JERUSALEM
348
JERUSALEM
/etumed to Syria and sent his general, Nabuzardan,
against Jerusalem with a formidable army. The city
surrendered after a siege of more than eighteen months.
The Temple, the royal palaces, and other principal
buildings were given to the flames, and the city was
dismantled. The sacred vessels, with everything else
of value, were carried away to Baliylon: the .\rk of the
Covenant alone could te hidden by the Jews. Se-
decias, who, at the last moment, had fled with his
army by the southern gat^, was overtaken in the plain
of the Jordan, and his eyes were put out. The high
priest, the chief militarj' officers, and the notables of
the land were massacred, and the remainder of the
inhabitants were transported to Babylon with their
blind king. Only husbandmen and the poor were left
in the country, with a Jewish governor named Ciodo-
lias (Gedaliah), who took up his residence at Masplia
(IV Kings, xxiv, 18-20; xxv; II Par., xxxvi, 11-21).
(3) From the Return out of Captivity to the Roman Domination. — In 536 B. c. Cyrus, King of Persia, authorized the Jews to return to Palestine and re- build the Temple of the Lord (I Esd., i, 1-1). The first convoy, consisting of 42,000 Jews, was dispatched under the leadership of Zoroliabel, a prince of Juda. They hastened to restore the altar of holocausts, and in the second year the foundations were laid for an- other temple, which, however, owing to the difficulties raised by the Samaritans and other neighbouring peo- ples, was not completed until the sixth year of the reign of Darius (-514). The old men could not restrain their tears when they saw the unpretentious character of the new building. In 4.58, under Artaxerxes I, Esdras came to Jerusalem with 1500 Jews as governor of Judea and completed the political and religious res- toration of Israel. Thirteen years later Nehemias, with the authorization of Artaxerxes, completely re- stored the Holy City.
By the victory of Issus and the capture of Tyre, Alexander the Great, King of Macedon, became master of Western .\sia. In 332 he marched against Jerusa- lem, which had remained faithful to Darius III. The High-Priest Jaddus, believing that resistance would he useless, went out to meet the great conqueror, and induced him to spare the Jews (.\ntiq. Jud., XI, viii, 3-6). .\fter Alexander, Jerusalem suffered much from the long struggle between the Seleucids of Syria and the Ptolemies of Egypt. Palestine fell to Seleucus Nicanor; but in 305 Ptolemy Soter gained entrance into Jerusalem on a Sabbath Day by stratagem, and carried away a number of Jews to Egypt (.\ntiq. Jud., XII, i, 1). A century later (203) Antiochus the Great again tore the Holy' City from the grasp of Egypt. When, in 199, it fell oiice more into the power of Scopas, a general of Ptolemy Epiphanes, the Jews helped the troops of Antiochus. who had just defeated Scopas's army, to definitively drive the Egj-ptian gar- rison out of the citadel of Jerusalem (.A.ntiq. Jud., XII, iii, 3). The Seleucids conceived the unfortunate idea of introducing hellenistic — that is, pagan — notions and manners among the Jewish people, especially the sacerdotal and civil aristocracy. The high- priesthood had become a venal office; Jason was sup- planted by Menelaus, and Menelaus by Lysimachus. These unworthy priests at last took up arms against each other, and blood flowed freely on several occasions in the streets of Jerusalem (II Ma'ch., iv). Under pre- tence of .stifling these turmoils, .\ntiochus Epiphanes in 170 entered the Holy City, stormed the fortifica- tions of the Temple, plundered it of its most sacred vessels, massiicred 40,000 persons, and carrieil off as many more into bondage (I Mach., i, 17-25; II Mach., V, 11-23). Two years later he sent his general Apol- lonius to suppress the Jewish religion by force ami replace it at Jerus;dem with Greek paganism. The city was ilismantled, and the Acra, the citadel which commanded the Temple and served as a garrison for the Syrians and an asyhmi for rcmegade Jew.s, was
reinforced. The statue of the Olympian Jupiter was
set up in the Temple of the Most High, while a cruel
and bloody persecution ever\T\here broke out against
those Jews who were faithful to their traditions (I
Mach., i, .30-64; II Miich., v. 25, 26; vi, 1-11).
The priest Mathathias of Hasmon and his five sons, known as the Machabees, organized an heroic resist- ance. Judas, succeeding on the death of his father (166), gained four victories over the Syrian armies, oc- cupied Jerusalem (164), purified the Temple, strength- ened the fortifications, and erected a new altar of holocausts. He also repaired the walls of the city, but could not gain possession of the citadel (Acra) which was held liy a Syrian garrison. After various repulses and victories he made an alliance with the Roman Empire (I Mach., viii). Jonathas succeeded and maintained the struggle with no less heroism and suc- cess. He built a wall between the upper city and the Acra, as a barrier against the Syrians. Simon took the place of his brother when Jonathas fell by treachery (142). Three years later, he drove out the Syrian garrison of Acra, razed the fortress, and even levelled the hill on which it had stood — a gigantic undertaking which occupied the entire population for three years (Antiq. Jud.. XVIII, vi, 6; Bell. Jud., V, iv, 1). Demetrius II and after him .Antiochus Sidetes finally recognized the independence of the Jewish people. Simon, with two of his sons, was assassinated by his son-in-law, and his third son, John Hyrcanus I (135-06), succeeded him on the throne. Antiochus Sidetes, with a formidable army, came to besiege Jerusalem, but consented to withdraw for a ransom of 500 talents, antl Hyrcanus took that sum from the treasures of the ro.yal sepulchre (Antiq. Jud., XIII, viii. 24; Bell. Jud., I, ii. 5). Hyrcanus I was suc- ceeded by his son Aristobulus I, who combined the title of pontiff with that of king, reigning however only one year. His brother and successor, Alexander Janna-us (105-78), considerably enlarged the bound- aries of the kingdom by his many brilliant victories. Upon his death .\lexandra, his widow, took the reins of government into her hands for nine years, after which she entrusted the high-priesthood and the king- ship to her son Hyrcanus II (69), but his brother .\ristobulus took up arms to dispute the possession of the throne. By virtue of the alliance with Rome which Simon had entered into, Pompey, the Roman general, came from Damascus to Jerusalem, in 65 B. c, to put an end to the civil war. The parti-sans of Hyr- canus opened the gates of the city to the Romans, but those of Aristobulus entrenched themselves within the fortifications of the Temple, and could not be dis- lodged vmtil after a siege of three months. Their resistance was at last overcome on a Sabbath Day; as many as 12,000 Jews were massacred, and .Aristo- bulus was driven into exile. Pompey restored Hyr- canus to the high-priesthood, with the title of eth- narch, and declared Jerusalem a tributary of Rome (.\ntiq. Jud., XIV, iv, 1-4; Bell. Jud., I. yii, 1).
(4) Under the Roman Domination; until a. d. 70. — Caesar authorized HjTcanus to rebuild the walls that had been demolished by Pompey; but in 48 B. c. he appointed .\ntipater. the Idumean, governor of Pales- tine, and the latter, four years afterwards, obtained the appointment of his eldest son, Phasael, as prefect of Jerusalem, and of his youngest son, Herod, as gov- ernor of Galilee. When .\ntipater died (43), Anti- gonus, the son of .\ristobulus II, seized the throne, sent Hyrcanus II into exile among his allies, the Par- thians, ami imprisoned Pha.«ae]. who killed himself in despair (Antiq. Jud., XIV, xiii. 5-10; Bell. Jud., I, xiii, .5-10). Herod fled to Rome, where the Senate proclaimed him King of the Jews (40). But it was three years before lie wrested Jerusalem from An- ligonus, and oidy after bringing conflagration and bloodsheil upon the city. Antigonus, the last of the Hasmonean djTiasty, was condemned to death (.Antiq.
