.c., when Jerusalem was taken by Pompey, only

about a century had elapsed. Other twenty-four years, and the last of the Maccabees had

given place to the son of Antipater: Herod, surnamed the Great.

The settlement of Pompey did not prove lasting. Aristobulus, the brother and defeated

rival of Hyrcanus, was still alive, and his sons were even more energe tic than he. The

risings attempted by them, the interference of the Parthians on behalf of those who were

hostile to Rome, and, lastly, the contentions for supremacy in Rome itself, made this

period one of confusion, turmoil, and constant warfare in Palestine. When Pompey was

finally defeated by Cæsar, the prospects of Antipater and Hycanus seemed dark. But they

quickly changed sides; and timely help given to Cæsar in Egypt brought to Antipater the

title of Procurator of Judæa, while Hycanus was left in the High-Priesthood, and, at least,

nominal head of the people. The two sons of Antipater were now made governors: the

elder, Phasaelus, of Jerusalem; the younger, Herod, only twenty- five years old, of

Galilee. Here he displayed the energy and determination which were his characteristics,

in crushing a guerilla warfare, of which the deeper springs were probably nationalist. The

execution of its leader brought Herod a summons to appear before the Great Sanhedrin of

Jerusalem, for having arrogated to himself the power of life and death. He came, but

arrayed in purple, surrounded by a body- guard, and supported by the express direction of